Module 2B A World of Mystery In the depths of their caverns, the early men from prehistoric Stone Age left their imprint Mysterious paintings that date from 30.000 BC (before Christ) left scientists speechless when they first saw them (1) (3) but the most magnificent caves are situated in Lascaux, France On September 12, 1940, four teenagers were hiking in the area when they accidentally found these caves covered with nearly 2.000 drawings of animals, human figures and some abstract signs The cavemen painted these images onto the walls using mineral pigments, and some figures appear to be carved on the stone The most famous section of the cave is The Great Hall of the Bulls with four black bulls as dominant figures among other bulls, horses and 36 different animals Other famous caves are the great Cuevas de Altamira in Spain, the Cave of Swimmers in Egypt and the Bhimbetka Rock Shelters in India, to name but a few (4) we can only acknowledge that we are truly in the presence of the birth of art about the life of primitive men The first paintings were merely tracings of their own hands but then, they evolved into drawings of large wild animals, generally bison and mammoths One of the earliest cave paintings is in Cueva de las Manos near Río de las Pinturas, in Santa Cruz, Argentina These old murals show dozens of hands painted in black, red and white, (2) But, why did they them? Scientists believe that these were not for decorative purposes since the caves where they were found were not used for habitation It seems that they used them as means of communication However, other researchers strongly believe that they had a religious or ceremonial purpose Blending Techniques used by cave artists: • Brush the colours carefully with a feather • Paint with paint brushes made from horse hair • Spray paint through the hollow bone of a bird English Toolkit - Art Photocopiable © Ediciones Santillana S.A / Richmond 2011 Cave paintings Module 2B Activities 1 Complete the text with the following sentences a There is evidence of this form of art in several places around the world, b representing the animals they used to hunt for food c These early works of art help us learn more… d When confronted with these paintings, 2 Complete the following sentences with Simple Past or Past Continuous (hike) in the area when they accidentally (find) the Lascaux caves b The cavemen (paint) animals they used to hunt for food c At the beginning, cavemen (use) mineral pigments to paint the walls d Scientists (investigate) when they (find) out that the paintings (not to be) decorative 3 Get in groups of three and choose one of the techniques described in the box (in the case of the brushes just use regular old brushes if you have any) Make a poster of your own cave painting using the technique chosen 4 Write a description of the poster in activity and include an explanation of your work English Toolkit - Art Photocopiable © Ediciones Santillana S.A / Richmond 2011 a Four teenagers