Tag Archive for cave art

Chauvet-Pont d’Arc cave, grand opening!

Lion head

Lion head

After only 30 months of work, the opening of the Chauvet-Pont d’Arc cave to the public is scheduled for Saturday 25 April 2015: don’t miss it! It’s the largest cave replica ever built worldwide, ten times bigger than the Lascaux facsimile. All geological and archaeological features, such as paintings and engravings, are reproduced full-size in an underground environment identical to the original one. Visitors’ senses will be stimulated by the same sensations of silence, obscurity, temperature, humidity and acoustics, carefully reproduced.

by Andrea Arcà

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La Grotte Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc (EuroPreArt)

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Rhinocéros

[la fiche de EuroPreArt, 2002] La grotte fut découverte le 18 décembre 1994 par trois spéléologues (J.M. Chauvet, E. Brunel-Deschamps, C. Hillaire), et immédiatement authentifiée par les spécialistes (visite de J. Clottes 10 jours après la découverte). La grotte n’a pas connu de visites humaines entre le Paléolithique et sa redécouverte en 1994, ce qui a permis une excellente préservation des ouvres pariétales mais aussi de tout le contexte archéologique.

by Laurence Remacle, Université de Liège

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Magura Cave paintings, Bulgarian rock art

Sun figure

Situated in north-western Bulgaria, and managed by the Belogradchik municipality, the Magura cave (Пещера МАГУРА) is, with the Porto Badisco cave (south Italy), the most important European post-Palaeolithic painted cave. Hundreds of dark brown figures are diffused along an astonishing underground Art Gallery: hunting, dancing and mating scenes, bi-triangular female silhouettes, axes, solar symbols… a prehistoric iconographic treasure which definitely deserves a special attention. [Text and photogallery]

by Andrea ARCÀ

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Magura cave photogallery

bitriang150

Magura figure

The Bulgarian Magura cave is well known for its impressive prehistoric paintings, scattered along an astonishing and dreamy 240 m long underground diverticulum, for which its Art Gallery is really worth a visit. More than 750 darkish figures have been counted, made with bat guano, smeared or rubbed along the cave walls; on the curvy  shaped vaults and niches, white or yellowish “plastered” by the nature, we can recognise dancing, hunting, and mating scenes, and organise the figures into four thematic groups: anthropomorphic, zoomorphic, geometric, and symbolic signs. [Text and photogallery]

by AA

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Prehistory popularisation: a de profundis?

bison

Cave art

Two recently published  archaeology books, mainly or partially concerning cave art, show a set of inaccuracies which doesn’t seem acceptable, not only for a specialised scientific level, but also for an educational one. The lack of a review process performed by professional archaeologists demonstrates the weakness in Italy, and not only, of the archaeologist profession, particularly in the prehistoric and rock art fields.

by R.C. de Marinis

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Nuevas representaciones de arte paleolítico

abrigo de Minerva

En este artículo se presentan nuevas representaciones de arte rupestre paleolítico que han sido halladas recientemente en Extremadura. En dos de los casos se trata de figuras que se añaden a un repertorio iconográfico ya conocido. El tercero de los hallazgos es inédito..

by Hipólito Collado Giraldo

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Bhimbetka cave paintings (India)

Bhimbhetka paintings

I am sending some photographs of pre-historic cave paintings at Bhimbetka,Madhya Pradesh, India (taken by me) which you may like to publish in TRACCE bulletin. I shall be thankful if my name is mentioned as contributor.

by Sarbanidas Roy

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