A related film I have not seen but have on watch list is Cave of Forgotten Dreams about the Chauvet cave art.
Werner Herzog gains exclusive access to film inside the Chauvet caves of Southern France and captures the oldest known pictorial creations of humanity.
I love everything Werner Herzog does, but I wasn't aware of this gem. What a great tip.
The level of artistry of the Chauvet Cave is mind boggling and unlike anything I knew from rock art. There's a bear drawing that could be straight from the hand of Milt Kahl, I can hardly believe it. And the fact that some of these drawings are made from a continuous line.
I'm not too sure about the animation theory though, the proof is in the pudding. It shouldn't be that hard to replicate the animation effect if it were true, yet there's no convincing example. I'm sure they are trying to capture movement, but I'm still not convinced they were able to animate it as described in the article.
Thanks for sending me through the rabbithole of prehistoric art!
The article talks about the researchers designing special electric lights to mimic the paleolithic stone lamps (including flicker). Is this design published anywhere?
They describe in detail what the video looked like, and then didn't provide it.