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Artistic expression
Conference
Published on
08 November 2018
Updated on
04 December 2018
Colloquia
Human being ? An archeology of the origins
International conference, Friday 9 and Saturday 10 November 2018, at the Muséum de Toulouse.
International conference "Human being ? An archeology of the origins" by Carole Fritz, National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS)
The origin of image
In recent decades, the question of the origin of art and symbolic thought has remained at the heart of debate about the evolution of African and European human lineages. Biological foundations and social factors have most definitely played an important part in the birth and development of what we could call “the symbolic spirit ”. It reflects the communication needs and the desire to preserve information within groups; but are they exclusively “human”? The first images of humanity appeared in Europe in around -40,000. Who created these first complex graphic depictions and why?
“The symbolic spirit” and the syntaxic and semantic system that accompany show an evolution into an increasingly structured form. Nevertheless, this process must be considered over an extended period of time because symbolic language in the strict sense, a product of cultural maturation, is itself subject to a condition of demographic development: social groups must be sufficiently numerous and permanent that they have the capacity to create complex graphic signs.
A researcher at CNRS, Carole Fritz heads the scientific team at the Chauvet Pont-d'Arc Cave and the Émile-Cartailhac Centre for Research and Studies (CREAP) at Maison des sciences de l'homme in Toulouse. She approaches archaeology as a process of asking questions of prehistoric societies, and elaborating a reflection on symbolic thought and the first human graphic manifestations. At its core, her research aims to pick up on and identify technical, stylistic and biological criteria to evaluate the respective proportion of cognitive data and cultural acquirements that structure graphic forms and determine their evolution.
Bibliography (in french)
- Fritz C. (Dir) (2017) : « L’art de la Préhistoire », L’art et les Grandes civilisations, Citadelles et Mazenod, Paris, 626 p.
- Fritz C. (2018) : « Et … dans l’obscurité un Homme se mit à dessiner », In « désordre du Monde », rencontres recherche et création du Festival d’Avignon ; F. Lavocat, C Courtet, M Besson, A Vialia (Dir), Editions du CNRS, p. 37 – 50.
- Fritz C., Tosello G., 2015 - From Gesture to Myth : Artists’ techniques on the walls of Chauvet Cave, in White R., Bourrillon R. (eds.) with the collaboration of Bon F., Aurignacian Genius: Art, Technology and Society of the First Modern Humans in Europe, Proceedings of the International Symposium, April 08-10 2013, New York University, Palethnology, 7, 280-314.
- Fritz C., Tosello G., Conkey W. M., 2015 – Reflection on the identities and Roles of the Artists in European Paleolithic Socities. Journal Archaeology, Method and Theory, DOI 10.1007/s10816-015-9265-8
