Ekain Cave Bears

Paleolithic cave bears from Ekain Cave in the Basque Country, Spain. Digital oil painting.... more

by Weston Westmoreland

Title

Ekain Cave Bears

Artist

Weston Westmoreland

Medium

Digital Art - Digital Painting

Description

Paleolithic cave bears from Ekain Cave in the Basque Country, Spain. Digital oil painting.

Ekain cave is known for the fine and abundant paintings of horses. There is however a low chamber in the cave where, if you lie down and look up, you will find these two wonderful bears. Maybe a mother and its cub? We'll never know. The big bear's head has been covered by calcite,but we can still admire the simple but accurate traces that outline the shape of this great mammal so perfectly.

Some of the most exquisite paintings of a horse you can find in any of the European paleolithic caves can be found at the Ekain Cave.The dark stripes on withers, forearm and gaskin depict a horse species that roamed Europe during the last glaciation, "Przewalski's horse" (Equus ferus przewalskii). This same species can be found in Lascaux and other caves. Przewalski's horse is not extinct as many believe, but was on the verge of vanishing forever in the 20th century. It is nowadays an extremely endangered species trying to survive in a single reserve in Mongolia.
Most "wild" horses today, such as the American Mustang or the Australian Brumby, are actually feral horses descended from domesticated animals that escaped and adapted to life in the wild. In contrast, Przewalski's horse, also known as takhi, has never been domesticated and remains the only truly wild horse in the world today.

The panel of the Horses in Ekain is considered as one of the most fine and sets this less known cave among the greatest five ever found, along with and not behind Altamira, Lascaux, Chauvet and Niaux.

Not as famous as the French caves, due to a much lower degree of publicity and touristic exploitation, the Spanish caves are many, and equal in richness and artistry to those in France. Altamira, the first to ever be found was considered a fake at the time because nobody considered the paleolithic man was capable of such delicate art.

Ekain, discovered in the sixties, has been kept preserved and inaccessible to the general public until a breathtaking new generation replica was opened four years ago.

I have visited this place several times and my son was named after it. One of those moving places where you can feel the presence of our ancestors and almost touch the hands that painted those walls...


MORE amazing CAVE ART just one copy-paste away in my Prehistoric Gallery: WestonWestmoreland.com/Collections/CaveArt


You can learn more about what drives me in my blog:

http://inspiringthoughtsandimages.com/

Weston Westmoreland.

肖維, 拉斯科, 阿爾塔米拉, 洞穴藝術, 野牛, 洞熊, 熊, 洞獅子, 獅子, 野牛, 鹿, 公牛, 長毛象, 馬, 牛, 犀牛, 舊石器時代的, 史前,

ショーベ, ラスコー, アルタミラ, 洞窟芸術, バイソン, 洞窟の熊, くま, 洞窟のライオン, ライオン, バイソン, 鹿, ブル, マンモス, うま, 牛, サイコロ, 古石器, 先史時代の

Шове, Ласко, Альтамира, пещерное искусство, бизон, пещерный медведь, медведь, пещерный лев, лев, бизон, олень, бык, мамонт, лошадь, корова, носорог, палеолитический, доисторический

art rupestre, bison, ours des cavernes, ours, lion des cavernes, Lion, bison, cerf, taureau, mammouth, cheval, vache, rhinocéros, paléolithique, préhistorique

Uploaded

February 20th, 2017