Prehistoric Art
Origins, Types, Chronology, Characteristics
of Stone Age Culture.
A-Z of PREHISTORIC ART
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Prehistoric Art
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NOT "ART FOR
ART'S SAKE" |
Prehistoric Art of the Stone Age
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Introduction to Prehistoric Art Types Characteristics Dating and Chronology
of Prehistoric Art For the latest information about Stone Age cave painting, engraving and sculpture, see our new site: Prehistoric Art and Culture. |
 Maikop Gold Bull (c.2,500 BCE) One of the greatest treasures of prehistoric sculpture from Russia. See: Oldest Stone Age Art: Top 100. |
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PREHISTORY |
The longest phase of Stone Age culture - known as the Paleolithic period - is a hunter-gatherer culture which is usually divided into three parts: (1) Lower Paleolithic (2,500,000-200,000
BCE) After this comes a transitional phase called the Mesolithic period (sometimes known as epipaleolithic), ending with the spread of agriculture, followed by the Neolithic period (the New Stone Age) which witnessed the establishment of permanent settlements. The Stone Age ends as stone tools become superceded by the new products of bronze and iron metallurgy, and is followed by the Bronze Age and Iron Age. WARNING: All periods are approximate. Dates for specific cultures are given as a rough guide only, as disagreement persists as to classification, terminology and chronology. Paleolithic Era (c.2,500,000 - 10,000 BCE) Characterized by a Stone Age subsistence culture and the evolution of the human species from primitive australopiths via Homo erectus and Homo sapiens to anatomically modern humans. See: Paleolithic Art and Culture. Lower Paleolithic (2,500,000 - 200,000 BCE) - Olduwan culture (2,500,000 - 1,500,000
BCE) Middle Paleolithic (200,000 - 40,000 BCE) - Mousterian culture (300,000 - 30,000
BCE) Upper Paleolithic (40,000-8,000 BCE) - Aurignacian culture (40,000 - 26,000
BCE)
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Mesolithic Era This era joins the Ice Age culture of the Upper Paleolithic with the ice-free, farming culture of the Neolithic. It is characterized by more advanced hunter-gathering, fishing and rudimentary forms of cultivation. Neolithic Era This era is characterized by farming, domestication of animals, settled communities and the emergence of important ancient civilizations (eg. Sumerian, Egyptian). Portable art and monumental architecture dominate. Human Evolution: From Axes to Art How did prehistoric man manage to leave behind such a rich cultural heritage of rock art? Answer: by developing a bigger and more sophisticated brain. Brain performance is directly associated with a number of "higher" functions such as language and creative expression. The consensus among most most paleontologists and paleoanthropologists, is that the human species (Homo) split away from gorillas in Africa about 8 million BCE, and from chimpanzees no later than 5 million BCE. (The discovery of a hominid skull [Sahelanthropus tchadensis] dated about 7 million years ago, may indicate an earlier divergence). The very early hominids included species like Australopithecus afarensis and Paranthropus robustus (brain capacity 350-500 cc). About 2.5 million years BCE, some humans began to make stone tools (like very crude choppers and hand-axes), and newer species like Homo habilis and Homo rudolfensis emerged (brain capacity 590-690 cc). By 2 million years BCE more species of humans appeared, such as Homo erectus (brain capacity 800-1250 cc). During the following 500,000 years, Homo erectus spread from Africa to the Middle East, Asia and Europe. Between 1.5 million BCE and 500,000 BCE, Homo erectus and other variants of humans engendered more highly developed types of Homo, known as Archaic Homo sapiens. It was a group of artists from one of these Archaic Homo sapiens species that created the Bhimbetka petroglyphs and cupules in the Auditorium cave situated at Bhimbetka in India, and at Daraki-Chattan. These cupules are the oldest art on earth. From 500,000 BCE onwards, these new types morphed into Homo sapiens, as exemplified by Neanderthal Man (from 200,000 BCE or earlier). Neanderthals had a brain size of about 1500 cc, which is actually greater than today's modern man, so clearly cranial capacity is not the only guide to intellect: internal brain architecture is important too. In all probability Neanderthal sculptors (or their contemporaries) created the famous figurines known as the Venus of Berekhat Ram and the Venus of Tan-Tan, as well as the ochre stone engravings at the Blombos cave in South Africa, and the cupules at the Dordogne rock shelter at La Ferrassie. Finally, about 100,000 BCE, "anatomically modern man" emerged from somewhere in sub-Saharan Africa, and, like his predecessors, headed north: reaching North Africa by about 70,000 BCE and becoming established in Europe no later than the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic (40,000 BCE). Painters and sculptors belonging to modern man (eg. Cro-Magnon Man, Grimaldi Man) were responsible for the glorious cave painting in France and the Iberian peninsular, as well as the miniature "venus" sculptures and the ivory carvings of the Swabian Jura, found in the caves of Vogelherd, Hohle Fels, and Hohlenstein-Stadel.
