Prof Alice Roberts visits the Vézère Valley, Dordogne, to discover more about how our ancestors endured the unimaginable conditions of the last Ice Age.
During this time, the Pech Merle cave was used as a place of refuge by prehistoric peoples, as the area had a distinctly arctic, frigid climate, with harsh winters. It is here that Prof Roberts is delighted to view first-hand the magnificent artistic expressions of these early hunter-gatherers.
This clip is from Incredible Human Journey (2009). You can watch the full episode from this series in the UK on BBC iPlayer: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00ks641/the-incredible-human-journey-3-europe
#HunterGatherers #IceAge #CavePaintings
Subscribe: https://bbc.in/4b7tZxt
Welcome to BBC Timestamp, your home for all things history. Shed new light on the past by unveiling hidden worlds throughout time, dig into the fascinating true stories behind legendary myths, and learn about cutting-edge technologies helping to rethink stories from across the ages.
This is a channel from BBC Studios who help fund new BBC programmes. Service information and feedback: https://www.bbcstudios.com
46 Comments
Why do you think art has been important to humans for tens of thousands of years?
Bernard Cribbins wasn't just an actor, singer, comedian but also a specialist artist archaeologist. Extraordinary man.
And another will come ….
I have never yet seen an explanation as to why almost the exact same paintings exist on cave and shelter walls in the Drakensburg Mountains and foothills of Kwazulu Natal in South Africa. What communication existed between tribal people 6000 miles apart? A long way to walk.
oh brother…sacred…temple…atheists going hard here
Making up all sorts of hokey rubbish about the paintings. We don't know and never will. Alice I can draw better than that, come visit my cave you beautiful woman
СПАСИБО ЗА ВИДЕО. Открытия меня впечатлили, и рисунки на камнях.
Is that dawg for real the ol' splitting A+ Certified technique
Why no one is watching the paintings in Foz Coa? Are they too many and too much important for what academics know in these days?
Professor Roberts is a remarkable scientist, researcher, presenter along with the many other skills she has. She has a very 'easy on the ear' voice, perfect for her presenting career along with her personality, making the varied subjects she is so knowledgeable about very interesting. Whilst I don't agree with her on all her beliefs, she is the sort of scientist I would always listen to and respect her expertise. A wonderful human being.
ARTWORK WAS USED FOR ORAL AND VISUAL HISTORY TO THE CLAN OF PEOPLE IN THE AREA.
AROUND THE WORLD, NATIVE ANIMALS HAVE BEEN DEPICTED ON WALL ART BY THE NATIVES.
*WHO WANTS TO LOOK AT A BLANK WALL? ANY ARTWORK IS BETTER.
**PLUS, THEY DIDN'T HAVE WALLPAPER, PAINT IN 5 GALLON BUCKETS OR TVS. HA HA HA
I believe this was a way for them to manifest either making the animal weaker or help manifest how the hunt would go . Most paintings have some sort of hunt or something involved
I hope everyone knows that the people who painted these figures were black Africans who migrated to Europe between 40 and 50,000 years ago. White people have only been around for 6 to 8,000 years.
Hunter gatherers only painted animals because they had to be totally obsessed with animals to even have a chance of maybe competing. They thought about hunting the way a young kobe Bryant thought about basketball, it was everything. Still today there are interviews with hunter gatherers asking them "life's big questions", they arent interested, they bring everything back to kudu and baboons and pouched rats and maybe honey, they dont care about philosophy, they cant afford to. They had to be great super athlete hunters to maybe survive, and that meant full obsession. If you watch "alone", where they put modern humans out in the wilderness with modern equipment and see how long they can survive, over 11 seasons there have been exactly ZERO who weren't starving to death within a few months. Not one was actually surviving long term, and these were survival experts.
someone who stammered was in great demand for painting ?
Also from 2009, but the paintings haven't changed. Note the 3D quality of the animals, 2 legs in front, 2 in back. We see that at Lascaux too. Perspective wasn't painted again until about 1550.
Those famous human footpriints were finally interpreted by Kalihari Bushman who read more people and their activities ❤❤❤
Been there last year. Impressing.
