by
Christopher L. C. E. Witcombe
Many ancient cultures have recognized in a landscape shapes
and forms to which they have given significance. Sacred places
are frequently sited in places where in the natural features of the
landscape where perceived the forms or shapes of a divine being.
The
naturally occurring feature is then artificially enhanced to define the
perceived likeness more clearly.
This idea of perceiving forms in the landscape (albeit in this case within
the landscape) is first encountered in the caves at Lascaux
where natural shapes and forms in the walls and ceiling of the cave reminded
the painter and engraver of animals which he or she then enhanced with paint
or graving tool.
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