Rock art
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Rock painting is the generic term for all images or characters depicted on solid, that is, "grown" rock. Rock paintings are the subject of research in archeology and ethnology .
description
In archaeological parlance, rock paintings are referred to as parietal art ( French art pariétal "wall art", from Latin paries "wall"). In contrast, there is prehistoric cabaret , which is referred to as mobile art (French art mobilier, "movable art"): for example Venus figurines , ornamentation on tools, transportable reliefs or painted pebbles. Stones that are difficult to move, such as ornamented slabs from burial chambers , are usually assigned to rock paintings.
The oldest rock carvings were made by Cro-Magnon people about 35,000 years ago (32,000 14 C -years BP ) during the Aurignacien in caves in the south of France: on the one hand in the Chauvet cave , and a little later in the cave of Pair-non-Pair . The so-called Franco - Cantabrian cave art, however, only flourished in the following epochs: in Gravettia , in Solutréen and above all in Magdalenian . Rock carvings are common on all continents except Antarctica. Some peoples, such as the San or the Aborigines , have made rock carvings up to the present day.
Cave painting
The cave painting of the Cro-Magnon people is the oldest genre of rock art in Europe and covers the entire Upper Paleolithic . In the Neolithic and later prehistoric epochs, on the other hand, exposed rock art ( petroglyphs and rock carvings ) are most common, while post-glacial cave paintings are only exceptional in Europe.
Petroglyphs
Engraved, scraped or picked rock art are called petroglyphs (outdated: "rock drawings"). The focus of petroglyphs of the Paleolithic is in the Solutréen and Magdalenian Franconia- Cantabria and on the Iberian Peninsula ( e.g. Vale do Côa ). They are also widespread in the Neolithic , such as in megalithic systems , e.g. B. Menhirs with decorations, inside decorated burial chambers of the Wartberg culture and the Walternienburg-Bernburg culture . Petroglyphs from the Bronze Age and Iron Age are common in Valcamonica (northern Italy) , for example ( main article rock art in Valcamonica ). The representations were scratched , pecked or painted, whereby it can be assumed that the majority of the relief images were painted. Most of the painting is now completely weathered.
Petroglyphs exist in Europe in the form of carved runes until the Middle Ages .
Rock painting
→ Main article: rock painting
In contrast to cave painting, rock painting means as a term that it is paintings on exposed images. Like the cave paintings, rock paintings are painted without indentation on the surface, in contrast to the indented petroglyphs. Prominent examples are the rock paintings in the Spanish Levant , which date from the time of the Cardial Pottery to the Copper Age. Rock carvings from the Sahara , for example in Tassili n'Ajjer in the south of Algeria, are just as extensive .
List of rock art sites
Dating
To date rock art, either stylistic features are assessed relatively chronologically or paint residues or charcoal used for drawing are determined in absolute chronological order with the help of radiocarbon dating .
literature
- Emmanuel Anati : cave painting. The imagery of prehistoric rock art. Zurich 1997.
- Harald Braem and Thomas Schulte im Walde: Bibliography of the German-language literature on international rock art research (Imago mundi Volume 7). Lollschied 1994, ISBN 978-3-929068-07-8 .
- Christopher Chippindale, Paul SC Taçon (Ed.): The Archeology of Rock-Art. Cambridge 1998.
- Dietrich Evers: Mountains and Boats. Selected works by the rock art researcher Dietrich Evers In: Contributions to the prehistory and early history of Central Europe. Volume 30 Beier & Beran, Langenweißbach 2002
- Miroslav Ksica, Olga Ksicová: Rock paintings between the Black Sea and the Bering Strait. (Exhibition catalog Brno, Linz). Brno 1994.
- Michael Lorblanchet: cave painting. A manual. Ed., With a foreword and a contribution to wall art in the Urals by Gerhard Bosinski . Translated from the French by Peter Nittmann. Thorbecke, Sigmaringen 1997, ISBN 3-7995-9025-0 .
- Matthias Strecker: Rock art of East Mexico and Central America. An annotated bibliography , 2nd edition, Los Angeles 1982.
- David S. Whitley (Ed.): Handbook of rock art research. Walnut Creek et al. a. 2001.
- Wolfgang Kauer: Rock paintings of the Eastern Alps. The legacy of the moon woman. Interpretations with approx. 170 color illustrations. Verlag Anton Pustet: Salzburg Sept. 2017. ISBN 978-3-7025-8045-2 .
