Bolles upper school students taking the new Spanish Civilization course with faculty member Carrie Ezzell recently transitioned from an introductory study of Spain's geography and historical timeline into the earliest evidence of human culture on the Iberian Peninsula.

On September 1, students explored the prehistoric cave art of Altamira in Cantabria, Spain, including paintings created approximately 18,500 years ago. The class began by looking closely at photographs Ezzell took at Altamira this summer during a Bolles-sponsored professional development experience and then considered what archaeologists can know from material evidence – and what remains interpretation. Students examined characteristics of the cave paintings, including their limited natural color palette, strong animal forms, suggestions of movement and the way Paleolithic artists sometimes incorporated the irregular surfaces of the cave into their images.

Then, Ezzell turned the lesson into an experiment in visual communication. Working collaboratively on crumpled craft paper with charcoal and earth-toned pastels, students created their own “cave walls.” They could either draw inspiration from the animals represented at Altamira or imagine what prehistoric-style cave art might look like if it had been created here in Florida. The students drew everything from bison-like forms to alligators, fish, birds, snakes, sea turtles and other Florida wildlife.

Ezzell said the goal was not artistic perfection or literal reproduction. Students were challenged to think about how people communicate through images, how artists respond to their physical environment and how difficult it can be for us to interpret the intentions of people who left images but no written explanation.