1. Prehistoric Art
Cave Conjecture

2. Paleolithic Art
Paleo (Greek) = Old
Lithic(Greek) = Stone
Paleolithic = Old Stone Age
40,000 BCE 8,000 BCE in Near East
40,000 BCE 4,000 BCE in Europe
3. Prehistoric Sculpture
All prehistoric sculpture is portable. Why?
4. Shelter or Architecture?
5. Young men gather around a vessel of bright pigment in preparation for body painting in this scene by artist Reeda Peel. In prehistoric times, ocher pigment had many uses, whether for body adornment, massive scenes on cave walls, or small painted pebbles"portable art. Investigators found decorated stones and evidence of pigment production.
6. Woman Venus of Willwndorf
c. 28,000 21, 000 BCE
limestone
Emphasized reproductive parts
4 3/8Meant to be held
Deemphasized face, arms, legs
No feet
7. 8. 9. Prehistoric Painting
Characteristics
Images of animals dominate
with black outlines
realistically represented
Images Of humans
stick figures
little detail
Handprints
negative prints
left hand
10. LascauxCaves
15,000-13,000 BCE, Dordogne, France
http://www.lascaux.culture.fr/#/fr/00.xml
11. Lascaux Cave
Paint is made of natural products
Charcoal, iron ore, plants bound with animal fat
650 paintings
Cows, bulls, horses, and deer
Figures are overlapping
Negative handprints: signatures?
12. Negative Handprints
13. Cave Art
Caves were not dwellings
Prehistoric people lived migratory lives following herds of animals
Paintings placed deep inside the cave
14. Cave Art Theories
Used to ensure a successful hunt?
Ancestral animal worship?
Shamanism
A religion based on the idea that forces of nature can be controlled by a highly regarded religious figure called a shaman
15. Neolithic
Neo (Greek) = New
Lith (Greek) = Stone
Neolithic = New Stone Age
8,000 BCE 3,000 BCE in the Near East
4,000 BCE 2,000 BCE in Europe
16. Neolithic People
Cultivatedland
Raised livestock
Live in organized settlements
Created occupations = division of labor
Built the first homes
17. Neolithic Architecture
Shelters were huts built with animal bones
Places of worship were built to last!
18. Neolithic Architecture
Menhir = large individual stone placed on end alone or in rows
19. Neolithic Architecture
Megalith = Menhirs cut into rectangles used for construction
byadam.holmquist
20. Neolithic Architecture
Post-and-lintel architecture =
the most basic
Post = two uprights
Lintel = horizontal on top
21. Mortise and Tenon
22. Neolithic Architecture
Cromlech = A circle of megaliths with lintels placed on top
Structures were aligned to important dates: solstices, equinoxes, and lunar.
The most well known cromlech?
23. Neolithic Architecture
Stonehenge,c. 2100 BCE,
Wilshire, England