Art of Prehistory

c. 50,000 BCE

2,000 BCE

Prehistory
before writing systems.
The only historical records available
are in objects and images=

ART

Prehistory
The challenge is in
figuring out how to
read this nonverbal
information

Archaeology
Is the scientific study of ancient
people and cultures primarily
revealed through excavation.

Prehistoric time periods

Paleolithic:
Old Stone Age, c. 40,000-8,000

Neolithic:
New Stone Age, c. 8000-2000 B.C.E

Prehistoric time periods

Paleolithic Neolithic
These time periods roughly correspond
to methods of gathering food
and the tools and weapons they
made of stone.

 Paleolithic:
Old Stone Age, c. 40,000-8,000

homo sapiens (meaning

wise man) developed complex
cultures.

Paleolithic Period
Nomadic hunter-gatherers.
Primitive tools (stone, bone, plants).

Paleolithic Period
Lived communally, building shelters at
cave entrances and under rocky
overhangs.
Sophisticated art
verbal language
had been developed
(no written language)

Paleolithic Period
art had a functional value
(served a purpose)
possibly had an aesthetic
value (created just to be
attractive)

Paleolithic Period
Earliest surviving works of art
date around 30,000 B.C.E.

cave paintings &

portable sculptures of
humans or animals

Paleolithic Sculpture
Small and portable (made to be hand held).
Stone, bone, ivory, and clay.
Sculpture in the Round- visible from
all sides.
Relief Sculpture Attached to its
material, visible from front only.

Woman of Willendorf
Carved sculpture in

the round
4.5 (hand held)
Enlarged reproductive
organs, suggesting
importance of

fertility.

Limestone

25,000 B.C.E

Woman of Willendorf
De-emphasized arms
and legs, nonexistent
face and feet suggest
that the figure is

symbolic
She is not a portrait of a specific
person

Limestone

25,000 B.C.E

Woman of Willendorf
She is CARVED, which
is a subtractive
technique. Sharp tools are
used to gouge or chisel to
remove material.

ovals

Woman of Laussel
25,000 B.C.E.
relief sculpture
c.

Face and arms are

not nearly as
important as the
reproductive parts

Animals were often

subject matter
Some accurate images of
animals that are now extinct.
(ex. wooly mammoths)

Bison with turned head

10,000 B.C.E.
carved from a reindeer horn.
shows the artists attention to detail- keen
observation as to how an animal moves in space.

c.

Bison with turned head

c.

10,000 B.C.E.

About 4

INCISED

Tuc dAudaubert Bison

found inside a cave in France

c. 10,000 B.C.E. About

2 feet long

Tuc dAudaubert Bison

MODELED in high relief from the clay floor
of the cave. Seems to emerge from the floor.

MODELING is an additive process

Clay that has been fired in a kiln
becomes much more durable and
waterproof.

Paleolithic sculpture
They also made musical instruments and
objects of personal adornment- beads and
pendants

Paleolithic Cave Painting

Most are in northern Spain or France

Paleolithic Cave Painting

Once there was exposure to modern
atmosphere and visitor traffic,
they began to deteriorate rapidly.

Many sites are now closed

to the public.

Lascaux Caves, France

c.14,000 B.C.E.

Paleolithic Painting
Realistic images of animals

most common animals: deer, cows,

bulls, horses

Chinese

Horse 14,000 B.C.E. Lascaux, 56

Paleolithic Cave Painting

illusion of movement
and to capture the essence of each species

In contrast,
humans are
depicted as stick
figures with
little
anatomical
detail.
animals more
important than
the humans

Hand prints are found in many sites.

Sometimes there are missing digits (but
never a thumb ritual?)

They used natural

pigments

like red and yellow ochre and

other ground minerals

These pigments were mixed

with animal fat, blood,
sap
Anything sticky they could
find to use for a binder.

Pigments were applied with

feathers, chewed sticks,
moss, fur, or fingers onto
damp limestone walls.

They sometimes spray painted

with dried pigment blown through
hollow bones or reeds

sometimes used the walls

sculpturally by using bumps,
indentations, and crevices to emphasize an
animals contours

Animals were superimposed

-indicates that ritual in these places needed
to be performed over and over

Paleolithic Cave Painting

Animals seem to be scattered about
the cave surface with no relationship to
one another. There are layers of
paintings that may indicate that

various groups wanted to

establish a presence in a given
location over centuries.

Paleolithic Painting
Paintings were found in areas
that were difficult to get to
and uninhabitable.

These areas seem to have

served as sanctuaries
where fertility, initiation,
and hunting rituals were
preformed.

It seems like paintings were

meant to be kept secret
because they were tucked so
deep in caves.
They were never near the
entrance.

