How Art Made The World 人、艺术、世界 -06

They are made up of dots and lines or abstract¹ shapes and patterns. Nothing in the natural world of the prehistoric² artist would have looked like this, or this. And, very often, these patterns are repeated or scattered³ across more recognizable images in a seemingly⁴ random⁵ way. Here, the Pech Merel caves in France, the prehistoric artist has painted a splendid pair of horses. But, look. He's covered the image with a series of spots. It really is hard to see what a pattern of spots has got to do with the world of hunting.

Archaeologists realize they were as far away from understanding cave-painting as they had ever been. The obvious explanations, like the paintings having been created to represent things in the world or for hunting, would never unlock⁶ the puzzle of these images. Because both of these theories missed the point, instead of explaining why people were painting images in caves, they should have been trying to solve the mystery of how we got the amazing ability to create images in the first place.

To be able to paint a picture or something, you first need to know what a picture is. And how could you know that if you've never seen one before? Henri Breuil himself realized that this was the heart of the problem.

He told the curious story of a Turkish man in the 19th century who was shown a picture, it was a picture of a horse. But the man was mystified. He'd no idea what he was looking at, because never in his life had he seen a picture before. This Turkish man, it seems, was a devout⁷ Muslim. Now at its strictest, Islam forbids images of living creatures. So, here was someone apparently⁸ who refused to believe that you could create an image of an animal in two-dimensions. He said he didn't recognize it was a horse because he couldn't move around it.

For us, looking at a painting as vivid as this one, it's almost impossible to believe, we can't imagine what it would be like not to understand what a picture was, that it can represent something in the world.

This is what it might look like for people who've never seen any pictures before, a collection of lines, colors, markings without any meaning.

1 abstract   

adj.抽象的；n.摘要，梗概；vt.提取；摘录要点

参考例句：

• He is an abstract painter.他是一个抽象派画家。
• He made an abstract of a long article.他对一篇长文章做了摘要。

2 prehistoric   

adj.（有记载的）历史以前的，史前的，古老的

参考例句：

• They have found prehistoric remains.他们发现了史前遗迹。
• It was rather like an exhibition of prehistoric electronic equipment.这儿倒像是在展览古老的电子设备。

3 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

4 seemingly   

adv.从表面上看起来，似乎是

参考例句：

• Seemingly,we can do nothing to prevent this from happening.我们似乎没有什么办法阻止这件事发生。
• For several seemingly interminable seconds no one spoke.有几秒钟没有人讲话，这几秒钟似乎十分漫长。

5 random   

adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动

参考例句：

• The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。

6 unlock   

v.启示，揭示，开...的锁

参考例句：

• The border police required the traveler to unlock his luggage.边防警察要求旅客打开行李。
• We heard somebody unlock the door.我们听见有人开门锁。

7 devout   

adj.虔诚的，虔敬的，衷心的 (n.devoutness)

参考例句：

• His devout Catholicism appeals to ordinary people.他对天主教的虔诚信仰感染了普通民众。
• The devout man prayed daily.那位虔诚的男士每天都祈祷。

8 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。