This document provides an overview of prehistoric art from around 50,000 BCE to 2000 BCE. It describes Paleolithic cave paintings and sculptures that depicted animals and fertility figures. Common materials included stone, bone, and clay. Paints were made from natural pigments. The Neolithic period saw the rise of megalithic stone structures like menhirs, dolmens, and Stonehenge, which may have had astronomical or religious significance. Rock art in Australia from this era similarly featured naturalistic animals and schematic humans, and linked paintings to indigenous Dreamtime spiritual beliefs.
This document provides an overview of prehistoric art from around 50,000 BCE to 2000 BCE. It describes Paleolithic cave paintings and sculptures that depicted animals and fertility figures. Common materials included stone, bone, and clay. Paints were made from natural pigments. The Neolithic period saw the rise of megalithic stone structures like menhirs, dolmens, and Stonehenge, which may have had astronomical or religious significance. Rock art in Australia from this era similarly featured naturalistic animals and schematic humans, and linked paintings to indigenous Dreamtime spiritual beliefs.
This document provides an overview of prehistoric art from around 50,000 BCE to 2000 BCE. It describes Paleolithic cave paintings and sculptures that depicted animals and fertility figures. Common materials included stone, bone, and clay. Paints were made from natural pigments. The Neolithic period saw the rise of megalithic stone structures like menhirs, dolmens, and Stonehenge, which may have had astronomical or religious significance. Rock art in Australia from this era similarly featured naturalistic animals and schematic humans, and linked paintings to indigenous Dreamtime spiritual beliefs.
This document provides an overview of prehistoric art from around 50,000 BCE to 2000 BCE. It describes Paleolithic cave paintings and sculptures that depicted animals and fertility figures. Common materials included stone, bone, and clay. Paints were made from natural pigments. The Neolithic period saw the rise of megalithic stone structures like menhirs, dolmens, and Stonehenge, which may have had astronomical or religious significance. Rock art in Australia from this era similarly featured naturalistic animals and schematic humans, and linked paintings to indigenous Dreamtime spiritual beliefs.
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.
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