Love this content, but I live in a country that has Homo Saipan rock art and cave art that pre-dates any prehistoric European human art by many tens of thousands of years. After all the damage the British caused in Australia, I wish they would cover more Australian Aboriginal art and show the world what the begging of art in our species truly looks like!
The Vézère Valley in the Dordogne region of France, is famous for its Ice Age cave paintings. The valley contains some of the most significant prehistoric art sites in the world, created by early Homo sapiens (Cro-Magnons) between 30,000 and 10,000 years ago.
One of the most famous caves in the Vézère Valley is Lascaux, discovered in 1940. It contains breathtaking paintings of animals like horses, bison, and deer, dating back around 17,000 years. Other important sites in the region include Font-de-Gaume (with polychrome paintings), Rouffignac (with over 250 mammoth engravings), and Combarelles (known for its intricate engravings of animals and human figures).
These caves provide invaluable insights into the lives, beliefs, and artistic skills of our Ice Age ancestors. Some caves are closed to the public to prevent damage, but replicas and museums allow visitors to experience the art.
Who doesn't like listening to spitting..
These are the most compelling works of art in all the world.
Smoking hot history
If I was a Neanderthal, I would use a hollow reed to spray that charcoal on the wall. 😂
who made this smeghead a professor?? i used to think she was the ants elbows until she made her own theories about the aquatic ape theory, then scolds Sir David for agreeing with the theory, still the gullible fool
What a beautiful representative of the homo sapiens you are, professor !
What amazes me about these "primitive " paintings is how artistically perfect they are . We never see any "duff " try-out sketches . Surely they must have made some before the finished product as here , but where are they ? Also they themselves would never have seen their work in the amount of light we can now illuminate them by. Did they practice outside ? They must really have strained their sight to the extreme working in semi-darkness to produce such detailed and exquisite work. Will we ever find the answers ? Why did this art cease to be practiced ? What came next ? Nothing for thousands of years ? Some of these paintings show more accuracy than a lot of Medieval art .
Stunning Neolithic paintings. Fantastic thing is in Arnhem Land ,Australia there’s a DIRECT lineage of hand stenciling going back at least 30,000 years. And sorry it’s not a ‘hawkhawkhawkhawkhawk…’ guess technique but a spray method. Seemed to have done the job for thousands of years!
When those paintings were new, the pyramids of Giza were 10,000 years in the future.
I find it interesting that these people act as if they KNOW that these depict "spirits" or that they were sacred. They just don't and cant know these things. That kind of talk is just ridiculous. It's also dangerous to science. Once that mindset is in place more discoveries may be ignored or set aside because they don't fit a narrative.
VERY HARD TO BELIEVE PEOPLE DID CAVE PAINTINGS BEFORE THE LAST ICE AGE THEN CAME A FEW YEARS LATER TO DO SOME MORE. NOT THE SAME PEOPLE.
IT TOOK ACCORDING TO SOME EXPERTS, AROUND 8,000 YEARS TO FOR THE ICE SHEET TO MELT. THEN DON'T FORGET THE SUPER MASSIVE FLOODING ACROSS THE WHOLE OF EUROPE THAT WOULD HAVE OCCURRED ALL THE WAY TO SIBERIA. A SHEET OF ICE 3 TO 4 KM THICK. THE MELT WATER WOULD ACCUMULATE IN THE VALLEYS HEADING TO THE SEA.
The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), a period of peak glacial extent, spanned roughly from 27,000 to 20,000 years ago. Evidence suggests that the ice sheets reached their maximum size for a relatively short period, between 25,000 and 13,000 years ago. The Last Glacial Maximum is characterized by extensive ice sheets, colder sea surface temperatures, and lower atmospheric CO2 concentrations. In France, the LGM is known to have affected the Vosges region, where a regional ice sheet advanced during the early part of the last glacial cycle.
During the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), about 20,000 years ago, ice sheets in Europe, including the area of Vezere, France, reached considerable depths. While specific, exact ice thicknesses for the Vezere area are difficult to pinpoint, general information about the LGM in Europe indicates that the ice sheets there were at least 3-4 kilometers (2-2.5 miles) thick at their thickest points. These ice sheets, like the Laurentide Ice Sheet in North America, fluctuated in thickness and extent over time, with the LGM representing a peak.
