SURVEY I

1
SURVEY I

• Prehistoric Art in Europe and North America

2
Useful terms

• Paleolithic period (old stone) (c.
  40,000-10,000 BC)Mesolithic period (middle
  stone) (c. 10,000-8,000 BC)Neolithic period
  (new stone) (c. 8,000-2,000 BC)
• Lascaux
• Chavet
• Altamira
• Types of sculptures
• Sculpture-in the-round
• Relief sculpture (high, low, incised or sunken)
• Mobiliary art
• Pigment (organic and inorganic)
• monumental

3

• Megalithic
• Neolithic stone structures
• Menhirs (Celtic menstone, hirlong)
• Dolmens (Celtic menstone, doltable)
• Cromlech (Celtic cromcircle, lechplace)
• Post and lintel construction
• Stonehenge
• Bluestones
• Sarsen blocks

4
WOMAN FROM BRASSEMPOUY
5
Side view
6
(No Transcript)
7
Map of Lascaux
8
(No Transcript)
9
(No Transcript)
10
Iconography

• 1) geometric forms (clouds of red dots, bars)
• Meaning unknown, but somehow associated with
  animals often on the same panels or directly on
  top of them
• 2) animals
• - horses dominant the theme of the horse is at
  the basis of Paleolithic art
• 3) human representations more rare nearly always
  incomplete reduced to an isolated segment of the
  body not naturalistic, unlike the animals which
  are.

11
(No Transcript)
12
Lions are rarely represented except in the Upper
Paleolithic
13
Rhinoceroses are also quite rare except at Chauvet
14
(No Transcript)
15
Reclining woman carved on a wall
16
(No Transcript)
17
(No Transcript)
18
(No Transcript)
19
(No Transcript)
20
(No Transcript)
21
(No Transcript)
22
(No Transcript)
23
(No Transcript)
24
(No Transcript)
25
Spotted horses, Pech-Merle, France
26
(No Transcript)
27
Techniques used Lighting

• Lighting was very important. Wooden torches used.
• Charcoal analyses on numerous sites have shown
  that most times they preferred to use Sylvester
  pine wood. They could also use grease lamps, like
  the ones found in Lascaux. With a supply of
  grease and wicks those lamps could last for very
  long periods of time.

28
Tip of a silvester pine torch in Le Reseau
Clastres (Niaux, Ariege)
29

• To represent the subjects they chose, they made
  use of six main techniques sculpture,
  clay-modeling, finger tracing, engraving over
  clay, engraving on the walls, painting. The
  latter two are in a majority.

30
Clay modeling (Statues of bison modeled in clay
in Le Tuc d'Audobert (Montesquieu-Avantes,
Ariege).
31
Finger tracings

• Finger tracings are everywhere. Their presence
  depends upon the qualities of the walls when
  their surface is soft it becomes possible to draw
  with ones fingers. Finger tracings are often not
  naturalistic, with volutes and incomprehensible
  squiggles that occupy many square meters on the
  walls and ceilings, as in Gargas and Cosquer
  (Clottes Courtin 1996). Most frequently they
  belong to the earliest periods of the art.

32
Engravings

• The engravings on the walls are less famous than
  the paintings because they are less spectacular,
  but they probably are more numerous. They were
  mostly made with a flint and the effects achieved
  are very diverse. Sometimes, the artists
  contented themselves with sketching the outlines
  of animals by means of simple lines which can be
  deep and wide or thin and superficial according
  to the hardness of the surface. The finest ones
  can only be seen now under a slanting light, but
  modern experimentation has shown that they must
  have been far more visible at the time they were
  made, when they stood out white against the
  darker color of the wall since then they got
  patinated and their color is the same as that of
  their environment.

