Människan och vildhästen : En jämförande studie av hästen som motiv i grottkonst och portabel konst från senpaleolitikum i Europa

Sammanfattning: In this bachelor thesis I aim to understand the meaning of horses in relation to humans in the late palaeolithic era. In this study I have chosen these four caves: Lascaux, Pech Merle, Chauvet and Altamira because of their contents of horse paintings. The paintings of horses are compared to palaeolithic horse figurines. The theories evaluated in this study regard shamanism, imitative magic, totemism, animism, art for art's sake and art as an expression for complex socities. The results are that these theories do not explain the meaning of all cave art and figurines. The art differs from cave to cave and can differ in the same cave as well. Some of the paintings of horses are not done in a realistic way unlike the horse figurines. The biggest difference between horse paintings in caves and horse figurines in the late palaeolithic era is that caves was something people could visit in groups, while figurines could be carried and used as something personal.