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The
Lower Paleolithic Era This is the earliest period of the Paleolithic Age. It runs from the first appearance of Man as a tool-making mammal to the advent of important evolutionary and technological changes which marked the start of the Middle Paleolithic. It witnessed the emergence of three different tool-based cultures: (1) Olduwan culture (2,500,000-1,500,000 BCE); (2) Acheulean culture (1,650,000-100,000 BCE); and (3) Clactonian culture (c.400,000–300,000 BCE). In a sense, stone tools represented the "art" of this period - the key form of creative human expression. Lower Paleolithic Tool Cultures Oldowan Culture (2,500,000 - 1,500,000 BCE) Oldowan describes the first stone tools used by prehistoric Man of the Lower Paleolithic. Oldowan culture began about 2.5 million years ago, appearing first in the Gona and Omo Basins of Ethiopia. The key feature of Oldowan tool manufacture was the method of chipping stones to create a chopping or cutting edge. Most tools were fashioned using a single strike of one rock against another to create a sharp-edged flake. Acheulean Culture and Art (1,650,000 - 100,000 BCE) Acheulean culture was the most important and dominant tool-making tradition of the Lower Palaeolithic era throughout Africa and much of Asia and Europe. Named after the type-site village of Saint Acheul in northern France, and associated with Homo ergaster, Homo heidelbergensis and western Homo erectus, Acheulean tool users with their signature style oval and pear-shaped hand-axes were the first humans to expand successfully across Eurasia. Judging by the sophisticated design of these implements, it is no surprise that the earliest art by Stone Age man dates from Acheulean Culture. Also, archeologists now believe that Acheulean peoples were the first to experience fire, (around 1.4 million years BCE), as a result of lightning, although amazingly it wasn't until about 8,000 BCE that man learned exactly how to control it. Clactonian Culture (c.400,000 – 300,000 BCE) Clactonian describes a culture of European flint tool manufacture or "art", associated with Homo erectus, dating from the early period of the interglacial period known as the Hoxnian, the Mindel-Riss or the Holstein interglacial (approx 300,000 – 200,000 BCE). It was named after type-sites located at Clacton-on-Sea, on the SE coast of England and at Swanscombe in Kent. The latter also provided evidence for the existence of a sub-species of Homo erectus known as Swanscombe Man. Clactonian tools were sometimes notched, indicating they were attached to a handle or shaft. Lower Paleolithic Rock Art The earliest recorded examples of human art were created during the Lower Paleolithic in the caves and rock shelters of central India. They consisted of a number of petroglyphs (10 cupules and an engraving or groove) discovered during the 1990s in a quartzite rock shelter (Auditorium cave) at Bhimbetka in central India. This rock art dates from at least 290,000 BCE. However, it may turn out to be much older (c.700,000 BCE). Archeological excavations from a second cave, at Daraki-Chattan in the same region, are believed to be of a similar age. The next oldest prehistoric art from the Lower Paleolithic comes almost at the end of the period. Two primitive figurines - the Venus of Berekhat Ram (found on the Golan Heights) and the Venus of Tan-Tan (discovered in Morocco) were dated to between roughly 200,000 and 500,000 BCE (the former is more ancient). |
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Middle
Paleolithic Era The Middle Paleolithic period is the second stage of the Paleolithic Era, as applied to Europe, Africa and Asia. The dominant Paleolithic culture was Mousterian, a flake tool industry largely characterized by the point and side scraper, associated (in Europe) with Homo neanderthalensis. This was not a period of great invention - plain hand-axes, for instance, were still regularly employed - but major improvements were made in the basic process of tool-making, and in the range and proper utilization of manufactured implements. Towards the end of the period, Mousterian tool technology was enhanced by another culture known as Levallois, and practised in North Africa, the