Animation in Palaeolithic art: a pre-echo of cinema

Palaeolithic artists may have invented the concept of animation, predating cinema by millennia. Researchers Marc Azéma and Florent Rivère analyzed parietal art from the Grotte Chauvet-Pont d’Arc (Ardèche) and La Baume Latrone (Gard), revealing sophisticated systems for depicting animal movement and graphic narrative. They discovered that some animals were drawn on spinning discs, creating flickering images that suggest an early form of animated storytelling. This groundbreaking study challenges traditional views of prehistoric art, proposing that Palaeolithic humans experimented with dynamic visual techniques long before the invention of cinema.

Azéma, M., & Rivère, F. (2012). Animation in Palaeolithic art: a pre-echo of cinema. Antiquity, 86(332), 316–324. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0003598x00062785