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Cave Paintings: Structure and Analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2013

Michel Menu
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Extract

Prehistoric art is the oldest manifestation of the human desire to record the religion, myths, and spirituality of prehistoric people. The purpose of this article is by no means to propose an interpretation of this artistic expression but to carry out, within a multidisciplinary approach, research aimed at rediscovering the technical system by which the walls of the prehistoric caves were decorated.

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Type
The Science of Art
Information
MRS Bulletin , Volume 21 , Issue 12 , December 1996 , pp. 48 - 53
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1996

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References

1.Watchman, A., Antiquity 67 (254) (1993) p. 58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2.Leroi-Gourhan, A., Préhistoire de l'Art Occidental (Nouvelle éd., Citadelles-Mazenod, Paris, 1995).Google Scholar
3. For example, see Vandiver, P., MS thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1983.Google Scholar
4. A more extensive French development of this aspect may be found in Menu, M. and Walter, P., “Les Rythmes de l'Art Préhistorique,” TECHNE 3 (1996) p. 11.Google Scholar
5.Menu, M., “IBA in the Museum, Why AGLAE?” Nucl. Instrum. Methods B 45 (1990) p. 597; M. Menu, “External Beam Applications to Painting Materials,” TECHNE 75 (1993) p. 469.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6. The exact experimental procedure is described in detail in Clottes, J., Menu, M., and Walter, P., “La Preparation des Peintures Magdaléniennes Ariégeoises,” Bull. Soc. Préhistorique Française 86 (6) (1990) p. 170; J. Clottes, M. Menu, and P. Walter, Rock Art Res. 7 (1) (1990) p. 21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7.Menu, M. and Walter, P., “Prehistoric Cave Painting PIXE Analysis for the Identification of Paint ‘Pots’,” Nucl. Instrum. Methods B 64 (1992) p. 547.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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9. See the description of our results on Gargas as well as Tibiran (that is a similar cave in the vicinity) in Clot, A., Menu, M., and Walter, P., L'Anthropologie 99 (2/3) (1995) p. 221.Google Scholar
10.Vigears, Daniel, photographer in the LRMF, developed a specific system adapted to the macrophotography inside the caverns. For the description of the system and its applications, see Menu, M., Walter, P., Vigears, D., and Clottes, J., “Façons de Peindre au Magdalénien,” Bull. Soc. Préhistorique Française 90 (1993) p. 225.Google Scholar
11. The method and the preparation sample may be found in Reference 7.Google Scholar
12.Clottes, J., Les Cavernes de Niaux (Le Seuil, Paris, 1995).Google Scholar
13. See Reference 6. We have found also in two cases the presence of talcum powder but the occurrence was not enough to precise a specific recipe.Google Scholar
14. The feldspars present an ovoid shape with often angular fractures. The grains are typically 20-100 μm long. They are identified with the SEM-EDS by an association of Si, Al, and K.Google Scholar
15. Biotite is present as platelets of a few 10 μm in diameter and may be identified by the combination of the elements Al, Si, K, Mg, and Fe. The Fe content is difficult to evaluate when biotite is mixed with iron oxides.Google Scholar
16.Buisson, D.et al., Bull. Soc. Préhistorique Française 86 (1989) p. 183.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
17. The charcoal was sampled for a 14C determination. The dates obtained are compatible with those from the cave of La Vache. See Valladas, H.et al., Nature 357 (1992) p. 68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
18. Occupied during the Middle Magdalenian period (ca. 12,000 B.C.). See Clottes, J., “The Parietal Art of the Late Magdalenian,” Antiquity 64 (1990) p. 527; Antiquity “Le Magdalénien des Pyrénées,” left's du Colloque de Mayence (ed. ERAUL, University of Liège, Belgium, 1989) p. 281.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
19. See a more precise development of the efficiency of archaeological materials science for the evidence of short and long times in Menu, M. and Walter, P., Reference 4.Google Scholar
20. Research undertaken in collaboration with Geneste, J.M., curator of the cave and Aujoulat, N., image engineer.Google Scholar
21. Inside the research team headed by Clottes, J..Google Scholar
22. Research on binding media by GCMS in the LRMF (PhD research in chemistry of M. Regert). Specific research (PhD dissertation of M.P. Pomies in materials science) of iron oxides used by prehistoric people—for example to determine if the minerals were heated or not (XRD–Rietvelt, TEM).Google Scholar