Anthropology Cave Art

Anthropology 130 Extra Credit - Cave Art
 20 points maximum

In this assignment, we will dip our toes in the world of cultural anthropology. One of the

ways that anthropologists have tracked the biological development of hominids is by

looking at the cultural developments. For example, the complexity of stone tools has

grown from the time of Australopithecus afarensis and Australopithecus platyops to

Homo sapiens. Art is another product of culture that can be tracked over time.

This extra credit assignment is structured a little differently, a bit of a choose-your-own-

adventure. You can virtually explore one of two French caves and then answer a

question about art and anthropology.

Choose one of the cave websites below, then move on to the writeup ideas section.

Cave 1: Lascaux Cave Maybe the most famous example of cave paintings, the art of this cave dates back to

17,300 years ago. The cave was discovered in 1940. The site was opened as a tourist

attraction, but this introduced fungi that affected the art. The cave was sealed so that

only researchers can access it now.

1. Go to the English version of the Lascaux page. Try different web browsers if page

does not load correctly: http://www.lascaux.culture.fr/index.php#/en/00.xml

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2. Click on “A visit to the cave” under the main title. It will start a great 3D interactive

journey through the cave! Links will appear that allow you to stop and examine

certain paintings. You can click on the “Back to the…” links to retrace your virtual

steps. 





Note: If your computer does not have the Flash media player, you can browse the

images in the Flash-less version here: http://www.lascaux.culture.fr/index.php?

lng=en&acc=true

3. Explore the virtual cave!

4. Scroll down to the writeup ideas section below.

Cave 2: Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc Cave This cave, also referred to as “Chauvet,” contains the oldest known cave paintings,

dating between 30,000 and 33,000 years ago. The cave was discovered in 1994.

1. Go to the Bradshaw Foundation’s page “The Cave Art Paintings of the Chavet

Cave”: http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/chauvet/index.php

2. View the video in the “Introduction to the Chauvet Cave” section

3. Click the link to “The Chauvet Cave Gallery” and explore the paintings there!

4. Scroll down to the writeup ideas section below.

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Writeup Ideas Choose one of the questions below to answer in your writeup! Point to specific paintings

as examples in your answer.

1. What themes do you see in the subject matter of the cave paintings? Why do you

think the subject matter of this art is so specific?

2. How does the ability to make art relate to the intelligence of the species? What

about the paintings suggest a high level of intelligence?

3. What do the paintings say about the local environment at the time they were made?

The analysis should be at least 250 words. Turn in your completed assignment on

Canvas or in class by the due date.

Grading A full score will be given to a writeup that address all of the required points. The

breakdown of the assigned score are:

a. Thorough and accurate answer to the chosen question (15 points)

b. College-level use of spelling and grammar (5 points)

c.

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