An archaeological dig of a Stone Age settlement in England has revealed that the inside walls of the stone dwellings were painted and decorated with patterns several thousand years earlier than had previously been know about. Wondering what the hot colors for interiors were 5,000 years ago?
Red, yellow and orange. According to this article in the Daily Mail on the discovery, the paints were "pigments from ground up minerals bound with animal fat and eggs." The patterns used to decorate are described as "chevrons and zigzags" — early Missoni Home!
MORE INFO: Stone Age DIY | Daily Mail
Image: Flintstones home via Design Ties
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...and where did hip Cro-Magnons learn about these "Hot Colors"
Cave and Garden?
Hovel Therapy?
Neanderthal Decor?
Actually, those geometric figures weren't "decorating" at all, but images seen in the first stage of trances, or altered states of consciousness. Seeing paleolithic cave paintings as interior decoration was a 19th century interpretation; contemporary views on the paintings vary, but the latest and most compelling interpretation by the anthropologist David Lewis Williams (book: The Mind in the Cave) suggests that shamans guided groups of people to create the larger images on vaults and high up on walls after their shamanic journeys to the other side. Geometric forms, or entoptic imagery, were the first images they saw on these journeys. Oliver Sacks has talked about these forms in blog posts on migraines in the NYT and other places.
Oh, come on, everyone. Lighten up. I think AT's tongue was firmly planted in its cheek with this post.
Sheesh people!
emmabemma, how dare you! This is VERY SERIOUS. These commenters know EXACTLY how life was for the Neanderthals and it's NOTHING to joke about. If YOU understood how SERIOUS it was and how TRANCES were central to everything, you would not be joking.
And they watched I Love Lucy...
Other animals decorate their abodes, check out the Bower birds! And as "bald apes" humans have been required to adorn ourselves, if nothing else than for protection from the elements. It's completely feasible to think that decoration happened just for the sake of aesthetics. Aesthetics perhaps for the purpose of attracting a mate? Or god forbid, just for entertainment.
@emmabemma...I know!
Warm colors are easier to find in minerals, not to insult the primitive people of England's intelligence or ability to find and create cool colored paints.
darcitananda has it right. Even humans in survivor mode are concerned about aesthetics. In hard times, aesthetics may be all that gives one joy. Watch "The Story of the Weeping Camel" and you'll see the amazingly beautiful and colorful decor in the Mongolian nomads' tents.
I keep telling my wife we need to get one of those elephant shower heads.
In 3000 bc I don't think these people were ONLY concerned about surviving. They did spend years rolling large stones and stacking them on circular paths.... The amount of time people had back then, wouldn't be surprised to hear about one getting into interior decorating. They probably rearranged their furniture every day.
The Daily Mail is not the most respected newspaper in the country folks. Where can I sign up for Cave and Garden?.
The only problem with the elephant shower heads and pretty much any other appliance that involves an animal, is they're always making wisecracks when you use them.
Right on, btoddster. And don't forget that when walking through one's cave you'll have to pass the same sofa and lamp at least a half dozen times.
Nothing like a little stone age humor, but the design history schoolmarm in me (ok, she's basically all of me) wants to remind everyone that humans in 3000BC were not genetically distant from who we are now, and they weren't under constant attack from their local T-rex. That era was near the cusp of the bronze age in most places, and plenty of artifacts exist from that time, many of which - though functional - were decorated with paint (like this amazing Iranian storage jar at the Met, circa 3000BC). It's different from painting the walls of caves, but same idea - and same decorative impulse!
Love the photo :o)
And a quick prehistory note: Painted caves have been dated as much as 30,000 years old - interior design has been in our blood for a LONG time!
All the gay cavemen were all, eww your mammoth skin clashes with the pottery.
@Sussu
I bet they were all "Omg did you see that kitchen? I don't know how those Neanderthals cook in there."
In Anatolia, 8000-7000 BC, there are red, brown, black paintings and small god/dess and animal statues, terra cotta pots at homes. They weren't surviving and decorating their homes only, also they were using mirrors made by opsidian and using jewelry for beauty. In 3000 BC they were much more civilized then lot of actual modern people with their laws and life styles.
btoddster, I will take that under sdvisement next time i go to cave, cinder, and cement, in Bedrock
KayinKCMO, didn't they always have huge pads in cartoons? I guess the artists were inspired by their studios, so spacious! Kazoo had the best home, of course, dum dums, probably near the Spacelys. Course...the best cartoon interior was the mod jazz Tom & Jerry.
Texaninexile, I'm intrigued, but suspicious that all early people had the same shamanistic beliefs (after all, Medieval and Victorian Europeans weren't nearly as religious as we believe/perceive them to have been, it's just, especially from the Medieval, only the religious left records).
I realize most people haven't continued reading the thread, but I wanted to add something.
I find it interesting that so many people on a design blog want to believe it's about interior decoration. As I tell my students, interpretation can tell you sometimes more about the interpreter than the art itself. Including the latest one I cited. Do with it what you will.
We are talking about "art" made from approximately 30,000 to 15 or 14,000 BCE. NOT 3000 BCE. Not near the Bronze Age at all, especially in northern Europe. Even so, evidence of shamanic activity occurs from the Upper Paleolithic all the way through, I would argue, the Romanesque period in France (relics and miracles? ecstatic spiritual experiences?) Anyone had an art history class in the last 10 years?
Religion was arguably THE most important aspect of prehistoric hominids' lives. Other hunter-gatherer groups across the globe and throughout time have institutionalized shamanism into their spiritual practice. Given Lewis Williams's evidence, it's pretty well accepted that Paleolithic cave paintings could reflect that.
Not to pull rank here, but I teach this stuff. Every semester, to undergraduates at a 4 year college. I'm an art historian and I've watched the interpretations of cave painting change over the last 15 years, and it just kinda irked me to see a post so flippant about one of the things I take most seriously. Forgive me for thinking I could add something to the conversation.