This chapter introduces the earliest known forms of human expression, the creations
of the Paleolithic and Neolithic peoples. While the details regarding these pieces and
their creators are lost, scholars are slowly gathering more knowledge of this period.
Our conclusions and interpretations drawn from prehistoric art are only hypotheses,
not proven fact. Therefore, works from this period should NOT be used as examples
on your APAH exam free response (essay) questions in May.
INDEPENDENT RESEARCH TOPIC:
(Be prepared to demonstrate your knowledge on the Chapter Test):
Describe ANIMISM. Know a basic definition of
animism and how it relates to Prehistoric Art,
especially Paleolithic cave painting.
Be prepared for review questions on the Chapter Test:
TOPIC:
ALL OF TERMINOLOGY LIST 1
We will be studying Art of the Ancient Near East as our next topic. Feel free to scan
the pages in that section in order to get a head start.
TERMS TO KNOW:
Memory-images (8), shaman (8), composite pose (9), post-and-lintel (16), corbelling (16), ridgepole
(16), waddle-and-daub (17), thatch (17), dolmen (17), cairn (17), passage grave (17), vault (17), henge
(18), mortise-and-tenon (19), alloy (23)
Archaeology:
Anthropology:
Study of cultures and people through relics and objects
Study of cultures and people through human remains
CONCEPTS TO KNOW:
The scientific theory about how human populations spread throughout the world (geographically) (2)
What is different about the landscape and climate from Paleolithic to Neolithic? (13)
How did climate changes affect the way in which people lived? (13)
PALEOLITHIC ERA
“OLD STONE AGE”
40,000-8,000 BCE
Crude architecture, some attempts at permanent housing
Sculptures were carved in small stones, bones, tusks and horns, some were painted
Sculptures usually of animals and women, sometimes of “memory images”
Paleolithic were primarily a nomadic people, classified as “hunter-gatherers”
People began to chip and shape stones to make more useful tools
Artwork is naturalized (based on natural proportions and appearance)
Made their paint (crushed plants, fat, blood) and brushes (moths, hair, animal tails)
Used side view of animals and superimposed (overlapped) images in paintings
Shapes and cracks on cave walls sometimes determined what would be painted
Cave paintings were often done over the course of centuries, not in one sitting
PALEOLITHIC-NEOLITHIC ERA (formerly called Mesolithic)
8,000-7,000 BCE
Glaciers covered much of Northern Europe
Artwork is less naturalized (more based on exaggerations and abstractions)
Most of our knowledge comes from garbage sites and broken pottery
NEOLITHIC ERA
“NEW STONE AGE”
7,000-1,500 BCE
Beginning stages of architecture, crude structures made of stone, mud and wood
Post and lintel construction continued (Stonehenge is an example)
Constructions such as dolmens and henges
Culture changed from “hunting to husbandry”, began settling in towns and houses
Deceased were buried below floor, heads were kept above ground
Represent the beginning of believing in the spirit or soul (found in the head)
Stonehenge was made in several stages over thousands of years
In North America, mounds were built in the shape of animals (Serpent Mound, Ohio)
LECTURE SLIDES:
TITLE
LOCATION
APPROXIMATE YEAR
PALEOLITHIC CULTURE:
Prehistoric Europe
Line Art
Spotted Horses and Human Hands
Pech-Merle (France)
Rainbow Serpent Rock
W. Arnhem Land (Australia) 6,000 BCE
25,000-15,000 BCE
Artist’s rendition of a Woolly Mammoth
Paleolithic Hand-Axe
Korongo (Tanzania)
60,000 BCE
Decorated Ochre, Blombos Cave
S. Cape coast (South Africa) 77,000 BCE
Reconstruction of mammoth-bone houses Ukraine
16,000-10,000 BCE
Lion-Human
Germany
30,000-26,000 BCE
Woman from Willendorf*
Willendorf (Austria)
24,000 BCE
Woman holding a bison horn
Dordogne (France)
25,000-20,000 BCE
Woman from Dolni Vestonice
Czech Republic
23,000 BCE
Woman from Ostrava Petrkovice
Czech Republic
23,000 BCE
Woman from Brassempouy*
France
30,000 BCE
Painting with Horses, Rhinos and Aurochs
Chauvet (France)
32,000 BCE
Diagram of Cave Painting technique
Line Art
Hall of Bulls*
Lascaux (France)
15,000 BCE
Bird-Headed Man with Bison
Lascaux (France)
15,000 BCE
Bison
Altamira (Spain)
12,500 BCE
Bison
La Tuc d-Audoubert (France) 13,000 BCE
Lamp with Ibex Design*
La Mouthe (France)
Image of an Ibex
modern photograph
Bison with Turned Head
Dordogne (France)
15,000-13,000 BCE
12,000 BCE
NEOLITHIC CULTURE:
Reconstruction Lepenski Vir House/Shrine Lepenski Vir (Serbia)
6,000 BCE
Human-Fish sculpture
Lepenski Vir (Serbia)
5,500 BCE
House in Chatal Huyuk
Konya Plain (Turkey)
6,200 BCE
Chatal Huyuk
Konya Plain (Turkey)
as early as 7,400 BCE
Artist’s rendition of life at Chatal Huyuk
Figurative wall paintings at Chatal Huyuk
Sesklo stone foundation house
Greece
Early Construction Methods
Line Art
Artist’s rendition of a Neolithic longhouse
Line Art
Waddle and Daub technique
Line Art
6,500 BCE
Tomb interior w corbelling/engraved stone Newgrange (Ireland)
3,000 BCE
Diagram of passage tomb
Newgrange (Ireland)
3,000 BCE
Plan of Village of Skara Brae
Orkney Islands (Scotland)
2,600 BCE
House Interior at Skara Brae
Orkney Islands (Scotland)
2,600 BCE
Various dolmen structures
Europe
Neolithic
Various henge structures
Europe
Neolithic
Stonehenge*
Salisbury Plain (England)
2,750-1,500 BCE
Stonehenge and its surrounding elements
Line Art
Durrington Walls
Line Art
Early pottery
Jomon culture (Japan)
12,000 BCE
Kaen-Doki vessel, Niigata Prefecture
Jomon culture (Japan)
2,500 BCE
Early pottery
Franchthi Cave (Greece)
6,500 BCE
Ceramic Vessels
Denmark
3,000-2,000 BCE
Human Figure
‘Ain Ghazal (Jordan)
4,000 BCE
Neolithic plastered skulls
Jericho (Israel)
7,000 BCE
Gold Face Mask, Tomb 3
Varna (Bulgaria)
3,800 BCE
Gold Scepters
Varna (Bulgaria)
3,800 BCE
Figure of a Woman*
Romania
4,500 BCE
Figure of a Man
Romania
4,500 BCE
Rock Art: Boat and Sea Battle
Fossum (Sweden)
1,500 BCE
People and Animals
Cogul (Spain)
4,000-2,000 BCE
Horse and Sun Chariot
Denmark
1,800-1,600 BCE
Openwork Box Lid
Ireland
100 BCE
The Great Serpent Mound
Athens, Ohio (United States) 1,070 CE
*Possibly a slide-identification question. Know the title and location.