Paleolithic Art History

1. Paleolithic Art History 30,000 B.C. – 10,000 B.C.

2. Paleolithic or "Old Stone Age" is a term used to define the oldest period in the human history. The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic - lit. old stone from the Greek paleos=old and lithos=stone. It began about 2 million years ago, from the use of first stone tools and ended of the Pleistocene epoch, with the close of the last ice age about 13,000 BC.

3. Paleolithic Art, produced from about 32,000 to 11,000 years ago, falls into two main categories: Portable Pieces (small figurines or decorated objects carved out of bone, stone, or modeled in clay), and Cave Art. Bison with head turned, from the Dordogne region of France.  4 l/2" length. Cave Art, The Great Hall of the bulls Lascaux Caves, France

4. Portable Pieces Small portable pieces like the "Bison with Head Turned" below suggest imagination in looking at an object (like looking at clouds in the sky and seeing elephants!).

5. Discovered in 1986 in Dolni Vestonici in the Czech Republic, this figure was carved from mammoth ivory and is dated at 26,640 bce.

6. Relief bison, clay and stone.  From Le Tuc d'Audobert in Southern France.  c.15,000 bce. Carved female ("Venus") figure holding horn with markings, from Laussel in France,c.20,000 bce.

7. Venus of Willendorfc. 24,000-22,000 BCE Oolitic limestone 43/8 inches (11.1 cm) high The sculpture shows a woman with a large stomach that overhangs but does not hide her pubic area. A roll of fat extends around her middle, joining with large but rather flat buttocks. She is a symbol of fertility. A characteristic of all the Paleolithic "Venus" figurines exhibited by the Willendorf statuette is the lack of a face, which for some, arguing that the face is a key feature in human identity, means that she is to be regarded as an anonymous sexual object rather than a person; it is her physical body and what it represents that is important. http://witcombe.sbc.edu/willendorf/willendorfwoman.html

8. Cave Art Artists used fresco, and found materials (charcoal, berries etc.) to create works of art. Frescos are pigments mixed with water usually painted on walls or ceilings The purpose for cave art is not known, some believe it was a way to communicate with others, or used to celebrate successful hunts, or for some other spiritual ceremony. The Unicorn Lascaux Caves, France

9. Great Hall of Bulls, Lascaux Caves, France The colour black dominates the figurative works: only the group of stags,three bovines and four horses, of which three are incomplete, are coloured red. It is believed that artists used primitive tools, sticks, items carved in ivory or bone to create these works.

10. Ancestral spirit figure, from Arnhem Land, Australia.  Presently dated to approximately 7-9,000 years ago

11. Human figure images from Tanzania.

12. "Big Cats" from the Chauvet cave in Ardeche, France.  The caves contain many images of rhinos and big cats.  Dated at 30,000 bce...these cave paintings may be the oldest found in Europe to date.

13. Neolithic Period starting around 6,000 B.C. • People began farming communities and raising livestock. • They developed basic tools (pottery, baskets, etc.) to cope with their new way of life Neolithic Chinese Jar This jar from Gansu in north central China is dated about 2500 bc. In the Middle Neolithic, people began producing another kind of pottery with red and white decoration in geometric patterns, which is known as Sesklo ware

14. Technique and design of pottery • Good clay could usually be found on the banks of the inland water • To make the clay resistant to fire and heating it was mixed with crushed granite • Artist's shaped a pot by buliding from thin ‘sausages’ of clay • The surface was smoothed and then the vessel could be decorated. • Neolithic pottery, in particular, is often decorated with beautiful, complex patterns. • The patterns were impressed into the vessel surface. The impressed decoration could be made with small sticks, seashells, bones or fingernails. Cords of plant fibre were also used. • Later the patterns could be filled in with a chalky pulp, which contrasted with the clay • The pot was fired at temperatures between 500 and 700 degrees – perhaps in a bonfire kiln. http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://oldtiden.natmus.dk/uploads/pics/Keramik-deko-collage_01.jpg&imgrefurl=http://oldtiden.natmus.dk/udstillingen/bondestenalderen/skarpsalling_karret/keramikkens_teknik_og_design/language/uk/&usg=__P2nJwdEXlmuNrKC-Dhynzy1XPpM=&h=389&w=525&sz=41&hl=en&start=40&um=1&tbnid=UUycGoQTvMP0hM:&tbnh=98&tbnw=132&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dearly%2Bneolithic%2Bpottery%26ndsp%3D20%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-us%26sa%3DN%26start%3D20%26um%3D1

15. Stonehenge- Salisbury England The Earliest form of architecture was large stone monuments. They were called Megaliths. The most famous of these is Stonehenge. This type of construction is called post and lintel. Post and lintel: in building construction, a system in which two upright members, the posts, hold up a third member, the lintel, laid horizontally across their top surfaces.

16. Did you know... • Stonehenge was constructed in three phases. • It has been estimated that the three phases of the construction required more than thirty million hours of labour. • Speculation on the reason it was built • range from human sacrifice to astronomy. • Age estimated at 3100 BCLocation Wiltshire, UK Type of stone Bluestone, Sarson, Welsh SandstoneWorship Lunar, Solar

17. Go on an exploration of the Lascaux Caves: http://www.lascaux.culture.fr/#/en/02_00.xml Walk through Stonehenge: http://www.3dancientwonders.com/3d_stonehenge_virtualreality.htm