i’ve always harboured a love for cave paintings. raw and mystical, they are primitive - stemming from a part of us that we’ve forgotten or neglected. looking at them, i wonder about the artist’s psyche - the state of his/her mind, how developed they are psychologically, whether they are painting under the influence. if we knew the truth of their maturity, would we be surprised? (humans always assume that they are more mentally advanced or culturally matured compared to their ancestors - that may not be the case at all)

my favourite ancient graffiti are the ones from lascaux in france, mogao in dunhuang, and kimberley in australia.

it was speculated that the drawings in lascaux caves may mean more than mere horses and bisons - that they could be the oldest lunar calendar, or possibly star maps.

a german researcher theorised that the group of dots tracks the moon phase. am not sure whether he’s reading too deep into the art or if there’s any truth in what he puts forward. it makes a fascinating read though.

published on Feb 02 07 at 7:19 am under category : curiosities.