33
(No Transcript)
34
Paintings
Paintings are generally red or black. The reds
are iron oxides, such as hematite. The blacks,
either charcoal or manganese dioxide. Sometimes
they did real drawings with a chunk of rock or of
charcoal held like a pencil. Elsewhere veritable
paintings were made. The pigment was then crushed
and mixed with a binder to ensure the fluidity of
the paint which was then either applied with a
finger or with a brush made with animal hair, or
blown through the mouth (stenciling). Modern
analyses even revealed that in the Magdalenian of
the Pyrenees some paintings (Niaux, Fontanet) had
been made according to real recipes by adding an
extender, i.e. a powder obtained from the
crushing of various stones (biotite, potassium
feldspath, talcum). The aims were to save on the
pigment, to make the paint stick better to the
wall and to avoid its crackling when drying
(Clottes, Menu, Walter 1990).
35
Reasons why

• Art for arts sake
• Image as magic (Abbe Breuil)
• Stucturalist theory
• -André Leroi-Gourhan and Laming-Emperaire
• Shamanism
• -David Lewis-Williams

36
Andre Leroi-Gourhan

• His survey of all the known cave paintings showed
  that animals often occur in similar pairs
  horses and bison, for instance in which one
• of the animals is associated with stick-like or
  arrow-like marks which he identifies as male
  signs, the other with round depressions or marks,
  interpreted as female. These combinations often
  appear at identical spots in different caves at
  the entrance, in the middle, or in the least
  accessible parts.Leroi-Gourhan surmises that
  the way the caves are painted is not purely
  random but is the expression of an elementary
  religion, probably based on sexual duality
  symbolized by masculine and feminine animals.

37
Shamanism

• Shamanic religions evidence several
  characteristics which can make us understand cave
  art better. The first one is their concept of a
  complex cosmos in which at least two worlds - or
  more - coexist, be they side by side or one above
  the other. Those worlds interact with one another
  and in our own world most events are believed to
  be the consequence of an influence from the
  other-world(s). The second one is the belief of
  the group in the ability for certain persons to
  have at will a direct controlled relationship
  with the other-world. This is done for very
  practical purposes to cure the sick, to
  maintain a good relationship with the powers in
  the other-world, to restore an upset harmony, to
  reclaim a lost soul, to make good hunting
  possible, to forecast the future, to cast spells,
  etc.

38
Contact happens in two ways spirit helpers, very
often in animal form, come to the shaman and
inhabit him/her when he/she calls on them the
shaman may also send his/her soul to the
other-world in order to meet the spirits there
and obtain their help and protection. Shamans
will do so through trance. A shaman thus has a
most important role as a mediator between the
real world and the world of the spirits, as well
as a social role.
39

• Cracks and hollows, as well as the ends of
  openings of galleries, must have played a
  slightly different yet comparable part. They were
  not the animals themselves but the places whence
  they came. Those natural features provided a sort
  of opening into the depths of the rock where the
  spirits were believed to dwell. This would
  explain why we find so many examples of animals
  drawn in function of those natural features (Le
  Roseau Clastres, Le Travers de Janoye, Chauvet
  (fig. 14), Le Grand Plafond at Rouffignac).

40
Animals are sometimes represented as though they
were coming out of cracks or -as here in the
Chauvet Cave - out of the ends of deep recesses.
41
(No Transcript)
42
mobiliary art
43
Woman (Venus) from Willendorf(sculpture in the
round)
44
The Venus de Sireil, translucent calcite,
Dordogne, France
45
Venus Impudique (Immodest Venus)
46
The Grimaldi Venus

• Grimaldi Italy. Serpentine pendant depicting a
  pregnant woman, 23 000 BCEMade of
  greenish-yellow serpentine and highly polished,
  the figurine is 27.5 mm. high.

47
Venus of Laussel(relief sculpture)
48

• The head from Dolni Vestonice (mammoth ivory)

49
Mesolithic period
50
(No Transcript)
51
Menhirs
52
(No Transcript)
53
Dolmen
54
(No Transcript)
55
(No Transcript)
56
Cromlech
57
(No Transcript)
58
(No Transcript)
59
Seahenge (ca. 2050 BCE)
60

• This site of international importance, formed by
  55 oak timber posts completely encircling an
  upturned oak tree, has generated much public and
  media interest since its discovery was announced
  in January 1999.

