Glossary entry

German term or phrase:

(Höhlen -, Wand -) Ritzzeichnung (archaeol.)

English translation:

(e.g.: palaeolithic) engraving; incised/scratched drwg (loosely: ) carving. Cf. intaglio (- drwg, - work)

Added to glossary by Stephen Reader
Dec 3, 2007 20:02
16 yrs ago
German term

Ritzzeichnung

German to English Art/Literary Art, Arts & Crafts, Painting
In der Höhle, die in der Nähe von Santander entdeckt wurde, sind 15000 Jahre alte Felsmalereien und *Ritzzeichungen* aus der Altsteinzeit zu bewundern.

Weiß jemand wie man diese Zeichnungen auf Englisch nennt?
Change log

Dec 8, 2007 13:41: Stephen Reader Created KOG entry

Dec 8, 2007 13:42: Stephen Reader changed "Edited KOG entry" from "<a href="/profile/134134">Stephen Reader's</a> old entry - "(Höhlen -, Wand -) Ritzzeichnung (archaeol.)"" to ""(e.g.: palaeolithic) engraving; intaglio, incised/scratched drwg (loosely: ) carving. Cf. intaglio (- drwg, - work)""

Discussion

Francis Lee (X) Dec 4, 2007:
How would you describe this in English? And what's the context/readership?

Proposed translations

+2
1 hr
Selected

(palaeolithic) engraving; intaglio, incised...

Based on the native-Eng. website below (text via Bristol Univ.), with refs to French and Spanish cave drawings. Engraving & engraved occur often; carving once, in a caption. (this isn't to quibble with 'petroglyph' - although 'engraving' accords to the 'Ritz-' element, and petroglyph is a larger category. Browsing for <palaeolithic+drawing> is quite promising. M.L. Apelt, German-Eng. Dict.: Art History - Archaeology (Berlin: Erich Schmidt Vlg., 1982, offers 'incised picture, scratched picture' for RitzBILD. But it's a small dictionary for a period from present to prehistory.
INTAGLIO (more at home in printmaking, but not only) is incised-line work. Very generally, INCISED and CARVED would't be amiss. Wikipedia has 'incised' under the heading 'Themes and Patterns' (2nd www ref below)
Example sentence:

A possible Palaeolithic engraving has been discovered at Cheddar Caves (...) (w3.physorg.com, see web ref. 1)

Peer comment(s):

agree ArchyR : http://www.britannica.com/eb/topic-188341/engraving see the entry talking about Altamira's cave paintings and engravings
2 hrs
Thank you, ArchyR
agree Amphyon : engraving sounds good to me
11 hrs
Dankedanke!
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks Stephen for the detailed explanation and all the links!"
25 mins

wall carvings

I'm not entirely certain...
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56 mins

petroglyph

Dictionary.com says:

a drawing or carving on rock, made by a member of a prehistoric people.

I have never seen 'petroglyph' used to refer to cave paintings, only to carvings in the rock. We have quite a few in the US Southwest.
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1 hr

sketch

IMHO - sketch/es (on the cave walls). The previous term Felsmalerei refers to rock, wall, etc., so you can use just "cave paintings and sketches".
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