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Prehistory: Origins of Human Life and Culture

Explore the origins of human life and culture in the Prehistoric era, from the emergence of hominids to the development of cave paintings and stone sculptures. Learn about the characteristics of early humans and their migration patterns. Discover the significance and meaning of Paleolithic parietal art.

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Prehistory: Origins of Human Life and Culture

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  1. Chapter 1 Prehistory

  2. Key terms • Paleo-lithic: palaiós(Gk: old) líthos (Gk: stone). • Meso-lithic: mesos (Gk: middle) • Neo-lithic: néos (Gk: New) • Mega-lithic mega (Gk: big) • Parietal art parietes (Latin: walls)

  3. Key Terms • Paleo-lithic: Old Stone Age • Meso-lithic: Middle Stone Age • Neo-lithic: New Stone Age • Mega-lithic Built with large stones • Parietal art Paintings in the walls of caves

  4. 1. Origins of human life and culture • Scientists estimate the Earth is between 4 and 5 billion years old. • Hominids first appeared in Africa only 5,000,000 years ago. ….but what is a “hominid”?

  5. Origins of human life and culture HOMINID • Hominid refers to humans and their ancestors, who distinguished themselves from hominoids (apes). • What are the characteristics of hominids?

  6. 1. Origins of human life and culture Characteristics of hominids: • bipedal • shorter arms • better dexterity • larger brains • smaller faces

  7. 1.Origins of human life and culture • Early hominids • (Australopithecus , homo habilis, homo erectus). • Flourished 1.5 million to 200,000 years ago, east Africa • Large brain, sophisticated tools, knew how to control fire • Developed language skills • They were carnivores and hunted large animals. • Between 500,000 and 200,000 years ago they migrated to Asia and Europe

  8. 1.Origins of human life and culture • The homo sapiens evolved in Africa, ca. 120,000 BCE during the Pleistocene (Ice Age). • The homo sapiens was extremely successful, had larger brain and a lighter skeletal structure. • They spread from Africa into Asia, Europe Australia and the Americas.

  9. Timeline • (5 million years: first hominids) • Paleo-lithic: 2,500,000 up to c. 10,000 BCE • 2,500.000: first stone tools • 30.000 BCE cave paintings, 20,000 BCE sculpture • Meso-lithic: c. 10,000-8,000 BCE • Neo-lithic: New Stone Age • c. 8,000-3,000 BCE • 3,000 BCE writing and metallurgy • (3,500 BCE: Bronze Age in Asia Minor)

  10. 2. Paleolithic Period (2,500,000 up to c. 10,000 BCE) • hunter-gatherer nomadic cultures • individuals did not accumulate private property • lived an egalitarian existence • lived in small bands, about 30 to 50 members in each group • created tools made of stone • buried their dead with rituals • created artistic forms of expression: • Cave paintings • Stone carvings

  11. Paleolithic Parietal Art • When?: Towards the end of the Paleolithic period (30,000-10,000 BCE)

  12. Paleolithic Parietal Art(30,000 up to c. 10,000 BCE) • Where?: • Southern France and Northern Spain: • Lascaux, France • http://www.lascaux.culture.fr/#/en/00.xml • Chauvet, France • http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/chauvet/en/index.html • Altamira, Spain • Altamira, Spain

  13. Paleolithic Parietal Art(30,000 up to c. 10,000 BCE) • Exercise 1. Form and themes Lascaux, France

  14. Paleolithic Parietal Art(30,000 up to c. 10,000 BCE)

  15. Form and themes of Paleolithic Parietal Art(30,000 up to c. 10,000 BCE) Lascaux, France, c. 15,000-10,000 BCE. • The animals do not form a group: no sharing of the ground line and no common orientation. • Overlapping: animals painted at different times. • There is not a narrative or indication of place.

  16. Form of Paleolithic Parietal Art(30,000 up to c. 10,000 BCE) • The paintings are a pictorial definition of the animals. • Animals are represented in profile. • Use of composite view: profile of body and frontal for horns.

  17. Form of Paleolithic Parietal Art(30,000 up to c. 10,000 BCE) • Perspective: use of rock protuberances and gallery shapes.

