3.1 Prehistoric Animation and Proto-Cinema, The Archaeology of Light and Darkness, and the Thirty-Thousand-Year-Old Holy Movie Theatre

Dilettantery

Chapter One: Wachtel and Superposition 0:00:00

Chapter Two: Azéma and Thaumatropes 0:22:13

Chapter Three: Gatton and Camera Obscura 0:43:48

Chapter Four: Archaeo-optics 2:16:14

Epilogue: Chauvet Cave 3:19:19

"…the shadows of man and beast flickered huge like ancestral ghosts, which since the days of the caves have haunted the corners of fantasy, but which the electric light has killed."

-Laurie Lee, As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning (1969)

“[Lewis Mumford, in 1934,] said that film—with its moving camera, its cuts and superimpositions—displays time and motion in a unique way. Additionally, he linked film's display of time and space to what he called ‘the emergent world-view’ of the twentieth century.”

-Edward Wachtel (1993)

Follow along with visuals:

0:00:20 The twitter thread mentioned: https://twitter.com/DilettanteryPod/status/1403914695128457219

0:19:50 An example of the "jumble" typical of plaquettes https://twitter.com/DilettanteryPod/status/1548603870711926784

0:24:40 Azéma showing examples of animation-by-superposition in the wild https://twitter.com/DilettanteryPod/status/1528654029793812480

0:33:32 Recreation of bone disc thaumatrope https://twitter.com/DilettanteryPod/status/1528653193336410112

0:39:25 Liliana Janik's interpretation of thaumotrope involving bear paw https://twitter.com/DilettanteryPod/status/1537167816347947008

0:44:20 Thread on Newgrange, Dowth, and Knowth https://twitter.com/DilettanteryPod/status/1545398294800744450

0:49:10 Roofbox at Newgrange https://imgur.com/a/gYP01tJ

1:00:48 Balnuaran of Clava cairns, studied by Ronnie Scott and Tim Phillips in the 1990s: https://imgur.com/a/Nbn0EsH

1:14:30 Camera obscura explanatory diagram https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1281/0471/files/BONFOTON_Camera_Obscura_Diagram_W2000_WEB.jpg?v=1617094297

1:54:41 Photographs from Ronnie Scott and Aaron Watson's camera obscura experiments across Britain https://imgur.com/a/aQNnqYX

3:08:21 The Bison Man shadow animation (Spain) https://twitter.com/DilettanteryPod/status/1559349567337820160

3:14:45 Pueblo shadow and light animation (thread) https://twitter.com/DilettanteryPod/status/1559821120118747136

3:26:30 Chauvet cave animated: https://twitter.com/DilettanteryPod/status/1528640107078512641

Rock art threads: Rock art threads: https://old.reddit.com/r/DilettanteryPodcast/comments/y1i1x6/rock_art_threads/

Sources/place to discuss:

https://old.reddit.com/r/DilettanteryPodcast/comments/x3bh42/31_prehistoric_animation_and_protocinema_the/?