Art. The oldest Cartoons in the World? 14,000 BP

ap La Marche (FR)

One expression of art we wouldn’t expect to be as old as 14,000 years are cartoons. Yet in the cave of La Marche ( Lussac-les-Châteaux,Vienne, see map), hunters and gatherers engraved drawings of people that look very modern to us. Some of them look as if we could meet them on the street today. Other forms of cave art may look very modern to us, but this form might be the one that is closest to contemporary people. Who has never drawn a cartoon e.g. of a teacher? It is clear that the same surprise or astonishment that struck people 14,000 years ago is still capable of moving us today. These cartoons are as far as we know the oldest ever made.

Cartoon youngster hat 1

Drawing in Picasso style in La Marche 14,000 years ago

Two young men with Bandana (3 Cartoon)

 

Cartoon Solshenitsin look alike 4

Cartoon Boy 5 La Marche

Cartoon Angry young man 6

Cartoon Young man with hat, sitting 8

Cartoon Old, bold man 9. La Marche France

Cartoon Collection of portraits, drawn sideways 11 La Marche

Dr. Marc Vermeersch marc.vermeersch@gmail.com

If you are interested in art you might like these blogs:
The Origin of Aesthetic Feeling and Art Fundamental: How our aesthetic feeling originated in reproduction of man, a darwinian explanation.
The oldest statuettes adapted by man are between 233,000 and 800,000 years old
“Lion Man”, the oldest statuette with a combination man-animal ‘Der Löwenmensch” was found in Germany.
The oldest Love Statuette in the World They keep on loving for ever in the British Luseeum.
A virtual visit to the Lascaux Cave is mind blowing!
Nerja Caves: the oldest Cave Art in Europe, 42,000 years old Rock paintings , probably made by neanderthals
7000 BP. The Thinker and the Sitting Woman. Two extraordinary statuettes from Romania.