Middle East and as far afield as Siberia. Mousterian Culture (300,000 - 30,000 BCE) The name Mousterian derives from the type-site of Le Moustier, a cave in the Dordogne region of southern France, although the same technology was practised across the unglaciated zones of Europe and also the Middle East and North Africa. Tool forms featured a wide variety of specialized shapes, including barbed and serrated edges. These new blade designs helped to reduce the need for humans to use their teeth to perform certain tasks, thus contributing to a diminution of facial and jaw features among later humans. The Tool-Making Process Mousterian Man was able to standardize the tool-making process and thus introduce greater efficiency, possibly through division and specialization of labour. Tool-makers went to great efforts to create blades that could be regularly re-sharpened, thus endowing tools with a greater lifespan. Their production of serrated edge blades, special animal-hide scrapers and the like, together with a range of bone instruments such as needles (suggesting the use of animal furs and skins as body coverings and shoes) reveal a growing improvement in cognitive ability - something illustrated by Neanderthal Man's success in hunting large mammoths, an activity which required much greater social organization and cooperation. Levallois Flake-Tool Culture (c.100,000 - 30,000 BCE) Named after a suburb of Paris, the Levalloisian is an important flint-knapping culture characterized by an enhanced technique of producing flakes. This involved the preliminary shaping of the core stone into a convex tortoise shape in order to yield larger flakes. Levallois culture influenced many other Middle Paleolithic stone tool industries. Middle Paleolithic Art One of the few works of art dating from the Middle Paleolithic, is the pair of ochre rocks decorated with abstract cross-hatch patterns found in the Blombos Caves east of Cape Town. (See also: Prehistoric Abstract Signs.) They are one of the oldest examples of African art, and have been dated to 70,000 BCE. After Blombos, comes the Diepkloof eggshell engravings, dated to 60,000 BCE. It is probable that towards the end of the Upper Paleolithic, human artists began producing primitive forms of Oceanic art in the SW Pacific area, and very early types of Tribal art throughout Africa and Asia, although little has survived. See also the cupules at the La Ferrassie Neanderthal cave in France. |
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Upper Paleolithic
Era The Upper Paleolithic is the final and shortest stage of the Paleolithic Age: less than 15 percent of the length of the preceeding Middle Paleolithic. When referring to Africa it is more commonly known as the late Stone Age. In addition to more specialized tools and a more sophisticated way of life, Upper Paleolithic culture spawned the first widespread appearance of human painting and sculpture, which appeared simultaneously in almost every corner of the globe. Also, from the start of the Upper Paleolithic period, the Neanderthal Man sub-species of Homo sapiens was replaced by "anatomically modern humans" (eg. Cro-Magnon Man, Chancelade Man and Grimaldi Man) who became the sole hominid inhabitants across continental Europe. But see for instance the Neanderthal engraving at Gorham's Cave, Gibraltar (37,000 BCE). Stone Tool Cultures The five main tool cultures of the Upper Paleolithic were (1) Perigordian (aka Chatelperronian; (2) Aurignacian; (3) Gravettian; (4) Solutrean; and (5) Magdalenian. Upper Paleolithic Society The era saw the construction of the earliest man-made dwellings (mostly semi-subterranean pit houses), while the location of settlements indicates a more complex pattern of social interreaction, involving collective hunting, organized fishing, social stratification, ceremonial events, supernatural and religious ritual. Other developments included the beginning of private property, the use of needle and thread, and clothing. Upper Paleolithic Art The Upper Paleolithic period witnessed the beginning of fine art, featuring drawing, modelling, sculpture, and painting, as well as jewellery, personal adornments and early forms of music and dance. The three main art forms were cave painting, rock