How Art Made The World 人、艺术、世界 -05

Henri Breuil was a French priest¹, but he was also the foremost² expert on cave art for much of the 20th century. He believed, perhaps not surprisingly, that the paintings were about hunting. Prehistoric³ artists had painted animals because they believed it would increase the chances of a successful hunt. The theory made sense. It certainly explained why only some animals had been painted. Breuil seemed to have settled the question.

But more recently, when archeologists began to examine the bones of animals that had been hunted and then eaten around the caves, they discovered something puzzling. If people had created these images to improve the chances of a successful hunt, you'd expect them to paint pictures of their quarry⁴, but they didn't. At Altamira, for instance, prehistoric artists had painted oxen.

"But the bones that'd been left were those of deer. At other French sites, they were painting woolly mannas that they were eating, a wild version of this animal --the goat. All in all there is very little correlation⁵ between the animals depicted⁶ in prehistoric art and the animals that feature in a prehistoric diet."

So Breuil's hunting theory had also failed to solve the mystery of why people first started painting. And there was a bigger problem with these theories: the pictures would need to be painted in places where people could see them. Yet something had compelled many prehistoric artists to paint in the narrowest and deepest parts of the caves ,like here in Pech Merel in France.

"Sometimes images are found on parts of a cave that are almost inaccessible⁷. It's hard to imagine how the artists got in to paint them, let alone imagine how anyone else got in to admire them. I mean who would have got into a tight spot like this to decorate the ceiling. "

This painting isn't just difficult to reach. When you finally get here, it's even harder to understand what these artists were painting . Because like many other cave images, it doesn't seem to represent anything at all.

1 priest   

n.神父，牧师，司铎，司祭，领导者，神甫；vt.使成为神职人员

参考例句：

• He confessed to a priest that he had sinned.他向神父忏悔他犯了罪。
• The priest visited all the old people in the parish.牧师探望了教区里的所有老人。

2 foremost   

adj.最初的，最前的，第一流的；adv.在最前

参考例句：

• He is considered the foremost British artist of this century.他被认为是本世纪英国第一流的艺术家。
• The premier occupies the foremost place in the world of politics.首相是政界的首要人物。

3 prehistoric   

adj.（有记载的）历史以前的，史前的，古老的

参考例句：

• They have found prehistoric remains.他们发现了史前遗迹。
• It was rather like an exhibition of prehistoric electronic equipment.这儿倒像是在展览古老的电子设备。

4 quarry   

n.采石场；v.采石；费力地找

参考例句：

• Michelangelo obtained his marble from a quarry.米开朗基罗从采石场获得他的大理石。
• This mountain was the site for a quarry.这座山曾经有一个采石场。

5 correlation   

n.相互关系，相关，关连

参考例句：

• The second group of measurements had a high correlation with the first.第二组测量数据与第一组高度相关。
• A high correlation exists in America between education and economic position.教育和经济地位在美国有极密切的关系。

6 depicted   

描绘，描画( depict的过去式和过去分词 )； 描述

参考例句：

• Other animals were depicted on the periphery of the group. 其他动物在群像的外围加以修饰。
• They depicted the thrilling situation to us in great detail. 他们向我们详细地描述了那激动人心的场面。

7 inaccessible   

adj.达不到的，难接近的

参考例句：

• This novel seems to me among the most inaccessible.这本书对我来说是最难懂的小说之一。
• The top of Mount Everest is the most inaccessible place in the world.珠穆朗玛峰是世界上最难到达的地方。