What happened to the Caveman dioramas?
Image slideshow
Updated and modernized in 1970. Neanderthal family near the Devil's Tower rock-shelter at Gibraltar near the Mediterranean Sea. Young man with a wooden club and father cooking mussels by a fire. His son, aged five, brings twigs to replenish the fire. The mother carries her youngest baby on her hip. Credit Information:ID# A102513c
Mas d'Azil cave in France. The scene shows two Azilian men armed with wooden spears with flint lance-points at close quarters with an enraged wild boar defending his mate and two young pigs. The dogs are held by rawhide straps and they are straining forward at the leash. The painted background shows the peaks of the Pyrenees in the distance. Credit Information:ID#A111668c
Frieze of hands preserved in Gargas cave, France. The Aurignacian man uses a hollow bone tube made from the leg-bone of a reindeer to blow red-ocre paint around the outlines of the fingers of his left hand. The imprint of his and others' hands remains on the wall. Animals, including the elephant and the bison, are also drawn on the wall.
Chellean scene in northern France. Men beside a fire in the shelter of a large rock, one chipping a flint hand axe. In the distance is a river with three elephants and upstream a hippopotamus can be seen. Near the skyline is a large stag and a pack of wolves. Credit Information:ID# CSA76851c
Carnac rock alignment. Man with his hands raised toward the rising sun, which casts long, dark shadows behind the great blocks of weathered granite. Credit Information:ID# CSA77818c
Solutrean sculptor carves a horse on a block of stone. On the shelf behind him are reproductions of the other stone carvings found in Le Roc, France. On the left side the path leads up to a cave, and on the right side, sheltered behind large trees, the entrance to another cave can be seen. Credit Information:
Two fisherman on Lake Neuchatel in Switzerland. They haul in their nets which contain the first catch of the day. Snow-clad Alpine peaks in the background. On the right is the village with a cluster of thatched houses built out over the water. Credit Information:
Rock-shelter showing part of the frieze of horses and (not shown) the skeleton of Magdallenian girl. The painted background shows the location of Cap-Blanc above the valley of the Beune River. Credit Information:
Neanderthal family outside the Devil's Tower rock-shelter at Gibraltar with the Mediterranean Sea in the distance. A young man with a wooden club in his hand and the father beside a fire cooking mussels. The mother holds her younger child on her hip and their older son may also be seen in the cave. The Neanderthals are living under a warmer climatie than at Le Moustier. Credit Information:
Neanderthal family, father, mother, grandmother and children. Upper rock-shelter at Le Moustier, France. Credit Information:
This is a divider between dioramas and the historical photos of the dioramas, under construction
Frederick Blaschke constructed a small-size model of the Neanderthal (Mousterian). It consisted of a reproduction of a cave at Le Moustier, an adult male figure and two female figures, one of them carrying a child. In October 1927, Blaschke returned to his studio in New York, to execute the life-size models for the group. Credit Information:
The male figure holding a club from the Neanderthal family at Gibraltar in Blachke's studio. Credit Information:
Artist Frederick Blaschke at work on the Neolithic Sun Worship diorama figure. Credit Information:
Museum staff artist Joseph Krstolich discusses the work he did to create the new figures for the Neanderthal diorama at the 1970 Field Museum Members' Night. Credit Information:
Museum worker at old Neanderthal caveman diorama by Frederick Blaschke Hall 38 at the Museum's Members' Night Credit Information:
Old Man figure from the Neanderthal Family diorama by Frederick Blaschke. Exhibit preparators reinstall the figures outside of the new Teeth, Tusks, and Tar Pits exhibit. Credit Information:
Woman scraping reindeer hide, figure pre-installation into Neanderthal (Le Moustier) diorama. Credit Information:
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