engraving and miniature figurative carvings. Upper Paleolithic Cave Painting During this period, prehistoric society began to accept ritual and ceremony - of a quasi-religious or shaman-type nature. As a result, certain caves were reserved as prehistoric art galleries, where artists began to paint animals and hunting scenes, as well as a variety of abstract or symbolic drawings. Cave art first appeared during the early Aurignacian culture, as exemplified by the dots and hand stencils of the El Castillo Cave paintings (c.39,000 BCE), the stencils and animal images in the Sulawesi Cave art (c.37,900 BCE), the figurative Fumane Cave paintings (c.35,000 BCE) and the fabulous monochrome Chauvet Cave paintings (c.30,000 BCE) of animals. A recent discovery is the Coliboaia Cave Art (30,000 BCE) - now radiocarbon dated - in north-west Romania. Examples of Gravettian art include the prehistoric hand stencils at the (now underwater) Cosquer Cave (c.25,000 BCE) and Roucadour Cave (24,000 BCE), and the polychrome charcoal and ochre images at Pech-Merle (c.25,000 BCE) and Cougnac Cave (c.23,000 BCE). But without doubt, the most evocative art of the period is the Gargas Cave hand stencils (25,000 BCE), featuring a chilling array of mutilated fingers. During the Solutrean period, prehistoric painters (influenced by late Gravettian traditions) began work on their magnificent polychrome images of horses, bulls and other animals in the Lascaux Cave (from 17,000 BCE), and the Spanish Cantabrian Cave of La Pasiega (from 16,000 BCE). Magdalenian cave painting is well represented by the polychrome images of bison and deer at Altamira Cave in Spain (from 15,000 BCE), the reindeer pictures on antlers found at the French Lortet Cave (from 15,000 BCE), the painted engravings at Font de Gaume Cave (14,000 BCE), the black paintings of mammoths at Rouffignac Cave (14,000 BCE), the red and black paintings in the Tito Bustillo Cave (14,000 BCE) and the Russian Kapova Cave paintings (c.12,500 BCE) in Bashkortostan. In Australia, the oldest cave art is the Nawarla Gabarnmang charcoal drawing in Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, which is carbon-dated to 26,000 BCE. The Koonalda Cave Art (finger-fluting) dates to 18,000 BCE, while the figurative Bradshaw paintings have been carbon-dated to 15,500 BCE. In Africa, the animal figure paintings in charcoal and red ochre on the Apollo 11 Cave Stones in Namibia date from 25,500 BCE, while in the Americas the hand stencil images at the Cueva de las Manos (Cave of the Hands) in Argentina, date from around 9,500 BCE.
Upper Paleolithic Rock Engraving Upper Paleolithic rock engraving is exemplified by the following sites: Abri Castanet (35,000 BCE), Grotte des Deux-Ouvertures (26,500), Cussac Cave (25,000), Cosquer Cave (25,000) Le Placard Cave (17,500), Roc-de-Sers Cave (17,200), Lascaux Cave (17,000), Rouffignac Cave (14,000), Trois Freres Cave (13,000) and Les Combarelles Cave (12,000). Further afield, Aboriginal rock art began in the north of Australia, where the first 'modern' humans arrived from SE Asia. Ubirr rock art and Kimberley rock art are both believed to date from as early as 30,000 BCE, as are the ancient Burrup Peninsula rock engravings in the Pilbara, Western Australia. All these Australian Paleolithic sites are famous for their open air engraved drawings, whereas almost all the European engravings were created inside caves: the leading exception being the Coa Valley Engravings, Portugal (22,000 BCE). Upper Paleolithic Sculpture Upper Paleolithic artists produced a vast number of small sculptures of female figures, known as Venus Figurines. During Aurignacian times, they included: the Venus of Hohle Fels (ivory, 35,500 BCE), and the Venus of Galgenberg (also known as the Stratzing Figurine) (c.30,000 BCE). During the following Gravettian culture, more appeared, such as: the Venus of Dolni Vestonice (ceramic clay figurine: c.26,000 BCE); the Venus of Monpazier (limonite carving: c.25,000 BCE); the Venus of Willendorf (oolitic limestone sculpture: c.25,000 BCE); the Venus of Savignano (serpentine sculpture: c.24,000 BCE); the Venus of Moravany (mammoth ivory carving: c.24,000 BCE); the Venus of Laussel (limestone sculpture: c.23,000 BCE); the Venus