61

• To much local and national controversy, English
  Heritage decided that the best option for the
  future of the 4000 year-old timber circle at
  Holme-next-the-Sea in Norfolk was to record fully
  the site, then lift and analyse the upturned tree
  mark and circle of timber posts.

62

• The whole structure, lying on the shore line of
  the dynamic Norfolk coast, was at risk of being
  severely damaged by the sea and visitor pressure.
  Valuable information about the Bronze Age period
  would have been lost forever.
• The timber posts were transferred to Flag Fen,
  near Peterborough, the archaeological centre
  based on the site of a unique Bronze Age
  religious complex. The laboratories at Flag Fen
  specialize in the study of prehistoric timber.
  The posts have been submerged in water tanks to
  prevent them from deterioration.

63
(No Transcript)
64
(No Transcript)
65
Phase I

• The earliest portion of the complex dates to
  approximately 2950-2900 BCE (Middle Neolithic).
  It is comprised a circular bank, ditch, and
  counterscarp bank of about 330 feet (100 meters)
  in diameter. Just inside the earth bank is a
  circle of the 56 Aubrey holes that held wooden
  posts.

66
(No Transcript)
67
Phase II (c. 2900-2400 BC)

• After 2900 BCE and for approximately the next 500
  years (until 2400 BCE), post holes indicate
  timber settings in the centre of the monument and
  at the north-eastern entrance. The Aubrey Holes
  no longer held posts but were partially filled,
  some with cremation deposits added to the fill.
  The numerous post holes indicate timber
  structures but no clear patterns or
  configurations are discernible that would suggest
  their shape, form, or function.

68
Phase III (c. 2550-1600 BC)

• During Phase III the monument underwent a
  complicated sequence of settings of large stones.
  The first stone setting comprised a series of
  Bluestones placed in what are known as the Q and
  R Holes (sub-phase 3i). These were subsequently
  dismantled and a circle of Sarsens and a
  horseshoe-shaped arrangement of Trilithons
  erected (sub-phase 3ii).

69
The Sarsen Circle, about 108 feet (33 metres) in
diameter, was originally comprised of 30 neatly
trimmed upright sandstone blocks of which only 17
are now standing. The stones are evenly spaced
approximately 1.0 to 1.4 metres apart, and stand
on average 13 feet (4 metres) above the ground.
They are about 6.5 feet (2 metres) wide and 3
feet (1 metre) thick and taper towards the top.
They originally supported sarsen lintels forming
a continuous circle around the top. Each lintel
block has been shaped to the curve of the circle.
The average length of the rectangular lintels is
10 feet 6 inches (3.2 metres). The lintels were
fitted end-to end using tongue-and-groove joints,
and fitted on top of the standing sarsen with
mortice and tenon joints. The Sarsen Circle with
its lintels is perhaps the most remarkable
feature of Stonehenge in terms of design,
precision stonework, and engineering.
70
(No Transcript)
71

• Sarsen stones are hard-grained sandstone with a
  silaceous cement. They were probably brought to
  the site from the Marlborough Downs, about 30
  kilometres to the north of Stonehenge.

72
The Trilithons are ten upright stones arranged as
five freestanding pairs each with a single
horizontal lintel. They were erected within the
Sarsen Circle in the form of a horseshoe with the
open side facing north-east towards the main
entrance of the monument. They were arranged
symmetrically and graded in height the tallest
is in the central position. Only three of the
five Trilithons are now complete with their
lintels. The other two both have only one
standing stone with the second stone and lintel
lying on the ground.
73
(No Transcript)
74
(No Transcript)
75
(No Transcript)
76
Stonehenge restorations('STONHING', 1575 (print
by "R.F.")
77
Inigo Jones, 'Stonehenge Restored' (1655)
78
Druidic Festival at Stonehenge (colored Italian
engraving, 1820)
79
(No Transcript)
80
(No Transcript)
81
Carhenge (Alliance, Nebraska)