This content was published on April 20, 2022 – 18:02
Science Writing, Apr 20 (EFE).- The Magdalenian culture was characterized by its artistic production, created not only on the walls of the caves, but also in smaller and more mobile pieces that were made by the light of the fire, as revealed by the Analysis of 50 engraved stones in French sites.
The stones were incised with artistic designs around 15,000 years ago and show patterns of heat damage, suggesting they were carved near the flickering light of a fire, according to a study from the universities of York, Canada, and Durham, UK. ) published by PLOS One.
The team analyzed a series of engraved stones, known as platelets, from Montastruc (southern France) and preserved in the British Museum, which would have been made with stone tools by the Magdalenian people (23,000 to 14,000 years ago). ), a hunter-gatherer culture.
The remains exhibited patterns of heat damage that took on a pinkish hue around the edges, and while some theories suggest that contact may have been unintentional, current examination indicates that the marks are more consistent with being purposely placed near a calls.
The team used available physical evidence, experimental archeology (creating replicas with the right tools in similar lighting conditions), and used 3D models with virtual reality software to recreate how they were seen by prehistoric artists.
All this “allows us to suggest that the intentional placement next to a fireplace is the one that best fits” the brands, the main author of the study Andy Needhnam, from the University of York, told Efe.
Paleolithic art produced on the walls of the deepest caves, such as in Altamira (Spain) or Lascaux (France), may have “always been created under conditions of moving light, be it a fire, a torch or a candle” .
This research defends that this pattern of creation by firelight “extends outside the caves to other types of art, such as platelets,” he added.
Needhnam indicated that “general connections can be made between Magdalenian rock art (wall) sites, such as Lascaux, the conditions in which they were made (grazing light, darkness) and some plaques made outside the caves.”
The art was not limited to cave walls or stone pieces, it also appears in functional objects, such as projectile points or personal ornamentation.
The most common themes are the representations of animals, “some very detailed and naturalistic, others may be more schematic and simple, but they always showed -he stressed- an impressive knowledge of animal anatomy, since all of them would have been painted or engraved from memory” .
That way of working by the light of flickering flames would have had, according to the team, “a drastic effect on the way prehistoric people experienced making art” and may have activated an evolutionary ability called pareidolia, in which perception it imposes an interpretation, such as the shape of an animal, a face, or a pattern, where there is none.
In some platelets examined, Needhnam pointed out, natural features of the rock, such as changes in morphology, the suggestive shape of an edge, or cracks and fissures, are sometimes integrated into the engraving of an animal, so it can be composed of etched lines and natural features.
Seeing recognizable shapes where there really aren’t any is a particularly powerful visual effect in low-light conditions and in the presence of a grazing light source. “Evolutionarily, pareidolia may have played a role in our fight or flight response.”
The study’s findings reinforce the theory that the fire was the community’s center for social gatherings, storytelling and art making, said Izzy Wisher, another of the Durham University authors.
At a time when enormous amounts of time and effort were spent searching for food, water, and shelter, it is “fascinating to think that people still found the time and ability to create art,” showing that such activity has been part of of what makes us human for thousands of years. EFE
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