of Brassempouy (mammoth ivory: c.23,000 BCE); the Venus of Lespugue (mammoth ivory: c.23,000 BCE); the Venus of Kostenky (mammoth ivory carving: 22,000 BCE), the Venus of Gagarino (volcanic rock: c.22,000 BCE), the Avdeevo Venuses (ivory: c.20,000 BCE), the Zaraysk Venuses (ivory: c.20,000 BCE) and the Mal'ta Venuses (ivory: 20,000 BCE), to name but a few. Other non-female examples include the ivory Lion Man of Hohlenstein-Stadel (c.38,000 BCE). For later sculptures from the Magdalenian period, please see: Venus of Eliseevichi (14,000 BCE), the German Venus of Engen ("Petersfels Venus") (13,000 BCE) and the Venus of Monruz-Neuchatel (c.10,000 BCE), the last of the Upper Paleolithic figurines. Upper Paleolithic Relief Sculpture Stone Age relief sculpture is exemplified by the Dordogne limestone relief known as the Venus of Laussel (c.23,000-20,000 BCE); the beautiful Perigord carving of a salmon/trout in the Abri du Poisson Cave (c.23,000-20,000 BCE); the exceptional frieze at Roc-de-Sers Cave (17,200 BCE) in the Charente; the Cap Blanc Frieze (15,000 BCE) in the Dordogne; the Tuc d'Audoubert Bison reliefs (c.13,500 BCE) found in the Ariege; and the limestone frieze at Roc-aux-Sorciers (c.12,000 BCE), uncovered at Angles-sur-l'Anglin in the Vienne. |
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Upper Paleolithic Tool Technology Tool-making received something of an overhaul. Out went the old hand axes and flake tools, in came a wide range of diversified and specialized tools made from specially prepared stones. They included spear and arrow points, and a signature figure-eight shaped blade. Hafted tools appeared, as did the harpoon, specialist fishing equipment and a range of gravers (or burins) and scrapers. In addition to flint, materials like bone, ivory, and antlers were utilized extensively. Art and Tool Cultures During the Upper Paleolithic Aurignacian Culture (about 40,000 - 26,000 BCE) One of several cultures which co-existed in Upper Paleolithic Europe, it was also practised as far away as south west Asia, its name derives from the type-site near the village of Aurignac in the Haute Garonne, France. Its tools included sophisticated bone implements like points with grooves cut in the bottom for attachment to handles/spears, scrapers (including nose-scrapers), burins, chisels, and military-style batons. Aurignacian art also witnessed the first significant manifestations of fine art painting and sculpture: a phenomenom which continued throughout the rest of the Upper Paleolithic era. Notable examples include the red abstract symbols at El Castillo, the monochrome cave murals at Chauvet and Coliboaia, and the early venus figurines from across Europe. Other Aurignacian rock art included hand stencils, finger tracings, engravings, and bas-reliefs. In addition, Aurignacian humans produced the first personal ornaments made from decorated bone and ivory, such as bracelets, necklaces, pendants and beads. This growing self-awareness, together with the birth of fine art, marks the Aurignacian as the first modern culture of the Stone Age. Perigordian/Chatelperronian Culture: (about 33,000-27,000 BCE) Châtelperronian was an important Upper Paleolithic culture of central and southern France. Derived from the earlier Mousterian, practised by Homo neanderthalensis, it employed Levallois flake-tool technology, producing toothed and serrated stone tools as well as a signature flint blades (possibly used to make jewellery) with blunted backs known as "Châtelperron points". No particular art is associated with this culture. Gravettian Culture (about 26,000 - 20,000 BCE) The Gravettian was a European Upper Palaeolithic culture whose name derives from the type-site of La Gravette in the Dordogne department of France. Practised in eastern, central and western Europe, its signature tool (derived from the Châtelperron point) was a small pointed blade with a blunt but straight back - called a Gravette Point. Personal jewellery continued to be manufactured, and more personal property is evident, indicating an increasing degree of social stratification. Gravettian art is immensely rich in both cave painting and portable sculptural works. The former is exemplified by the wonderful stencil art at Cosquer cave