Red Ruins

art by dianne curtis / all rights reserved

This oil on stretched canvas is available on ebay:

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Red Ruins

Prehistory actually means before history (or before writing) and prehistoric art is one of the greatest mysteries our planet has to offer. To this day, we know very little as to why these forms were created but there are clues as to what our earliest ancestors were thinking. We look for signs at these sites that tell us the use of the works left behind. The art itself tells us a little bit of the story. Ocher, we now know, was applied to all things sacred. They would paint ocher on the cave walls and floors, perhaps for ritualistic purposes.

We also look for the time spent at some of these sites. For instance, Stonehenge was under constant reconstruction for centuries. They went to great lengths to find the right types of stones to use. Some of these stones come from 150-200 miles away. We also know that people from all over Europe and the east are buried at Stonehenge. This gives us another clue as to its function. Whatever its function, we know it was sacred and the site was known to many cultures.

Prehistoric art also gives us a clue as to how important creativity is to humans. Some of the earliest artifacts discovered are jewelry and cave decorations (relief sculpture, figurines and paintings). Even some of the tools they used are decorated with mysterious symbols that baffle even the greatest researchers.

The structures they built attempted to be aesthetically pleasing, as well. The post and lintel construction (shown above in the painting) occurs all over the world in prehistoric times. This building technique is a construction method we figured out as babies when we took two blocks and piled a third on top. Up until the invention of the arch, this was the major technique for almost all civic construction. After all these centuries, many of these structures are still standing which testifies to the strength and logic behind its construction

...and yet the functional purpose of these structures remains a mystery which has inspired many artists including myself.