Elaboration:
LGM Timeline:
The LGM occurred approximately 20,000 years ago, during the last phase of the Pleistocene epoch.
Sea Level Impacts:
The immense volume of ice locked up in ice sheets during the LGM caused a significant lowering of global sea levels, estimated to be around 125 meters (410 feet) below present-day levels.
Ice Sheet Extent in Europe:
During the LGM, glaciers extended across much of Northern Europe, covering areas that are now parts of France, Germany, and other countries.
Variations in Ice Thickness:
While the general thickness of the ice sheets in Europe was significant (3-4 km), it's important to remember that there were likely variations in ice thickness across different regions within the Vezere area and the broader European landscape.
Challenges in Precise Measurement:
Reconstructing past ice sheet extents and thicknesses requires analysis of geological records, including glacial deposits, and the use of modeling techniques. While these methods provide valuable insights, precise measurements for specific locations like Vezere can be challenging due to factors like limited geological data and the effects of subsequent geological processes.
During the Last Glacial Maximum, around 20,000 years ago, ice sheets extended eastward from France, reaching as far as the Taymyr Peninsula in western Siberia. This glaciation, known as the Würm or Weichselian Glaciation in Europe, covered northern Europe, including much of Great Britain, Germany, Poland, and Russia.
Key Points:
Glacial Extent:
The ice sheets extended eastward from France, covering much of northern Europe and reaching into Russia.
Last Glacial Maximum (LGM):
This period, around 20,000 years ago, saw the greatest extent of glacial coverage.
Weichselian Glaciation:
In northern Europe, this glaciation was known as the Weichselian Glaciation, while in the Alpine region it was called the Würm Glaciation.
Taymyr Peninsula:
The easternmost extent of the glaciation reached the Taymyr Peninsula in western Siberia.
CAN YOU CLARIFY YOUR TIME PERIOD OF BEFORE AND AFTER VISITATIONS TO THIS CAVE FOR WHICH PAINTINGS WERE DONE BEFORE AND AFTER THE LAST ICE AGE PLEASE?
What is remarkable about these cave paintings and other famous caves, such as Lascaux, is the level of artistic skill. How many people in a group can draw well? These images are superb, they're not clumsy stick figures, they're brilliant interpretations.
Absolutely awe-inspiring to see how early humans braved the Ice Age and still found time—and vision—to create art that transcends millennia. Pech Merle reminds us that creativity and survival have always gone hand in hand. These cave walls whisper stories older than history. ❄🖐 #IceAgeArt #PechMerle #AncientHumanity
Which of our works of art will survive dozens of millennia? Likely ZERO.
We have no idea what they were aiming for in their paintings. We can't tell if it was sacred, spiritual, or just beauty.
the guy spitting on his hand can stop now. geezus. they did it because they had too.
It would be great if they painted self portraits.
Would love to see those cave paintings recreated in modern wallpaper.❤
I well remember back in the late 1950's I visited the Lascaux Caves. The paintings there are truly amazing almost unbelievable, most in colour almost like cartoons with animals half size or so. When I saw them I thought they were too good to be true as they were painted in a dark cave, but they are true!
I didn't give a rats ass about the Horse…
But that hand, that hand got me…
she's really gorgeous
I am tired of seeing prof Alice Roberts.
sorry, they were not symbols at all, they were probably very much functioning as animated entities that would be worshipped to or used to inspire a hunt, etc. They were not symbols in that they did not 'represent' something, rather they WERE something.
BBC at it's lies again. A brush made with a chewed branch will do it perfectly – effortlessly, beautifully and in no time.
But the BBC has to show them as brain rot idiots – hence spitting for half an hour to make ONE stencil.
For a race of people who have lived on top of the glaciers for 100 Generations to see the climate change that melted the ice from Oklahoma up to where it is today had to be real shocking, and very welcome to be able to stand on dry land!
I identify as cave art