Is Cave Painting Art? Defend Your Opinion with Relative Examples.

1. Is cave painting art? Defend your opinion with relative examples.

In my opinion cave paintings are art and I also think it is good art. I know that there are differing views on what exactly their purpose was, but we will never know. I say enjoy them while we can and try to learn as much from that we can. Human history is full of periods of artistic expression and growth but none show the beginnings of human "culture". Cave paintings could have served as directions to a herd of bison grazing in a local field or they could have been painted as a warning to opposing tribes to indicate that the area has already been claimed. It is also possible that they were painted simply because they were pleasing to the eye and served as a story telling device to pass on a tribe's history. As cave art progressed different colors were added along with a more defined technique. Crude outlines were replaced with paintings that showed more definition and detail.

The oldest cave painting known to man is that of Chauvet in France. Those specific cave paintings have been carbon dated and are at least 35,000 years old. They are crude depictions of a grazing animal possibly a buffalo or bison. Additional cave paintings show human stick figures and hand prints. Cave painting have also been found in numerous areas of France, Spain, Australia and in several countries in Africa. It is my opinion that they are all unique and people will never be able to see anything like them for the rest of human history. I find it hard to believe that people can look at something that is so one of a kind and not appreciate the artistic beginnings of art.