1. Prehistoric Art
Art before Written History

2. 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

3. 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

4. Prehistoric Periods
•
Paleolithic Old Stone Age
(35,000 – 8000 BCE)
Paleo = old / Lithic = stone
•
Mesolithic Middle Stone Age
(8000 – 4000 BCE)
Meso = middle / Lithic = stone
•
Neolithic New Stone Age
(4000 – 1500 BCE)
Neo = new / Lithic = stone
•
Bronze Age Bronze - alloy metal made from tin and copper
(2300 - 1000 BCE)
•
Iron Age
(1000 BCE – 50 CE)

5. Dating System
10,000
BCE
etc.
1000
BCE
Western Dating System
BCE (Before Christ Era)
CE (Christ Era)
Year
0
1000
CE
2014 CE

6. Cave Paintings

7. Why did Prehistoric People
make cave art?
Theories
Human 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)

8. Lascaux Cave
Dordogne, France

9. Hall of Bulls
Lascaux Cave

10. 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)

11. Bird-Headed Man and Bison
Lascaux Cave

12. 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)

13. Interior Map of Lascaux Cave

14. Altamira Caves Altamira, Spain

15. Bison
Altamira Cave

16. 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)

17. Four Horses
Chauvet Cave

18. • 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
Four Horses
Charcoal Wall Paiinting
Chauvet Cave
30,000 BCE (Paleolithic)

19. Prehistoric Sculpture
Animals and Nude female figures
are the main subjects

20. Lamp with Ibex Design

21. Ibex

22. 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)

23. Woman from Willendorf

24. Woman from Willendorf
Found in Willendorf, Austria
Fertility symbol?
Originally named “Venus from
Willendorf”
22,000 – 21,000 BCE
(Paleolithic)

25. Man and Woman

26. Multiple Interpretations
(spiritual? everyday life?)
Found in grave near pottery
production center in Romania
Simple cylindrical human
figures
Natural poses true to life
Man and Woman, Ceramic Sculpture,
3500 BCE (Neolithic)
Made from clay with bone and
ashes added

27. Horse and Sun Chariot

28. Horse and Sun Chariot
Discovered in Denmark
Chariots (wheeled cart) dating
back to 2000 BCE
Used for rituals to reenact
the passage of the sun
1800 – 1600 BCE
Bronze Age Sculpture
Sun disk engraved gold with
curved patterns

29. 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

30. Mammoth Bone House
Reconstruction Drawing

31. Mammoth Bone Houses

32. 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

33. Wooly Mammoth

34. Stonehenge
Wiltshire, England

35. Stonehenge
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
2750 – 1500 BCE
Neolithic architecture
On Summer Solstice (June 21)
every year the sun rises
directly over Stonehenge
(over the heel stone)

37. Map of Stonehenge