According
to Rebecca Sykes (2020) Fumani Cave in north-west Italy has Neandertal deposits
dating back to between 47.5 and 45 ka. In an area just about the size of a
school classroom it contained some 50 hearths and lithic scatters, as well as
over 100,000 pieces of bone. Sykes, however, did not attribute any cave art to
the Neandertal occupation(s).
“Discovered in 1964 by archaeologist Giovanni Solinas, the Fumane Cave sits in the Lessini Hills about 15 km northwest of Verona. Although it was examined immediately by the Natural History Museum of Verona, it was only in 1988 that a proper excavation took place. This excavation uncovered a sequence of human occupation of the cave spanning the Mousterian, Aurignacian and Gravettian cultures of the Middle and Upper Paleolithic. Neanderthals occupied the cave from 60,000 to about 38,000 BC, during the Mousterian and early Aurignacian periods.” (Artslookup) This is a very long period of occupation and began during Neandertal periods and probably ended with occupation by Homo sapiens.
Writing about the painted rock finds in Fumane Cave, Elvira Visciola (undated) stated “rock finds found in different points of the Fumane Cave, in the Aurignacian levels, with dimensions between 10 and 30 centimeters, with red ocher representations, some representing schematic motifs, other naturalistic motifs including animals, plants and a very particular anthropomorphic figure. The rocks are all fractured in places that interrupt the figures and were all found upside down at the base of the archaeological level; these tests made it possible to ascertain that the fragments certainly detached cue to cryoclastic effect during the Aurignacian occupation of the site from the vaults or walls of the cavity which were therefore decorated. Inside the cave, the use of ocher is attested in several places, with the discovery of about 50 blocks of red and yellow ocher, as well as two areas whose surface was entirely covered by it, one in the internal part and the other in the entrance, corresponding to a dating of about 41,000 years ago; subsequent investigations made it possible to ascertain that the ocher was recovered from quarries located at a distance between 5 and 29 kilometers from the cave. It is very probably that the age of the rock decorations is contemporary with the ocher deposits found, so that Fumane’s paintings can be considered the most ancient form of European wall art.” (Visciola) Cryoclasty is fracturing by means of freezing, so the assumption is that the paintings were originally parts of the cave wall but that freeze/thaw cycles eventually broke them loose – spalls. Given the fact that all of the painted slabs were found turned over with the painted side down we can probably assume that they were placed that way purposely, it is highly unlikely that they would all fall face down naturally. Perhaps the goal was to conceal or protect them somehow.
The painted stone slabs did turn out to be quite old and were not in great condition. “Stone slabs bearing images of a four-legged animal and a half-human, half-animal figure were discovered during the excavation of the cave. Three more figures could be seen on the slabs, but couldn’t be identified due to their bad preservation. As they were embedded in the sediment, they could be dated to between 32 and 36,500 BP, which would make them contemporary to the Chauvet Cave paintings” (Wikipedia) These dates were on the sediment that the rock slabs were embedded in.
“In 1999, following a series of excavations, beginning in 1988, researchers came across numerous examples of cave painting buried under layers of debris. The pictures were painted on slabs that had broken off the cave ceiling. Measuring about 30-70cm in length, they include an image of a creature with an elongated neck (perhaps a weasel, as in the Niaux Cave), a strange five-legged animal, and a figure of a man – thought to be a shaman - wearing a mask with horns. The man's arms are spread, while in his right hand he holds what may be a ritual object which hangs downwards.” (Artslookup) So, we are dragging out the S-word again. Unless you were there 35,000 years ago and could observe the culture I think that designating an extremely crude apparently anthropomorphic figure as a shaman is quite a stretch.
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 original reports at the sites listed below.
REFERENCES:
Artslookup, Fumane Cave Paintings, https://artslookup.com/prehistoric/fumane-cave-paintings.html. Accessed online 27 July 2024.
Sykes, Rebecca Wragg, 2020, Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art, Bloomsbury Sigma, London.
Visciola, Elvira (ed.), Painted stones from Grotta Fumane (VR), https://www.preistoriainitalia.it/en/scheda/pietre-dipinte-da-grotta-fumane-vr/. Accessed online 27 July 2024.
Wikipedia, Fumane Cave, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fumane_Cave.
Accessed online 27 July 2024.
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