Hall of Bulls: Uncovering the Wonders of Prehistoric Art - Essay Sample

Introduction

The Hall of Bulls in the Lascaux cave paintings have, for years, aroused intense curiosity. Historical, archaeological research states that the artwork dates between 28,000 to 10,000 BCE (Mary). The artistic work represents early signs of desires held by men to make sense of their surroundings through artistic representation. Despite numerous theories getting advanced in line with the creative images, their definitive purposes are yet to get established.

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What Makes the Hall of Bulls?

The historical Hall of Bull's paintings in the Lascaux cave in France are painted using ochre and charcoal (Mary). Ochre and charcoal are soft, soluble, and pigmented earthen materials that exist in a myriad of colors ranging from white, yellow, black, red, and brown (Mary). Archaeological research and studies reflect that Old Stone Age humans that coexisted in the Lascaux cave would mix the charcoal and ochre to form paints (Mary). The Hall of Bull's paintings entails different representations of animal images such as bulls, horses, deer, bison, rhinoceros, bear, elks, and human figures performing mysterious roles (Mary).

Where is the Hall of Bulls Painted?

The ancient Hall of Bull are paintings on natural contours on the Lascaux cave's wall (Mary). The Lascaux cave walls are calcite white, non-porous, and dry. They provided a perfect and unique surface to paint or draw (Mary).

Cultures From Which the Hall of Bulls Emanate

The Hall of Bulls emanates from ancient individuals of the Paleolithic age, which entailed both Homo Sapiens Sapiens and Neanderthals coexisting in the Lascaux Cave region (Mary). Their cultures involved hunting for the scarce food resources present in the cold southwestern France climates (Mary).

The Hall of Bulls' Theme and Subject Matter

They are a myriad of twisted themes, subject matters, and perspectives emanating from the Hall of Bulls paintings. Some Hall of Bulls paintings entails animals getting depicted from a front viewpoint while in others a linear view to explain the animal's contour (Mary). Some of the different animals represented in the Hall of Bull's artwork are painted with full and infilled solid colors while others get depicted by lines drawn on the cave walls (Mary). It illustrates that life emanated from within since animals represented an essential part of the Paleolithic age human's life (Mary).

Historical Uses of the Hall of Bulls

Historical research conducted by Henri Breuil using ethnography reflects that the Hall of bull's painting must have been used as a symbol of good fortune when hunting or used in performing rituals (Mary). The seeking of good hunting fortunes can be evidenced by the many deliberate, carefully plotted, and colored paintings on the Lascaux cave's walls (Mary). According to Henri Breuil's research, the repetitive, deeply engraved, and overlapping artworks indicate that the Old Stone Age humans held rituals (Mary). Old Stone Age humans believed that painting images of their prey would help them when hunting (Mary).

What does the Hall of Bulls Represent?

The Hall of Bulls cave paintings represent that animals were essential for the survival of humans in the Old Stone Age. Animals were the primary source of food (Mary). Some theories believe that the Hall of bull's images and paintings represented communicative narratives (Mary). It gets reflected by one of the Hall of bull's image of a bison facing a human figure and a bird on the side (Mary).

Cooper Bison Skull

The Cooper Bison Skull was discovered in 1994 and recognized as one of the most significant and oldest artifacts found in North America (Bement 85). The Cooper Bison Skull is over 10,000 years old (Bement 85). It was discovered in the Cooper Bison Kill site in Oklahoma, United States (Carter, Brian & Leland 116).

What Makes the Cooper Bison Skull?

The Cooper Bison Skull is a historical sun-bleached bison's skull with a red hematite paint (Zoch, Paul, Leland, Bement & Brian 38). The red color used on the bison's skull got obtained from crushed red rocks. The Cooper Bison Skull's painting assumes the shape of lightning or thunderbolt (Zoch et al., 38). The Cooper Bison skull, currently preserved with a preservative foam substance, appears red when moist and brown when dry.

What Is the Cooper Bison Skull Medium?

The lightning-shaped art is painted on a Bison's skull. Archaeological lab manager Kent Buehler states that the Cooper Bison Skull got chipped from getting stomped by other bisons killed at the Cooper Bison Kill Site (Bement 87). The human painted bison's skull is currently preserved at the Oklahoma Archaeological Survey.

Cultures From Which the Cooper Bison Skull Emanate

Historical research states that Cooper Bison's Skull emanates from the Folsom hunters that lived in most of Central North America (Zoch et al., 40). Folsom traditions involved using tools with projectile tips to kill bisons at specific kill sites (Zoch et al., 43). Folsom were Paleo-Indians that mostly consumed bison meat as their staple food (Zoch et al., 46).

What Is the Cooper Bison Skull Theme and Subject Matter?

The theme of the Cooper Bison Skull paintings is braveness and aggressiveness from their lightning shapes. The painting's red color reflects on their bravery when killing a bison. The cooper Bison skull was to reflect and indicate an individual's strength.

Historical Uses of the Cooper Bison Skull

The Cooper Bison Skull might have been used as a charm to seek safety and success for the Folsom when hunting large and dangerous animals (Zoch et al., 50). The skulls got used in Folsom rituals and ceremonies aimed at bringing bisons closer (Zoch et al., 52).

What Does the Cooper Bison Skull Represent?

The lightning drawings on the skull might have gotten used as a symbol of conquest against larger animals. (Zoch et al., 52).

Similarities Between Hall of Bulls and the Cooper Bison Skull

Similarities between the two artworks can be identified from facts that both are works of hunters seeking success or good charm in their hunt. The artworks are also a representation of animals, a bison's skull, and an artistic representation of similar animals with the probability of being a bison. In both cases, the animals were essential in the survival of the Old Stone Age humans since they were their staple food. In both artworks, animals represented human survival. The images in both paintings were charms of plentiful and successful hunts.

Differences Between Hall of Bulls and the Cooper Bison Skull

There are also a few differences between the two Paleolithic works. The Hall of bulls utilizes cave walls as a medium on which the artwork is painted while the Cooper Bison Skull utilizes a bison's skull as the medium of painting. The paintings in the caves are representations of animals such as a bison and deers, while the painting on the cooper bison skull is zigzag lines on a skull that resembles lightning. Finally, there is also a geographical location difference where the Hall of bulls is in Lascaux cave in France, Europe, while Cooper Bison Skull was identified in Oklahoma, United States.

Works Cited

Bement, Leland C. "The Cooper site: A stratified Folsom bison kill in Oklahoma." Plains Anthropologist 42.159 (1997): 85-100. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/2052546.1997.11931839

Carter, Brian J., and Leland C. Bement. "Geoarchaeology of the Cooper site, northwest Oklahoma: Evidence for multiple Folsom bison kills." Geoarchaeology: An International Journal 18.1 (2003): 115-127. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/gea.10049

Mary, Looney, "Hall of Bulls, Lascaux," in Smarthistory, 2015. https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/global-prehistory-ap/paleolithic-mesolithic-neolithic-apah/a/lascaux

Zoch, Paul Allen, Leland C. Bement, and Brian J. Carter. Bison hunting at Cooper site: Where lightning bolts drew thundering herds. University of Oklahoma Press, 1999. https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=hfTR4jiAe64C&sitesec=buy&source=gbs_vpt_read