Analyzing Upper Paleolithic cave paintings from about 40,000 to 14,000 years ago, researchers at Tel Aviv University found that many were located in narrow narrow passages or passages within navigable cave systems with only artificial light.
The study focuses on decorated caves in Europe, mainly in Spain and France, and offers an explanation of why cave painters would choose to decorate deep areas within cave systems.
“It appears that people of the Upper Paleolithic barely used the interior of deep caves for daily domestic activities. These activities were mainly carried out in open-air sites, rock shelters or cave entrances,” the study says. .
“Although the representations were not created only in the dark and deep parts of the caves, the images in these places are a very impressive aspect of the cave representations and are therefore the focus of this study.” .
Using fire to light caves would have reduced oxygen levels and caused a state of hypoxia, which releases dopamine and can lead to hallucinations and experiences outside the body, Ran Barkai, co-author and professor of prehistoric archeology.
Bison depicted in the cave of Covaciella, Spain. Credit: Image Professionals GmbH / Alamy Stock Photo
Painting in these conditions was a conscious choice designed to help them interact with the cosmos, Barkai added.
“It was used to connect with things,” Barkai added. “We don’t call it rock art. It’s not a museum.”
Rock painters thought of the rocky face as a membrane connecting their world to the underworld, which they believed was a place of abundance, Barkai explained.
Cave paintings depict animals such as mammoths, bison, and goats, and experts have long debated their purpose.
The researchers argued that caves played an important role in the belief systems of the Upper Paleolithic and that paintings were part of this relationship.
“It was not the decoration that made the caves significant but the opposite: the importance of the caves chosen was the reason for their decoration,” the study says.
Barkai also suggested that the cave paintings could have been used as part of a type of initiation rite, given that there was evidence of the children.
Subsequent research will examine why children were taken to these deep areas of the caves, as well as investigate whether people were able to build resistance at low oxygen levels, Barkai said.
The article was published last week in Time and Mind: The Journal of Archeology, Consciousness and Culture.