and the coloured charcoal and ochre pictures at Pech-Merle cave. The most famous Gravettian sculpture consists of venus figurines, such as the Venuses of Dolni Vestonice (Czech Republic), Willendorf (Austria), Savignano (Italy), Kostenky (Russia), Moravany (Slovakia), Laussel (France), Brassempouy (France), Lespugue (France), and Gagarino (Russia). Solutrean Culture (about 20,000 – 15,000 BCE) This culture comes from the type-site of Solutré in the Mâcon district of eastern France. Curiously, Solutrean tool-makers appear to have developed a number of uniquely advanced techniques, some of which were not seen for several thousand years after their departure. In any event, Solutrean people produced the finest Paleolithic flint craftsmanship in western Europe. However, around 15,000 BCE, Solutrean culture mysteriously vanishes from the archeological record. Some paleoanthropologists believe there are affinities between Solutean and the later North American Clovis culture (as evidenced by artifacts found at Blackwater Draw in New Mexico, USA), indicating that Solutreans migrated across the frozen Atlantic to America. Other experts believe that Solutrean culture was overcome by a wave of new invaders. Solutrean Art Perhaps because of its focus on tool technology, Solutrean art is noted above all for its achievements in engraving and relief sculpture - see, for instance the fabulous rock engravings and frieze at the Roc-de-Sers Cave (c.17,200 BCE) - even though the glorious Lascaux cave paintings date from the period. Experts believe that the artists who created the cave murals at Lascaux and La Pasiega were influenced either by late Gravettian or early Magdalenian culture. Ancient pottery also appeared at this time in East Asia. The oldest known sherds come from the Xianrendong Cave Pottery (c.18,000 BCE), discovered in northeast Jiangxi Province, China. After this comes Yuchanyan Cave Pottery (c.16,000 BCE) from China's Hunan province, and Amur River Basin Pottery (14,300 BCE). Meanwhile, in Japan, ceramics began with Jomon Pottery (from 14,500 BCE). For more chronological details, see: Pottery Timeline. Magdalenian Culture (about 15,000 - 8,000 BCE) Magdalenian is the final culture of the period and the apogee of Paleolithic art, of the Old Stone Age. Its name comes from the type-site of La Madeleine near Les Eyzies in the French Dordogne. Magdalenian tool technology is defined by the production of smaller and more sophisticated tools (from barbed points to needles, well-crafted scrapers to parrot-beak gravers) made from fine flint-flakes and animal sources (bone, ivory etc), whose specialized functions and delicacy testify to the culture's advanced nature. Magdalenian Art Magdalenian culture attached a growing importance to aesthetic objects, such as personal jewellery, ceremonial accessories, clothing and especially fine art. Ceramics also appeared in Europe - see Vela Spila pottery (15,500 BCE), for instance, from Croatia. Indeed, the cultural horizons of Magdalenian people are easily appreciated by studying the upsurge of drawing, painting, relief sculpture of the period, exemplified by the Altimira Cave paintings - whose symbolism in particular represents the first attempt by humans to impose their own sense of meaning on a relatively uncertain world - as well as the Addaura Cave engravings (11,000 BCE) whose style is remarkably modern. This unstoppable trend would - within only a few millennia - lead to the appearance of pictographs, hieroglyphics and written language. For details, see: Magdalenian Art.
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Mesolithic
Culture The Mesolithic period is a transitional era between the ice-affected hunter-gatherer culture of the Upper Paleolithic, and the farming culture of the Neolithic. The greater the effect of the retreating ice on the environment of a region, the longer the Mesolithic era lasted. So, in areas with no ice (eg. the Middle East), people transitioned quite rapidly from hunting/gathering to agriculture. Their Mesolithic period was therefore short, and often referred to as the Epi-Paleolithic or Epipaleolithic. By comparison, in areas undergoing the change from ice to no-ice, the Mesolithic era and its culture lasted much longer.
