Chauvet Cave Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Chauvet Cave - Assignment Example The art is simply something worth looking at. In Nine Lives, by Dalrymple, the people and places could be compared to the Chauvet Cave. This is in the sense that they all possess certain characteristics. The following paper will look into the comparisons between the cave and the places and people recounted in Nine Lives. In comparison, the cave and the places in India could share very many similarities. For example, the places in India have the same symbolism as the cave in Southern France. The people there look up to their land to find peace and a sense of belonging. They all can relate to the places they are in for it is their source of life. They are used to those places and cannot trade it for any other. In the cave during the early periods when the paintings were being done, the people went there to reveal themselves to the world (Clottes, p. 25). They could identify what it was that really mattered to them and paint on the walls of the cave. The history of people is embedded in the places they have stayed. Their roots are firmly tied to their place of origin. The art in the cave could bear huge similarities to the places in Nine Lives since the history of a civilisation are painted on the cave walls. The history of any people in a given place at a given period of time is very important. The story of their existence is also firmly told to the generations that follow (Curtis, p. 12). This way, the generations that come into being know of their origins, and they end up telling it to the next generations. In Nine Lives, India bears this symbolism. Another similarity is the way culture and tradition is being maintained. It is through all this that the culture of a people can go on without being eroded or corrupted. The preservation of the Chauvet Cave is done so as to keep the ways of certain people intact (Clottes, p. 27). These ways are often seen as pure and the interference of other ways and/or mannerisms could be very unhealthy. In Nine Lives, this is als o seen with people keeping the traditions of their people alive through poetry, song and dance (performing arts). Moreover, the people of these areas are recognised through these works of art performed. It is through it that their spirit as a people comes alive. Through the cave art and/or paintings, the way of worship was recognised. The kind of gods they worshiped and the entire process. It is the same as in Nine Lives. The people’s form of worship was described to the people, how the sacrifices were made and the stages involved in it. This showed that in both these settings, communication to the people was made clear to them in cultural ways. This was to ensure that they were not forgotten through time (Guy, p. 25). However, the differences in the two are very distinct. The way and manner in which the cave paintings have been skilfully done is something to be admired. There is nothing naive about the art in the walls. This is unlike the ways and manner in which the people described by Dalrymple carry out their daily rituals. This cave represents the time taken by a certain group of people to relay a message to the people who will read it. The people of India as described in Nine Lives do not give a reason as to why and how the rituals come about and how the message meant for them is passed through (Curtis, p. 20). Also, the cave had the art preserved in a way that no one could tamper with the message it relayed. Unlike the