Visual Source 1.1
Lascaux Rock Art
One of the most dramatic and perplexing images from Lascaux, shown here as Visual Source 1.1, depicts a human male figure lying in front of a wounded and enraged bison, pierced with a broken spear, and with its entrails hanging out. To the left is a rhinoceros and beneath its tail two rows of three dots.
Question
Based on this image as well as those the images of Paleotlithic art and Australian rock art, what information about Paleolithic life might historians derive from the rock art of gathering and hunting peoples?
Question
No one knows for certain if the three figures in this image were painted at the same time. But if they were, it represents a very early narrative composition. How might you tell the story that the painting depicts? Is the man dead or wounded? What message would such a story convey?
Question
The explicit rendering of the penis indicates a male figure, but why might the artist have shown him with a bird-like face? How might he be related to the bird on a staff pictured beside him?
Question
What differences do you notice between the portrayal of the human figure and that of the animals?
Question
Do you respond to this image more as archeological evidence for Paleolithic life or from the viewpoint of cultural and artistic appreciation?