European Mesolithic Humans Archeological discoveries of Mesolithic remains bear witness to a great variety of races. These include the Azilian Ofnet Man (Bavaria); several later types of Cro-Magnon Man; types of brachycephalic humans (short-skulled); and types of dolichocephalic humans (long-skulled). European Mesolithic Cultures As the ice disappeared, to be replaced by grasslands and forests, mobility and flexibility became more important in the hunting and acquisition of food. As a result, Mesolithic cultures are characterized by small, lighter flint tools, quantities of fishing tackle, stone adzes, bows and arrows. Very gradually, at least in Europe, hunting and fishing was superceded by farming and the domestication of animals. The three main European Mesolithic cultures are: Azilian, Tardenoisian and Maglemosian. Azilian was a stone industry, largely microlithic, associated with Ofnet Man. Tardenoisian, associated with Tardenoisian Man, produced small flint blades and small flint implements with geometrical shapes, together with bone harpoons using flint flakes as barbs. Maglemosian (northern Europe) was a bone and horn culture, producing flint scrapers, borers and core-axes. Mesolithic Rock Art Mesolithic art reflects the arrival of new living conditions and hunting practices caused by the disappearance of the great herds of animals from Spain and France, at the end of the Ice Age. Forests now cloaked the landscape, necessitating more careful and cooperative hunting arrangements. European Mesolithic rock art gives more space to human figures, and is characterized by keener observation, and greater narrative in the paintings. Also, because of the warmer weather, it moves from caves to outdoor sites in numerous locations. Famous Works of Art From the Mesolithic Period Famous works of painting and sculpture created by Mesolithic artists include the following: Artwork: Cueva de las Manos (Cave
of the Hands) (c.9500 BCE) Artwork: Bhimbetka Rock Art (c.9,000-7,000
BCE) Artwork: Paintings on Pachmari Hills
(9000–3000 BCE) Artwork: Wonderwerk Cave Engravings
(c.8200 BCE) Artwork: Tassili-n-Ajjer Rock Art
(c.8000 BCE) Artwork: The Shigir
Idol (7,500 BCE) |
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Neolithic
Culture The Neolithic era saw a fundamental change in lifestyle throughout the world. OUT went the primitive semi-nomadic style of hunting and gathering food, IN came a much more settled form of existence, based on farming and rearing of domesticated animals. Neolithic culture was characterized by stone tools shaped by polishing or grinding, and farming (staple crops: wheat, barley and rice; domesticated animals: sheep, goats, pigs and cattle), and led directly to a growth in crafts like pottery and weaving. All this began about 9,000 BCE in the villages of southern Asia, from where it spread to the Chinese interior - see Neolithic Art in China - and also to the fertile crescent of the Tigris and Euphrates in the Middle East (c.7,000), before spreading to India (c.5,000), Europe (c.4,000), and the Americas (independently) (c.2,500 BCE). The establishment of settled communities (villages, towns and in due course cities) triggered a variety of new activities, notably: a rapid stimulation of trade, the construction of trading vehicles (mainly boats), new forms of social organizations, along with the growth of religious beliefs and associated ceremonies. And due to improvements in food supply and environmental control, the population rapidly increased. For tens of millennia before the advent of agriculture, the total human population had varied between 5 million and 8 million. By 4,000 BCE, after less than 5,000 years of farming, numbers had risen to 65 million. Neolithic Art In general, the more settled and better-resourced the region, the more art it produces. So it was with Neolithic art, which branched out in several different directions. And although most ancient art remained essentially functional in nature, there was a greater focus on ornamentation and decoration. For instance, jade carving - one of the great specialities of Chinese art - first appeared during the era of Neolithic culture, as does Chinese lacquerware and porcelain. See: Chinese Art Timeline (18,000 BCE - present.) Portable Art With greater