Introduction to Humanities

Prehistoric Culture
Paleolithic (Old Stone) ca. 6 million to 10,000 b.c.e.
Tribal hunters and gatherers
Crude stone and bone tools and weapons
Cave painting and sculpture

Mesolithic (Transitional Stone) ca. 10,000 to 8,000 b.c.e.
Domestication of plants and animals

Neolithic (New Stone) ca. 8,000 to 4,000 b.c.e.
Farming and food production
Polished stone and bone tools and weapons
Architecture
Pottery and weaving

Prehistory may be defined as that period prior to written records.

• Cave paintings

Dated 15,000-10,000 B.C.E.

• Hall of Bulls, France

Cave Paintings of Lascaux

Great Black Bull at Lascaux
Paleolithic wall-paintings provide a visual record of such long-extinct animals as the hairy mammoth and the woolly rhinoceros.

What were the purpose and function of these vivid images?

• The depiction of the animal, that is, its capture on the cave wall, may have been essential to the hunt itself.