by Mildred Larson

Created on: November 06, 2008   Last Updated: March 10, 2009

Many prehistorians have queried whether the limits of man's self-expression had been reached by the magnificent cultures that flourished at the end of the ice age. One such culture was that of the people inhabiting the region that is now France and Spain sometime between 40,000-10,000 BCE. Bursting upon the scene in an explosion of creative energy, these people produced a profusion of spectacular paintings on the walls of some 200 caves that dotted their landscape. We cannot help but wonder about these artists who, following a dig that unearthed skeletons near France's Cave La Magdeleine, became known as the Magdalenians.

One theory is that a certain cave in France was a center for artistic education; in fact, Cave Limeuil yielded up bones and stones that were layered with engravings of animals thought to be miniatures of those painted on cave walls. Another theory is that all the art was executed by an artistic genius using assistants to erect scaffolds, mix pigments and keep lamps burning. Many other theories have been postulated, but all that is really known is that the craft was passed down through many generations.

Much has been learned about the Magdalenians as a people. Studies of their cave art, sculptures and decorated bones, pebbles and rocks by anthropologists, archaeologists, and other scholars, have revealed an art that developed from simplistic early forms to detailed, accurate figures over several chronological periods. Up to 32,000 BCE, the artists drew simple outlines of small animals; from 32,000 to 30,000 BCE, they drew larger animals and filled in the animals' bodies with red or black paint; and from 30,000 to 10,000 BCE, they drew massive animals, washed over the animals' bodies with earthy tones of brown or black, and detailed the animals' anatomy with thick shading.

Natural earth pigments yielded the artists five colors: red, yellow, brown, black and white. A clay ocher containing iron oxide was available in shades of clear red, yellow and brown. Judging from the broad spectrum of red hues enlivening late cave paintings, these original artists must have known that when yellow ocher is heated beyond 250 degrees Celsius, it passes through different shades of red as it oxidizes into haematite. For the color black, either manganese dioxide or charcoal was used. Here it should be noted that iron oxide and manganese dioxide were in plentiful supply within a narrow radius of some caves in central France.

After the artists had ground the natural

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