  18. Paleolithic Parietal Art(30,000 up to c. 10,000 BCE) • Meaning and function

  19. Meaning and Function Paleolithic Parietal Art(30,000 up to c. 10,000 BCE) • Penguins, Cosquer Cave Bear and rhinoceroses, Chauvet Cave

  20. Meaning of Paleolithic Parietal Art(30,000 up to c. 10,000 BCE) • Decorative? The paintings and engravings are located in the most remote areas of the caves. • Arrows and markings: ritual based on the belief that harming the animal’s image is like harming the animal itself. • But predators, not only animals hunted for their meat are depicted. Shaman summoning powers, visions, calendar, shrine?

  21. Paleolithic Parietal Art(30,000 up to c. 10,000 BCE) • Chauvet Cave: • Discovered in 1994 • Oldest prehistoric paintings (30,000BCE) yet the most artistically accomplished. • Great variety of animals (13 species)

  22. Paleolithic Parietal Art(30,000 up to c. 10,000 BCE) Chauvet Cave

  23. 2. Paleolithic Sculpture (20,000 up to c. 10,000 BCE) Clay bison. Cave of Tuc d'Audoubert, France, c. 13,000 BCE

  24. 2. Paleolithic Sculpture (20,000 up to c. 10,000 BCE) Bison Licking an Insect Bite. La Madeleine, France, 20,000-12,000 BCE

  25. 2. Paleolithic Sculpture (26,000 up to c. 10,000 BCE) Willendorf Figurine, c. 20,000 BCE

  26. 2. Paleolithic Period (2,000,000 up to c. 10,000 BCE)

  27. Later Fertility Goddesses • ÇatalHüyük. c. 6,000 B.C Artemis of Ephesus. 1st century CE Roman copy

  28. Female Representation and Women’s Social Status

  29. 3. Mesolithic and Neolithic Periods (c. 10,000-3,000 BCE) • Agrarian Revolution • End of the Ice Age • Permanent settlement • Domestication of animals • Farming replaces hunting • Pottery, weaving develop • The wheel is invented • At the end of this period metal tools appear; copper and tin are made into bronze

  30. 3. Mesolithic and Neolithic Periods (c. 10,000-3,000 BCE)

  31. 3. Mesolithic and Neolithic Periods (c. 10,000-3,000 BCE)

  32. Mesolithic and Neolithic Periods (c. 10,000-3,000 BCE) • Agriculture results in awareness of seasonal change. • Regeneration (life/death of crops, cults associated with fertility and the contributing forces (rain))

  33. 3. Mesolithic and Neolithic Periods (c. 10,000-3,000 BCE) Valtorta Gorge, Spain, c. 8,000-3,000 BC

  34. 3. Mesolithic and Neolithic Periods (c. 10,000-3,000 BCE) Cingle de la Mola, Spain. 7,000-4,000 BCE

  35. Exercise 1: Paleolithic vs. Neolithic cave paintings

  36. 3. Mesolithic and Neolithic Paintings (c. 10,000-3,000 BCE) • Human representation in communal scenes • Interaction among humans and humans with animals • Record of memorable events or rituals • Located in shelters rather than in the interior of caves • Less realistic, more schematic • Monochrome

  37. 3. Mesolithic and Neolithic Periods (c. 10,000-3,000 BCE) Megalithic monuments: -burial sites - France, Ireland and England Menhir/ monolith

  38. 3. Mesolithic and Neolithic Periods (c. 10,000-3,000 BCE) Megalithic monuments: Dolmen

  39. 3. Mesolithic and Neolithic Periods (c. 10,000-3,000 BCE) Dolmen from Antequera, Spain, c. 2800 BCE.

  40. 3. Mesolithic and Neolithic Periods (c. 10,000-3,000 BCE) Megalithic monuments: Alignments Carnac, France, c. 2,800 BCE

  41. 3. Mesolithic and Neolithic Periods (c. 10,000-3,000 BCE) Megalithic monuments: Cromlech/ Circle of stones Stonehenge (England), c. 2750-1500 BCE

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