Prehistoric rock carvings may have been the first cartoons in history, new study suggests [View all]

By Tom Metcalfe published about 4 hours ago

Animal portraits may have been placed close to flickering fires to appear animated.



A virtual-reality simulation showing how a plaquette may have looked like under the flickering light of a fire. (Image credit: Izzy Wisher, CC-BY 4.0 )

The world's oldest moving pictures may not come from the late 19th century, but rather from thousands of years earlier: Pictures of ancient animals carved onto flat stones tens of thousands of years ago were deliberately placed around fires so they would look animated in the flickering firelight, a new study suggests.

Creating such animated carvings might have been a popular prehistoric activity as a family group sat around a fire. And at least some of the wall paintings and carvings found in ancient caves might also have been influenced by their appearance in the moving light and shadows of flames, the study suggests.

“When you get this dynamic light across the surface, suddenly all these animals start to move; they start to flicker in and out of focus,” archaeologist Andy Needham of the University of York in the United Kingdom told Live Science.

Needham is the lead author of a study published Wednesday (April 20) in the journal PLOS ONE that describes how some of the animal portraits carved on flat limestone rocks at a prehistoric shelter in southern France were exposed to hearth fires after they were made.

More:
https://www.livescience.com/prehistoric-carvings-animated-by-fire