Escapism Is a Part of the Human Journey

Even our ancestors were looking for the right distractions.

Photo by Rabah Al Shammary on Unsplash

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Twenty-five thousand years ago, a young girl crept along a rocky outcrop and into a cave. The sky was darkening outside, a storm whipping up over the horizon. She sighed in relief and pulled the furs tight around her shoulders. The air was getting colder. She huddled against the wall of the cave and scratched her head where the seashells were braided tight into one of her knotted locks. 

The sky cracked open outside. Wind and rain lashed against the rock outside and splashed into shallow puddles that pooled beneath the cave’s narrow opening. 

There was no getting back to her settlement, not to tonight, and the girl had lost the rest of her companions on the way back from the hunt. They had strayed further than usual this time, too far, and still, there had been no bison anywhere. The girl struggled with the pack on her shoulders and produced a small torch. After striking her flint over it a few times, it caught flame and burst into a ball of warm orange light. 

The storm raged for hours so the girl explored deeper into the cave. Around one corner, she entered a high wide room with walls smooth and untouched. The girl could hear the storm outside, so she encamped to a small corner of the room and dropped her pack and her torch. Shadows played on the wall as she produced a few small pieces of coal from her pocket and began to sketch…

Even our ancestors used art to escape their circumstances. 

The scene above could describe one of a hundred potential scenarios that I uncovered while doing some research for an upcoming project. What unfolded in the caves of Southern France, Spain, parts of South America, and even parts of Africa around 10,000–30,000 years ago was fascinating. In these parts of the world, some of the most incredible discoveries of cave art have been made. Detailed drawings of everything from migrating beasts to human celebrations.