Seán Burke

And this was not only exciting for being the first art from this period, but it was the first solid evidence that humans existed alongside these ancient animals that

The first site that was kind of identified as Paleolithic was Altamira. So this was discovered in 1879 by Marsilio Sanz de Sautula. He was kind of excavating and recording parts of the cave. It's a stain, isn't it? In Spain, yeah, sorry. Yeah, in Spain. And as he was doing this, his daughter was bored and playing, and she'd come across the bison, the famous bison ceiling of Altamira.

The first site that was kind of identified as Paleolithic was Altamira. So this was discovered in 1879 by Marsilio Sanz de Sautula. He was kind of excavating and recording parts of the cave. It's a stain, isn't it? In Spain, yeah, sorry. Yeah, in Spain. And as he was doing this, his daughter was bored and playing, and she'd come across the bison, the famous bison ceiling of Altamira.

So this is really beautiful polychrome, so they're using multiple colors, depictions of bison that are on the ceiling of Altamira. Sansa Sautola had this amazing discovery at Altamira Cave. And he wrote this up in 1880. And then Filanova y Piera, who was a professor at the University of Madrid, he then presented this discovery at a conference in, I think, 1881.

So this is really beautiful polychrome, so they're using multiple colors, depictions of bison that are on the ceiling of Altamira. Sansa Sautola had this amazing discovery at Altamira Cave. And he wrote this up in 1880. And then Filanova y Piera, who was a professor at the University of Madrid, he then presented this discovery at a conference in, I think, 1881.

And when he does that, people just can't believe that this was Paleolithic. They'd been warned about people making forgeries and wanting to debunk this idea of the Paleolithic being a period. So they wouldn't accept that this was Paleolithic.

And when he does that, people just can't believe that this was Paleolithic. They'd been warned about people making forgeries and wanting to debunk this idea of the Paleolithic being a period. So they wouldn't accept that this was Paleolithic.

I don't know. And it wasn't until 1902 and more kind of discoveries of cave art were emerging at this time that eventually Emile Cartelac writes this apology called Mia Culpa ad un Skeptic. So, you know.

I don't know. And it wasn't until 1902 and more kind of discoveries of cave art were emerging at this time that eventually Emile Cartelac writes this apology called Mia Culpa ad un Skeptic. So, you know.

Yeah, my bad. He accepts the legitimacy of Altamira. Unfortunately, this was after... Sans de Sartre had passed away, so he never got to see his sign accepted as authentic.

Yeah, my bad. He accepts the legitimacy of Altamira. Unfortunately, this was after... Sans de Sartre had passed away, so he never got to see his sign accepted as authentic.

We have Kresol Crags in Derbyshire. That's actually the northernmost example of cave art that we have. And we also find other examples of Paleolithic art from other sites as far east as sort of Ukraine and Russia, throughout Europe, actually.

We have Kresol Crags in Derbyshire. That's actually the northernmost example of cave art that we have. And we also find other examples of Paleolithic art from other sites as far east as sort of Ukraine and Russia, throughout Europe, actually.

Not that I know of, unfortunately.

Not that I know of, unfortunately.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. So the oldest example we have of Homo sapiens making art comes from Blombos Cave in South Africa. And it's a small piece of ochre. So ochre is usually used for drawing on cave walls, right? But it's just a piece of ochre that is engraved with patterns of lines. And we have a few examples of these. And they date from between 100,000 years ago to 75,000 years ago from this site.

Yeah. So the oldest example we have of Homo sapiens making art comes from Blombos Cave in South Africa. And it's a small piece of ochre. So ochre is usually used for drawing on cave walls, right? But it's just a piece of ochre that is engraved with patterns of lines. And we have a few examples of these. And they date from between 100,000 years ago to 75,000 years ago from this site.

So really early. Yeah, really early. Yeah.