CULTURE

       АIthough questions remain about how culture originated, it is almost impossible to determine which things of the human world are natural and which are not. Scientists of many disciplines are trying to answer these questions from the evidence of prehistoric life found by paleontologists. The subspecies of mammals to which man belongs, Homo sapiens sapiens, appeared in Africa some 150,000 years ago, disseminated through the entire Old World some 30,000 years ago (date that the oldest signs of art were found) and colonized America 11,000 years ago; but the first traces of agriculture, industry, population centres and control over nature date from barely the last 10,000 years. Some believe that the definitive leap towards culture was achieved through the acquisition of a creative language capable of expressing ideas and sentiments more advanced than the simple communication of Homo erectus.The First Artists Cave paintings, like those of the caves of Altamira (Spain) and Lascaux (France) leave no doubt that those who made them truly possessed the attributes of human beings Architecture had not arrived, but paintings had, engraved and sculptured in stone or bone There exist various theories about the function of cave painting that consider the aesthetic, the magical, the social and the religious - not much different from the questions about art today

CAVE-PAINTING TECHNIQUES

GEOMETRIC DESIGNS Dotted and lineal geometric designs, along with mythical chimeras, have been found among European Cave paintings similar to the rock art of Aboriginal Australians.

ART ON THE WALLS

Cave painting is a phenomenon that was found mainly in the current regions of France and Spain In France, there are more than 130 caves; the most famous are located in the Aquitaine region (Lascaux, Pech-Merle, Laugerie, La Madeleine) and in the Pyrenees (Niaux, Le Tucs d'Audubert, Bedeilhac). Spain has some 60 caves in the Cantabria region to the north, among them the cave of Altamira, and 180 caves further south. Examples from other regions include caves at Addaura, Italy and Kapova, Russia. Portable art, on the other hand, was abundant in all Europe. Builders of Objects Homo sapiens sapiens distinguished itself from its ancestors, who were already making rudimentary tools, through the growing use of such new materials as bone and above all for the specialization of new tools Mortars, knives, boring tools and axes had forms and functions continually more sophisticated. There also appeared, in addition to utensils and tools, objects with ornamental and representative functions that attested to humans' increasing capacity for symbolism. These manifestations, through which the art could leave the caves, are known as portable art. It produced objects that were utilitarian, luxurious or ceremonial, like the Palaeolithic 'Venus' figurines. Some 10,000 years ago, there was an interglacial period on Earth that caused a gradual increase in temperatures and an overall climatic change that brought a modification to the life of humans. Instead of roaming from place to place to hunt, people began to create societies based on sedentary life, agriculture and the domestication of animals. Some villages grew so much that they became true cities, such as Çatal Hüyük in southern Turkey. In the ruins of this city, considered one of the milestones of modern archaeology, were found a good number of ceramics and statues of the so-called mother goddess - a woman giving birth - that belonged to a fertility ritual. In addition, there are signs that the inhabitants practised funeral rights and built dolmens for collective graves.

The Neolithic City of Çatal Hüyük

Çatal Hüyük is located in southern Anatolia (Turkey). Houses were built side by side, sharing a common wall. There were no exterior windows or openings, and the buildings had flat-terraced roofs. People entered through the roof, and there were usually one or two storeys. The walls and terraces were made of plaster and then painted red. In some main residences, there were paintings on the walls and roof. The houses were made of mud bricks and had a sanctuary dedicated to the mother goddess. During the excavation, many religious articles were uncovered: the majority were ceramic figures in relief depicting the mother goddess and heads of bulls and leopards.