Handprints in Red Iron Oxide

Grotte de Gargas, circa 15 000 BC

Lyall Watson wrote the following concerning our primeval attraction to red iron oxide pigments,such as the coloured engravings found in the Blombas site in South African circa 100 000BC:

" ...they happen to be blood red. Once again we find evidence of our fascination with blood, which is the source of all that is life-enhancing. It carries a greater psychic load and is richer in symbolism than any other substance. It reaches directly into unconscious areas, stirring up such depths of feeling that even strong men faint at the sight of it. It is the substance of preference, chosen throughout the world, to mark all the most sacred rites of passage, and in each such ceremony it plays a central role, grasping and binding those involved into the ancient fellowship of Blood Brothers. "

Lyall Watson, 'The Nature of Things - The Secret Life of Objects'.

'Ocre Mine, Dordogne' watercolour, 2005. © Adam Cope.

Prehistoric artists used search for bright coloured earth & bring it back to their 'ateliers' to paint with. When you see the red iron oxides seeping out from the soil, it is emotive & does stir up emotions. The region around the Vézère valley has a golden limonite sandstone, the colour of raw sienna, which reflects the sun light & gives the world a golden allure. Sometimes, red iron oxide seeps out like a blood.... Prehistoric artists weren't blind to this either; researchers have found particularly red clayey soils that were carried over twenty kilometres, rolled into 'pencils'& used as paints in Lascaux.

Concerning 'Mythological' Images

Engravings
dated aurignacian
L'Abri Blanchard
Museum of Castel-Merle

What does the above portray? Animal footprints or the female sex? Why are they repeated several times over? Or are they abstract totemic signs?

"The meaning of things aren't stable. Anything can mean almost anything" - Jasper Johns

Detail of a rock face- 'Deux Bicorne -bis', oil, ©Adam Cope

Great stories, great images speak to great numbers of people. They are powerful enough to move great numbers of people. Images such as advertising campaigns (yes we live in beautiful times of great luxury), swastikas (cruel times too) or atomic mushroom clouds are strong enough images to move many. They can motivate & they do motivate. On a conscious or unconscious level.

I doubt if we will ever truly know what these images meant to the people that made them, despite the efforts of paleoarchologists. We are distant & remote from the realities & the world view of the artists that made these images. But on another level, many human life-spans later, they have a popular & widespread fascination. And probably a deep misunderstanding as well. However, for us now today, they have become iconic. They are icons of our beginnings. Both as a species as well as artists, as magicians, as dreamers. They have acquired 'mythos' & thus now belong as much in our imaginations as in the caves themselves.

Handprint & thirteen spots . Grotte de Peche-Merle, Lot, France