ACBS 160D1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Aurochs, Zebu, Taurine
10 Oct 2016
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Document Summary
Bos(genus) is ow animal; after ice age moved into temperate zones of ow. Taurine (10,500 yr bp) - cow, indicine (8500 bp) - zebu. No remains of bos ever discovered in nw; brought over with spanish. Altamira cave (northern spain) discovered in 1879, dated to 14000 bp hunter gatherers. Great hall ceiling shows 20 adult aurochs in a herd with males at the periphery- like during mating season, shows them in mating position (female mounting male to entice him) Aurochs are always in herd, some life sized. Depicted animals that naturally range together: bovines, horses, goats, deer: no predator-prey, no humans hunting shown. Careful mixing of natural pigments (red ochre) in shells with pigments, air brush technique using piece of bone, use of gypsum as binding agent, pebbles to grind pigments. Artwork so exquisite, for years treated as forgery until discovery of lascaux cave in france.
