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