settlement in villages and other small communities, rock painting begins to be replaced by more portable art. Discoveries in Catal Huyuk, an ancient village in Asia Minor (modern Turkey) include beautiful murals (including the world's first landscape painting), dating from 6,100 BCE. Artworks become progressively ornamented with precious metals (eg. copper is first used in Mesopotamia, while more advanced metallurgy is discovered in South-East Europe). Free standing sculpture, in stone and wood begins to be seen, as well as bronze statuettes (notably by the Indus Valley Civilization, one of the early engines of painting and sculpture in India), primitive jewellery and decorative designs on a variety of artifacts. Ceramics However, the major medium of Neolithic civilization was ceramic pottery, the finest examples of which (mostly featuring geometric designs or animal/plant motifs) were produced around the region of Mesopotamia (Iran, Iraq) and the eastern Mediterranean. Other Cultural Developments Other important art-related trends which surface during the Neolithic art include writing and religion. The appearance of early hieroglyphic writing systems in Sumer heralds the arrival of pictorial methods of communication, while increased prosperity and security permits greater attention to religious formalities of (eg) worship (in temples) and burial, in megalithic tombs. Architecture and Megalithic Art The emergence of the first city state (Uruk, in Mesopotamia) predicts the establishment of more secure communities around the world, many of which will compete to establish their own independent cultural and artistic identity, creating permanent architectural megaliths in the process. (See: History of Architecture). The Neolithic age also saw the emergence of monumental tomb buildings like the Egyptian pyramids and individual monoliths like the Sphinx at Giza - see Ancient Egyptian Architecture for details. For details of tomb architecture and decorative engravings in Ireland during this period, please see Irish Stone Age art. Other Famous Works of Art From the Neolithic Period Famous works of painting and sculpture created by Neolithic artists include the following: Artwork: Jiahu Carvings (c.7000–5700
BCE) Artwork: Coldstream Burial Stone
(c.6,000 BCE) Artwork: The Seated Woman of Catal Huyuk
(c.6000 BCE) Artwork: Egyptian Naquada I Female Figurines
(c.5500-3000 BCE) Artwork: Persian Chalcolithic Pottery
(c.5000-3500 BCE) Artwork: Thinker of Cernavoda (c.5,000
BCE) Artwork: Fish God of Lepenski Vir
(c.5000 BCE) Artwork: Iraqi Samarra and Halaf Ceramic
Plates (c.5000) Artwork: Dabous Giraffe Engravings
(c.4000 BCE) Artwork: Artwork: Valdivia Figurines
(c.4000–3500 BCE) Artwork: Pig Dragon Pendant (Hongshan
Culture) (c.3800 BCE) Bronze Age (In Europe, 3000 BCE - 1200 BCE) Characterized by the development of metallurgy, in particular copper mining and smelting, along with tin-mining and smelting, as reflected in the exquisite bronze, gold and silver sculptures. Emergence of Egyptian architecture, metallurgy, encaustic painting and stone sculpture. See: Bronze Age Art. Bronze Age Masterpiece: Ram in a Thicket (c.2500 BCE) This extraordinary 18-inch high sculpture
(British Museum, London) features
a ram standing on its hind legs, peering through a symbolic piece of undergrowth.
The minimalist depiction of the thicket and the focused, forlorn look
on the face of the animal, demonstrates an amazing artistic sensibility
and makes it a masterpiece of Sumerian
art of the time. Artwork: Maikop Gold Bull (c.2500
BCE) Iron Age (In Europe, 1500 BCE - 200 BCE) Characterized by the processing of iron ore to produce iron tools and weapons. In northern Europe, Hallstatt and La Tene styles of Celtic art flourished, while around the Mediterranean there emerged the great schools of Greek art and Persian art as well as the culture and architecture of the Minoan, Mycenean, and Etruscan civilizations. See: Iron Age Art. In India, around 200 BCE, the first paintings appeared in the Ajanta Caves. For more, see: Classical Indian Painting (up to 1150 CE). |
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• For more history and facts about Stone Age arts and crafts, see: Visual Arts Encyclopedia.
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ART |
