FIRST INTERIORS -CAVES

 
Humans have always had the desire for a permanent and very personal nest.

First was the need, of course, for appropriate shelter and urge for protection against

weather and animals, but soon this become more subtle need for a little private and

a personal space.As in prehistoric times, today remains same inclination to create visually attractive and organize space. We can easy say that this inclination is an art.Interior design is a art. An art of interior design occurs within the art of architecture and it is very closely connected to other form of art and share many of the same materials,forms and techniques.

Interior design begun with caves before any building structure was build. So ,we can say

 that is the oldest art. The earliest art dates from the stone ages, Palaeolithic period

35000-8000 BC. The earliest found examples come from around 28000 BC are

small sculptures from stone and animal bones of human and animals figures,  some even of nude pregnant women.

The most famous sample of earliest interior design are caves :

The Chauvet painted caves southern France 30000 years ago,

The Lascaux painted caves as well in southern France, dated around 15000-17000-BC

and Altamira painted caves in northern Spain dated between 9000 and 11000.

Here are some sample of paintings inside the caves. 

                                                                                       

It is extremely interesting that cave paintings in Chauvet were discovered just not long ago .In 1994 Jean -Marie Chaeuvet and two another explorer uncovered a long hidden entrance to a underground cave. Inside they found even footprints and scaletons of bears along the skull of an ibex and two wolves , not to mention 300 beautiful paintings dating to the beginning of Old Stone Age preserve from light and the environment of earth surface, there are two types of painting -animals and geometric figures.  The two major parts of the cave were used in different ways by artists. In the first part, a majority of images are red, with few black or engraved ones. In the second part, the animals are mostly black, with far fewer engravings and red figures. The dominant animals throughout the cave are lions, mammoths, and rhinoceroses.

From the archaeological record, it is clear that these animals were rarely hunted; the images are thus not simple depictions of daily life at the time they were made. Along with cave bears (which were far larger than grizzly bears), the lions, mammoths, and rhinos account for 63 percent of the identified animals, a huge percentage compared to later periods of cave art. Horses, bison, ibex, reindeer, red deer, aurochs, Megaceros deer, musk-oxen, panther, and owl are also represented. An exceptional image of the

lower body of a woman was found associated with a bison figure.Many images of large red dots are, indeed, partial handprints made with the palm of the hand. Red hand stencils and complete handprints have also been discovered.

Thirty radiocarbon datings made in the cave have shown that it was frequented at two different periods. Most of the images were drawn during the first period, between 30,000 and 32,000 BP in radiocarbon years. Some people came back between 25,000 to 27,000 and left torch marks and charcoal on the ground. Some human footprints belonging to a child may date back to the second period."

The Ardeche Valley, site view. The Ardèche valley in southeastern France is famous for its Pont d'Arc, a natural land bridge dug by the Ardèche River hundreds of thousands of years ago. The Chauvet Cave is just half a mile away in the same valley.    Cave bear skull, Chauvet Cave. The Chauvet Cave was used as a hibernation place by cave bears for millennia before Palaeolithic peoples began to inhabit it. Many bear skeletons have been found lying about. A cave bear skull was placed on top of a rock in the middle of a deep chamber by persons unknown.   Horse heads, Chauvet Cave. Fourteen different animal species are depicted in the Chauvet Cave. Here, three beautiful horses' heads face one another.                    Lions hunting Bison, Chauvet Cave. A pride of lions hunt bison, one of the rarest scenes ever found in Palaeolithic art.

There are many more very interesting cave paintings found in Lesotho ,Africa, bhopal India , in Brazil CHina ,Argentine and  Syberia.

The very famous cave of the hands  in Argentina

is a series of caves in the province of Santa Cruz .The art is dated from  perhaps  7300 Bc .The images of hands are stenciled. Most are left hands. There are also stencils of human feet and some of the three -toed feed of large south american bird called Rhea.

The cave Of Swimmers ( below) in Egypt  near the border of Libya.

It is very interesting how this first interior were created. The artists used charcoal and ochre or hematite to create images. Most cases painting were create in underground chambers difficult to rich.

We think that animal skin were used to cover entrance to the caves to keep out wind rain and animals.

And probably were used as a sleeping mats.Caves are the oldest evidence that even early human had interest  in art and interior design.

Today there are few cave inspired interiors but the most famous are -the Flintstone house located in Malibu, California