Prehistoric Art

Art before Written History

Prehistoric Art

• Our knowledge of Prehistoric “cave people” based on art (and fossils)

• The art that survives is a small fraction of the total art created

• Study of Prehistoric art began only 200 years ago

Ice Age – Stone Age

• Earliest upright human beings came into existence 4.4 million years ago

• Homo sapiens (“wise humans”) appeared about 200,000 years ago

• Earliest humans from Africa.

• As the Ice Age glaciers receded, humans spread across Asia, into Europe, and finally to Australia and the Americas

Prehistoric Periods

• Paleolithic Old Stone Age Paleo = old / Lithic = stone (35,000 – 8000 BCE)

• Mesolithic Middle Stone Age Meso = middle / Lithic = stone (8000 – 4000 BCE)

• Neolithic New Stone Age Neo = new / Lithic = stone (4000 – 1500 BCE)

• Bronze Age Bronze - alloy metal made from tin and copper (2300 - 1000 BCE)

• Iron Age (1000 BCE – 50 CE)

Dating System

Western Dating System

BCE (Before Christ Era)

CE (Christ Era)

1000 BCE

1000 CE0 2014 CE

Year10,000 BCE etc.

Cave Paintings

Why did Prehistoric People make cave art?

TheoriesHuman Need / Desire to Create and Decorate

Worship / Spirituality

Used for Teaching / Story-telling

“Magic” Power – similar to voodoo practices

Calendar (way to mark time passed and hunting season)

Lascaux Cave Dordogne, France

Hall of Bulls Lascaux Cave

Hall of Bulls Lascaux Cave

Images of Animals (Bulls and Horses)

Painted on limestone with charcoal and natural clay materials

Cave discovered in 1940

Opened to the public after World War II (closed in 1963 due to damage)

15,000 – 13,000 BCE (Paleolithic)

Bird-Headed Man and BisonLascaux Cave

Bird-Headed Man and Bison Lascaux Cave

Narrative (tells a story)

Mythological figure lying down

Hunting Scene with Spear

15,000 – 13,000 BCE (Paleolithic)

Interior Map of Lascaux Cave

Altamira Caves Altamira, Spain

Bison Altamira Cave

Bison Altamira Cave

First Paleolithic cave discovered

Discovered by accident in 1879

Not accepted as authentic until 1902

Relief (bison stands out from the background)

12,000 BCE

(Paleolithic)

Four Horses Chauvet Cave

Four HorsesCharcoal Wall Paiinting

Chauvet Cave 30,000 BCE (Paleolithic)

• Cave discovered in 1994 (cave in South of France)

• Named after Jean-Marie Chauvet who discovered the cave

• Earliest known paintings ever found

• Cave contains numerous paintings of predatory animals, Minotaur, Venus, also handprints

• Cave sealed for thousands of years (outstanding condition)

• Cave closed to the public

Prehistoric Sculpture

Animals and Nude female figures

are the main subjects

Lamp with Ibex Design

Ibex

Lamp with Ibex Design

Oil lamp used in cave

Animal design engraved on stone

Supports theory that humans need to decorate

15,000 – 13,000 BCE (Paleolithic)

Woman from Willendorf

Woman from Willendorf

Found in Willendorf, Austria

Fertility symbol?

Originally named “Venus from Willendorf”

22,000 – 21,000 BCE

(Paleolithic)

Man and Woman

Multiple Interpretations (spiritual? everyday life?)

Found in grave near pottery production center in Romania

Simple cylindrical human figures

Natural poses true to life

Made from clay with bone and ashes added

Man and Woman, Ceramic Sculpture, 3500 BCE (Neolithic)

Horse and Sun Chariot

Horse and Sun Chariot

1800 – 1600 BCE Bronze Age Sculpture

Discovered in Denmark

Chariots (wheeled cart) dating back to 2000 BCE

Used for rituals to reenact the passage of the sun

Sun disk engraved gold with curved patterns

Prehistoric Architecture

As Paleolithic people adopted a settled, agricultural way of life, they began to build structures to use as houses, storage, and shelters for animals

Neolithic people also built Tombs and Buildings used for Ceremonies

Mammoth Bone House

Reconstruction Drawing

Mammoth Bone Houses

Mammoth House

In the Ukraine, Paleolithic people built houses using bones of the Wooly Mammoth (a kind of elephant now extinct).

The bones were covered with animal hides and natural materials to keep the inside warm

16,000 – 10,000 BCE Paleolithic architecture

Wooly Mammoth

Stonehenge Wiltshire, England

Stonehenge

2750 – 1500 BCE

Neolithic architecture

A henge is a circle of stones surrounded by a ditch

Post and Lintel Construction

Many theories why Stonehenge was built (ceremonies, calendar, observatory of sun and starts)

Stones from southern Wales

On Summer Solstice (June 21) every year the sun rises directly over Stonehenge (over the heel stone)

Map of Stonehenge