Caveman too went to the movies

The life of our prehistoric ancestors might not have been so drab after all.

Anthropologists have discovered numerous rock engravings across Europe that appear to be a Copper Age version of animation and may have played a key role in audiovisual performances.

The artwork, depicting fights, dances or hunts, dating back to 4000 to 1000 BC, is more than mere images, according to researchers from Cambridge University and Sankt Poelten's university of applied sciences (FH) in Austria.

"The cliff engravings... in our opinion are not just pictures but are part of an audiovisual performance," Discovery News quoted Frederick Baker of Cambridge University's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, as saying.

He added: "There was still no moving image but (the pictures) created sequences like in animation... this was not just a treat for the eyes but also for the ears, as these rock engravings are especially found in locations with particular echoes. In this sense, the rock engravings are not just static images but pictures that created a story in the mind of the viewer — just like at the cinema."

The ancient cinema often depicted fights, dances or hunts, but never showed death and rarely portrayed women, the project's coordinators said. ...

via Caveman too went to the movies.