Halibut, La Pileta Cave, Spain.
The
question of the meaning of images in rock art has been perennially discussed.
It usually reflects one of two positions; animals in rock art represent
spiritual powers that the people perform rites to, or animals in rock art
represent groceries for the people producing it. If we visualize these two
theses as opposite ends of a spectrum, then most rock art students fall
somewhere in between in their own understanding of what they might represent.
My position is more toward the groceries end of the scale. (I wrote on this in
my May 2, 2011 column; Bighorn Sheep
Petroglyphs - Groceries, or Metaphor?) While I cannot deny that people may
have had spiritual feelings that involve the animals (in much the same way that
the Native Americans revered the bison that they subsisted on), my intuition is
that they were more focused on acquiring food than worshiping it.
Close-up, Halibut, La Pileta
Cave, Spain.
I certainly
feel that this is the case with the painting of a halibut found in La Pileta
Cave, in Spain. La Pileta, in the Province of Malaga, Andalucia, in southern
Spain, is currently 34 km. (approx. 21 miles) from the ocean, although with the
lowered sea levels during the glacial Paleolithic it would have been farther
then. It was certainly not too far for a hunter to have traveled before
returning home to picture the remarkable sight he had seen.
"At the end of the longest
gallery in the deepest part of the cave, is the "Fish Chamber", which
is dominated by La Pileta's most famous drawing: a large black fish (thought to
be a halibut), about 5 feet (1.5m) in length." (www.visual-arts-cork.com)
Halibut, wpclipart.com.
Public domain.
The
Atlantic halibut "is the largest
flatfish in the world, reaching lengths of up to 4.7 m (15 ft) and weights of
320 kg (710 lb). Its lifespan can reach 50 years."(Wikipedia)
The halibut
is "not only the largest of
flatfishes, but is one of the best characterized; its most obvious distinctive
characters, apart from its size, being that fact that it lies on the left side,
that its mouth gapes back as far as the eyes, and is armed with sharp curved
teeth; that the rear edge of its tail fin is concave, not rounded; that its two
ventral fins are alike; and that its lateral line is arched abreast of the
pectoral fin. Furthermore it is a narrower fish, relatively, than most of our
flatfishes (only about one-third as broad as it is long) but is very thick
through, and its eyes are farther apart than they are in most of the other
flounders. In the eastern Atlantic, halibut have been reported doubtfully from
the Gulf of Cadiz, and definitely from the Bay of Biscay."
(http://www.gma.org/fogm/Hippoglossus-hippoglossus.htm)
As to the
date of this picture, "one recent
radiocarbon test of charcoal taken from a drawing of one of the aurochs in The
Sanctuary (of La Pileta), gave a date of 18,130 BCE. Relying on this analysis,
archeologists believe that the earliest art in the cave was created during the
era of Solutrean art (20,000 - 15,000 BCE), though some of it might belong to
the preceding period of Gravettian art (25,000 - 20,000 BCE). The remaining
Upper Paleolithic works are assigned to Magdalenian art, created during the
period 15,000 - 10,000 BCE." (www.visual-arts-cork.com)
Whether the
artist of this picture had been personally involved in hunting for this giant
fish, or perhaps, saw it while visiting people who lived along the shore and
who possessed more of a maritime culture we cannot know. I can conjecture,
however, the impression such a fish would have made on the artist, and
understand the desire to record such an experience for the rest of the group.
NOTE:
Some images in this posting were retrieved from the internet with a search for
public domain photographs. If any of these images are not intended to be public
domain, I apologize, and will happily provide the picture credits if the owner
will contact me with them. For further information on these reports you should
read the originals at the sites listed below.
REFERENCES:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_halibut
http://www.gma.org/fogm/Hippoglossus-hippoglossus.htm
http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/prehistoric/pileta-cave.htm
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