Gallery Review Worksheet

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Student Name Gallery Number and Topic

Gallery 1: Prehistoric Art (CED Unit 1)

https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/media/pdf/ap-art-history-course-and-
exam-description.pdf

There are 2 parts to your DBA. This review that you must submit before you schedule
your DBA call with your instructor is worth up to 25 points. The actual call to your
instructor is worth up to 25 points, for a total of 50 points possible.

Concepts to consider as you record your responses

To Identify is to:
Share the facts about the artifact or structure including:
Title/Name, Artist or Culture, Geography/Location, Art History Period or Date,
Medium/Materials (these factors are all available within the snapshot document)

Visual evidence is:

What you see when you look at the work! Imagine you are describing to someone who has
never seen the artifact or structure before!
include formal art terms as you describe it! (technique, color, shape, lines, balance, etc)

Contextual evidence is:

The details about how it was made and why it was made! What cultural significance is
there? What purpose did or does it serve? What is the historical impact?

Use the space below to
Identify 5 Prehistoric
Artworks Covered in the
gallery or CED Unit.
Each entry is worth 2 points
*Please include a thumbnail
image (paste from the web or
Art index)
Use the space below to provide details related to each
identified work
(You may combine information from the lesson with
external research to complete this section)
**Do not choose artworks featured in your snapshot
assignments

**Do not choose artworks

featured in your snapshot
assignments
Image:
Title: Apollo 11 stones
Artist/Culture: Apollo 11 cave in
Namibia, prehistoric
Art/Historical Period: Africa
25,500-25,300 B.C.E.
Date Created: 25,500-25,300
B.C.E.
Materials: Charcoal and cave
Visual Details: It is a cave rock. Brown with some part of
the texture as dark brown. Shows a canine. Dark in color. It
is split as the rocks are split apart. The head and half of the
body are to the left. Two legs are to the left and two to the
right. The rest half including the tail is split to the right. It is
appearing with no background.
Contextual Details:
While it is not possible to learn the actual date of the
fragments, it is possible to estimate when the rocks
were buried by radiocarbon dating the archaeological
layer in which they were found. Archaeologists estimate
that the cave stones were buried between 25,500 and
25,300 years ago during the Middle Stone Age period in
southern Africa making them, at the time of their
discovery, the oldest dated art known on the African
continent and among the earliest evidence of human
artistic expression worldwide. Genetic and fossil
evidence tells us that Homo sapiens (anatomically
modern humans who evolved from an earlier species of
hominids) developed on the continent of Africa more
than 100,000 years ago and spread throughout the
world. But what we do not know, what we have only
been able to assume, is that art too began in Africa. The
Apollo 11 rock shelter overlooks a dry gorge, sitting twenty
meters above what was once a river that ran along the
valley floor. The cave entrance is wide, about twenty-eight
meters across, and the cave itself is deep: eleven meters
from front to back. While today a person can stand upright
only in the front section of the cave, during the Middle
Stone Age, as well as in the periods before and after, the
rock shelter was an active site of ongoing human
settlement.
Image:
Title: Great hall of the bulls
Artist/Culture: Cave art on
hunting
Art/Historical Period: Europe
15,000-13,000 B.C.E.
Date Created: 15,000-13,000
B.C.E.
Materials: Rock Painting,
ocher/unpurified iron ore
(orange/brown color), animal
fat, charcoal (black), and rock
incisions Due to various styles,
probably was created and
added on to by various artists
over the years
Visual Details: 11 feet 6 inches long. The painting is asymmetrical
and contains an even blend of opaque and transparent figures,
which grant an illusion of space and depth. The texture of the
support is uneven, coarse, and rigid; and, the paint texture
depends on the style of painting and the materials used to bind
the paint. The color pigments within Hall of Bulls are made from
colored powders that have earth-like tone. Additionally, the
colored powder binds with animal fat or spit to create paint. The
background is land with brownish texture and white sky with dark
and brown clouds. It shows the animals running from left to right.
Contextual Details: Dated between 28,000 and 10,000 BCE,
the beautiful paintings on cave walls found near Lascaux, France
represent the earliest surviving examples of the artistic
expression of early people. Using the natural rock contours that
suggest the volume of the animals, these 'primitive' people of the
Paleolithic (Old Stone Age) painted evocative and startlingly
accurate representations of the animals that were such an
important part of their lives. Cows, bulls, horses, bison, and deer
are among the animals seen on the subterranean walls of these
caves. These paintings were found deep underground, and were
undoubtedly painted by the light of torches. Moreover, images are
painted over previous images, and it is thought that these caves
were continuously used for thousands of years. Caves
symbolized the birth canal, with life emanating from within. These
animals were of utmost importance to the survival of the people
of this time, and their continued creation was essential. Through
sympathetic magic, perhaps these early humans believed that by
drawing these images, they would help to guarantee plentiful
herds and good hunting. Another theory is that it was believed
that man had to paint these images to 'replace' the animals that
he would hunt and kill. Whatever the motivation, it is clear that the
painting of these images was important, and the careful
observation of nature that is evident here is remarkable. These
early artists painted with charcoal from their fires, and used earth
pigments of iron and manganese to create the permanent colors
we still see today. These, of course, are the very same pigments
used in ceramics, and the discovery of these minerals during the
Paleolithic was an essential stepping stone for the development
of polychrome slip painting during the Neolithic to follow.
Image:
Title: Bison licking it’s flank
Artist/Culture: Prehistoric art
Art/Historical Period: Prehistoric also represent their spirit and remind them of how their
art
Date Created: 12,000 BCE
Materials: carved and engraved and tools made from bones—they were honored as
fragment from a prehistoric
spear-thrower made of reindeer prayers. The bison is a natural spirit animal of abundance
antler
Image:
Title: Bison
Artist/Culture: Altmarian caves
Art/Historical Period: Europe
Visual Details: This sculpture has detailed incised lines and
engraving accenting the bison’s mane, horns, eye, ear, nostrils,
mouth, and tongue. It deviates from the characteristic profile
and portrays the bison in an altered profile licking its flank. This
piece is part of a broken spear-thrower used for hunting. 12,000
BCE Reindeer horn. 4 1/8'' very detailed. carved with a sharp
burin to create very incise lines. The bison has its head turned
and licking its flank with head turned 180° (shows clarity and
completeness of depiction)
It is a fragment from a spear-thrower
Contextual Details: Critical to their survival, bison not only
provided American Indians with food, shelter and tools, but
a model on how to live. To American Indians, bison
lives were once lived, free and in harmony with nature.
From beard to the tail, American Indian nations used every
part of the bison. Because the bison provided many gifts—
from tipis and clothing made from hides to soap from fat
relatives and paid tribute to through songs, dance and
and stamina. Because they live in large herds, they are a
constant supply of food and sustenance for various
predators. Bison are also strongly connected to Mother
Earth and live off the land without ever exhausting its
resources.
Visual Details: Art shows a Bison. The bison is facing
towards right. The Bison is red in color. The head of the
Bison due to changes is not fully connected to the body. It
has a black head with red hair. Its tail is upright. The
background is brown. There is also a part of an animal on
top of the bison with its tail pointing towards the shoulders
of the red bison. There are red stains on the background.
Contextual Details: The caves at Altamira feature several
bison that do not share a common orientation, ground line,
or setting, indicating that each bison is a separate image
that could have possibly been created at different times. It
was spanning many generations. This is in contrast to the
images in the Great Hall of the Bulls, where the overlapping

