Researchers confirm origins of Van Gogh technique

New Delhi: Researchers have confirmed the origins of technique used by Van Gogh and other modern artists.

A newly discovered trove of 16 engraved and otherwise modified limestone blocks, created 38,000 years ago, confirms the ancient origins

"We're quite familiar with the techniques of these modern artists," said New York University anthropologist Randall White, who led the excavation in France's Vezere Valley.

"But now we can confirm this form of image-making was already being practiced by Europe's earliest human culture, the Aurignacian," said White.

Pointillism, a painting technique in which small dots are used to create the illusion of a larger image, was developed in the 1880s.

However, archaeologists have now found evidence of this technique thousands of years earlier - dating back more than 35,000 years.

Major discoveries by White and his colleagues - which include images of mammoths and horses - confirm that a form of pointillism was used by the Aurignacian, the earliest modern human culture in Europe.

These add weight to previous isolated discoveries, such as a rhinoceros, from the Grotte Chauvet in France, formed by the application of dozens of dots, first painted on the palm of the hand, and then transferred to the cave wall.

(With PTI inputs)