Gregory Curtis (1) (1944–)

3.5 stars - I have mixed feelings about this book; this is mainly because I bought it online, so I didn't get to look at it first and it is quite different from what I wanted it to be.

Gregory Curtis is no prehistorian or archeologist, but, if the extensive bibliography is anything to go by, he did a lot of research and was mentored by an expert. He mainly talks about the discoveries of the well-known caves in Spain and France, from the late 1800s to the present day. The book is quite short, but gives a few interesting insights and has provided me with lots of pointers as to what I want to read more about.

What lets this book down is the lack of illustration; the author only includes a handful of pictures and imo, a book about cave paintings should be full of photos of the caves and the paintings.… (more)

Superior opening essay on the descent of man from Africa to small family groupings in Western Europe.
Max Raphael: [paraphrased] “The paintings are the evidence of the moment when people began to conceive of themselves as different from animals: The very moment when we became human.” Stated elsewhere: “The moment when people started dominating animals and stopped being dominated by them.”
The paintings were produced for so many thousands of years that the artistic skills had to have been taught, generation to generation.… (more)