Date Created:  13,000-11,000
B.C.E.
Materials: Cave, charcoal, and
spears.
Image:
Title: camelid sacrum in the
shape of a canine
Artist/Culture: Tequixquiac,
Mexico
Art/Historical Period:  Upper
Paleolithic Bone Sculpture
14,000–7,000 B.C.E.
Date Created: 14,000–7,000
B.C.E.
Materials: Bone and carving
spears.
Write a Thesis Statement that describes the significance of the following artifacts. Make sure
contributes to the story-telling characteristics. The art of
Altamira encompasses naturalism, abstraction and
symbolism. The paintings and engravings of Altamira were
begun during the Aurignacian period, the first chapter of
Upper Palaeolithic art in Europe. The art was created over
a period of 20,000 years, between 35,559 and 15,204 cal
BP. Altamira is vital for learning more about daily life in the
Paleolithic Period. In terms of art history, the cave paintings
executed during the late Magdalenian culture, which
include the bison and deer, are of vital importance. They
show a realism and sophistication that is unparalleled for
the time.
Visual Details: This piece was made from bone, and the
Ambum Stone appears to have been a mortar and pestle,
giving it a practical purpose. It has two ears. Two nostrils. A
line in the middle of the head from the back to the front.
Two eyes. Symmetrical from left to right. It has a mouth.
Brownish texture. The ears do not appear to have holes.
Contextual Details: This piece from Tequixquiac is a portion
of a camelid (camel-like mammal) sacrum that was worked
into the form of an animal skull. In the Mesoamerican
cosmology, the sacrum bone was considered sacred. It played
an important role in traditions of the culture at the time, as it
was representative of “portals,” or doorways, permitting spirits
or deities to enter the physical world. The carver was likely
nomadic and hunted large animals such as mammoths and
gathered fruits as evidenced by archaeological evidence found
at the site. According to Bárcena, the carver likely used a
sharp instrument to cut the holes.[2]
your statement makes an argument that you could defend with specific evidence. (6 pts)

● Jade Cong:  The Jade Cong innovated art with large amount of skill and used art for
funerary purposes.
● Great Hall of Bulls: The great hall of bulls represent the earliest surviving examples of the
artistic expression of early people.

Choose 2 artworks from this gallery and describe similarities between the two and
differences between the two.  (6 points)

Artwork 1: Great hall of the bulls.

Artwork 2: Bison art of altmaria, Spain.
● Similarities: Both show animals. Both are cave arts and one of the earliest
descriptions of animal arts in caves.
● Differences: The bison art of altmarian caves is in contrast to the images in the Great
Hall of the Bulls, where the overlapping contributes to the story-telling characteristics.
The Bison art symbolizes prosperity and strength. The great hall of the bulls symbolize
hunting and primitive instincts.

Reflection: What are you enjoying so far about this class? What has been more challenging
than you expected? (3 points)

The hardest part is that it is a lot of written work. The part I enjoy is that there is art and I like
art.