Pre-Historic

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Pre-Historic
Paleolithic Mesolithic Neolithic
Artist as Magician
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• Paleolithic- Old Stone Age
• Mesolithic-Middle Stone Age
• Earliest form of craft seen
• Connecting form and function
• Shaped rock to meet needs as tools
• Earliest form of ART- 35,000 years ago
• During the time of the last Ice Age
• Objects found mostly in Africa, Spain and
  southern France
• People were nomadic and lived in caves or over
  hanging rocks
• Artwork was completed for ritualistic purposes
• Artists because they first asked the questions
• What shall be my subject?
• How shall I represent it?

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Altamira- -Images are incised or painted onto
rock-often use natural projections of the rock to
fit the drawing -bison is lifelike due to shading
and roundness -animals only- no landscape
backgrounds -painted from ocre and ash from the
surroundings- used as much as 3 colors
Altamira, Wounded Bison

• All pre-historic art is presented in strict
  profile- why?

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Lascaux, France

• Pictures are drawn far inside the caves, away
  from entrances, sites used for centuries
• Pictures are superimposed- no separation between
  image and reality
• Once the animal has been killed, the spirit has
  been killed and a new animal is drawn on top
• Purpose of the drawings were to lure animals for
  the hunt-they were scarce

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• -wanted fertility both for animals and for
  themselves (this MAY be an example)
• -small figures carved from naturally shaped rocks
• -central point in the design, the navel is a
  natural crevice in the rock
• Only 4 inches tall
• Name is misleading

Venus of Willendorf, Austria
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• Neolithic- New Stone Age
• 8000 BC- Near East
• Ice age receded around 9000BC
• Began with the onset of farming- domestication of
  animals and food grains
• Still used stone tools
• Created permanent settlements- new crafts-
  pottery, weaving, spinning, architecture

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Jericho- first evidence of monumental
architecture- why? -Actual human skull- face has
been recreated and tinted, decorated with
seashells -strong individuality- but not really
portraits of specific people -meant to perpetuate
life beyond death -displayed above ground, rest
of body was buried- first recognition of belief
of life beyond death -believed in a spirit,
located in the head that remained after death-
these heads were meant to trap spirits in their
graves (MAYBE!!)
Sculptured Head, Jericho, 7000 BC
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Catal Huyak, Turkey 7000-5000 BC -Lived in houses
of mud and brick centered around courtyards -no
streets or doors- people entered through the
roof -large number of shrines -plaster walls with
paintings- 1st known artwork on man-made surface,
no more actual hunts- everything is ritual- in
honor of male and female deities
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Landscape drawing of Catal Huyuk -1st evidence
of goddess worship- mountains always shown in
profile-MAYBE -definitely 1st painting depicting
a landscape devoid of animals and people -houses
shown from above- both a map and a landscape
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Stone Henge, 3000 BC Neolithic Europe not as
advanced- Megaliths- large stone structures
solely for religious purposes Megalithic- culture
that produces megaliths
Made up of Dolmens- tombs with upright stones,
slab roof (lintel) Cromlechs-other stones that
form a setting Outer circle and 2 inner circles
with a center altar Oriented towards the point at
which the sun rises on the Summer Solstice
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Totems of animals from a specific tribe- echos
the natural formation of the land.
Mound Builders, North America