These paintings were NOT painted

to decorate caves. There was no
such thing as leisure time.
If time and energy were used- there
must have been very important
purposes for these works.

At first glance, researchers believed

that cave art was connected to
hunting, but it is more likely that
the paintings had some sort of
sympathetic magic?
(like voodoo), image magic- paint
images to gain magical powers to
ensure a successful hunt.

Altamira, Spain cave paintings are

older, but similar to the Lascaux
paintings because they are

remarkable
pictures
of animals

the caves of Altamira, Spain

12,000 B.C.E.

Found in late 1800s, thought to be a hoax because

of their complexity

Shamanism
Shamans are intermediaries between
the human and spirit worlds.
Considered healers and problem
solvers.
They fore tell the future, cure the
sick, and assist in such rites of
passage as birth and death.

Neolithic Period
revolutionary shift from
hunting and gathering to farming
and herdingled to a more settled existence.

Neolithic Period
The agricultural revolution

gave civilization its

greatest push forward

Neolithic Period
new art form:
Monumental stone
sculpture
built not for habitation, but
more likely for some sort of

worship

MENHIRS are solitary upright stone slabs

Celtic terms
were used for
these Neolithic
structures
because a large
number of them
are located in
regions later
inhabited by
Celtic peoples

 MENHIRS are solitary upright slabs.

Alignments are cemetery like rows of menhirs

Alignments appear to have been

astronomical observatories and
sites for sun worshipers.

Carnac Brittany- 3,000 menhirs

2 mile long rows.
The menhirs appear to grow -3 feet to as
high as 13 feet.
Theycorrespond to the rising and setting
sun.

a Cromlech is a circular patterns of

menhirs.
They mark sacred places.

Stonehenge is an example of a cromlech

Menhirs used in the construction of a

prehistoric complex are called

MEGALITHS

MEGALITHS
Most megaliths from the
Neolithic period are found in
Malta, France, and Britain

The post and

lintel system is
one of mans first
architectural
advancements.

Mortise-and-tenon

The most basic post and

lintel form is the trilithon

DOLMANS
Are chambers or enclosures that look
similar to post& lintel- more like a table.
Early dolmans were built as tombs.

DOLMANS
Later additions turned them into passageways.
These were built for permanence as opposed to
the houses built in he Neolithic period (mud,
plants, wood)
-links
between
present time
and eternity.

Stonehenge is a megalith
(as well as a cromlech)

Built between c. 2800 B.C.E. and 1500 B.C.E.

Stonehenge located on Salisbury Plane

in England.
an example of Post

and lintel

about 97 feet in diameter

13 1/2 feet high
religious site or a scientific siteboth?

Stonehenge
The sun rises over the
Heel Stone on the
summer solstice

Stonehenge
solstices and eclipses important info for people
dependant on the growing
season
Astrological
observatories? To keep track
of time?

Stonehenge
The Beaker People (named for
their beaker shaped pottery) were
the last group to work on Stonehenge.
They brought with them knowledge
of working with metal

Some stones are over 50 tons.

Hundreds of stones of unknown
purpose are placed around the
monument.
Some stones were imported
from over 200 miles away.
How/Why?...

We dont know how or why,

but these engineering feats require

large-scale social organization

and an enormous commitment
of resources over a very long
time.

Around 2,000 B.C.E., as the use

of metal increased, the
construction of large stone
monuments declined.

Rock Paintings of Australia

Aboriginal societies of hunters and
gatherers in the Australian outback
appear to have some things in common
with the Paleolithic cultures of western
Europe
Studying these modern stone age
people gives us a unique peek into history.

 Archeologists have found

tools and objects that
suggest that Australia was
inhabited as long ago as

175,000 B.C.E.

 Some rock paintings are

roughly 75,000 years old- far
older than believed possible.

 Similarities : hand prints

Naturalistic animals
Hunting scenes

 Another similarity is that

animals are painted
naturalistically and people
are depicted schematically

Dreaming
Is a mythological plane of
existence- the order of the universe.
It is accessible through ritual such as
rock painting

Wandjinas of Dreamtime
Or Cloud Spirits they combine human
with cloud forms
They made the human
race and the sea and earth.
Images have special
powers for good and bad
Approach carefully

Lightening man/ Namarrkon

Is part of
dreamtime.
He lived in the
sky and carried a
lightening spear

Lightening man/ Namarrkon

The site where he
settled is taboo,
which means it is
sacred and

forbidden
It is avoided by
Aborigines

Mimi Style
Is the oldest style of
rock painting
They are spirits that
live in rocks and
caves
They can trick
humans to turn into a
Mimi

X-ray Style
Looks like we
can see under
the skin