5 ms·

Why 15,000-year-old art may have been displayed in firelight

27 points by helsinkiandrew 5y ago

PlotCitizen 5y ago
Paywalled
- czx4f4bd 5y ago
  The Wayback Machine has it: https://web.archive.org/web/20220422124053/https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/why-15000-year-old-art-might-have-been-displayed-in-firelight/21808843 https://web.archive.org/web/20220422124053/https://www.econo... Here's the actual paper, too: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0266146 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal...
- jklinger410 5y ago
  And it's not even a new idea.
  - oblak 5y ago
    Can confirm deliberately posting paywalled articles is not a new idea. People have been doing it for decades!
    - jklinger410 5y ago
      No, the idea that ancient paintings were designed to look animated by firelight is not a new idea.
trasz 5y ago
That sounds interesting. I wonder if the video from simulation described in the article is available somewhere?
- kritiko 5y ago
  https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0266146 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal... See Supporting Information section
jph 5y ago
The cave firelight is fascinating in the film "Cave of Forgotten Dreams" by Werner Herzog, where he documents the art of the Chauvet caves of Southern France. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1664894/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1664894/
verisimi 5y ago
There are no photos in the article of the Palaeolithic stone plaquettes! Take a look at them here: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0266146 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal... scroll through the images at the bottom..
stolenmerch 5y ago
This theory has been around for decades and keeps getting "rediscovered" every few years. I think this newly published finding is additional evidence but it's not a major new discovery.
juanani 5y ago
karaterobot 5y ago
> That thought would be interesting enough to chew over, but the researchers have gone one hypothesis further: that the fire was more than mere illumination and its flickerings acted to provide a primitive animation to the plaquettes’ carvings. I just checked, and LED lighting wasn't invented until much later than 15,000 years ago. So, whether they benefited from the primitive animation or not, I am confident they would have displayed their art by firelight anyway.
- seoaeu 5y ago
  Or sunlight...
  - karaterobot 5y ago
    The plaquettes are small and portable, so they may have done both. But if they're enjoying the animation effect of a fire, it's probably dark.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
mc4ndr3 5y ago
Paywall. No photos.
TheDesolate0 5y ago
toraway1234 5y ago
[dead]

PlotCitizen 5y ago

Paywalled

czx4f4bd 5y ago
The Wayback Machine has it: https://web.archive.org/web/20220422124053/https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/why-15000-year-old-art-might-have-been-displayed-in-firelight/21808843 https://web.archive.org/web/20220422124053/https://www.econo... Here's the actual paper, too: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0266146 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal...
jklinger410 5y ago
And it's not even a new idea.
- oblak 5y ago
  Can confirm deliberately posting paywalled articles is not a new idea. People have been doing it for decades!
  - jklinger410 5y ago
    No, the idea that ancient paintings were designed to look animated by firelight is not a new idea.

trasz 5y ago

That sounds interesting. I wonder if the video from simulation described in the article is available somewhere?

kritiko 5y ago
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0266146 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal... See Supporting Information section

jph 5y ago

The cave firelight is fascinating in the film "Cave of Forgotten Dreams" by Werner Herzog, where he documents the art of the Chauvet caves of Southern France. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1664894/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1664894/

verisimi 5y ago

There are no photos in the article of the Palaeolithic stone plaquettes! Take a look at them here: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0266146 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal... scroll through the images at the bottom..

stolenmerch 5y ago

This theory has been around for decades and keeps getting "rediscovered" every few years. I think this newly published finding is additional evidence but it's not a major new discovery.

juanani 5y ago

karaterobot 5y ago

> That thought would be interesting enough to chew over, but the researchers have gone one hypothesis further: that the fire was more than mere illumination and its flickerings acted to provide a primitive animation to the plaquettes’ carvings. I just checked, and LED lighting wasn't invented until much later than 15,000 years ago. So, whether they benefited from the primitive animation or not, I am confident they would have displayed their art by firelight anyway.

seoaeu 5y ago
Or sunlight...
- karaterobot 5y ago
  The plaquettes are small and portable, so they may have done both. But if they're enjoying the animation effect of a fire, it's probably dark.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

mc4ndr3 5y ago

Paywall. No photos.

TheDesolate0 5y ago

toraway1234 5y ago

[dead]