Prehistoric Art

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Prehistoric Art

• Art in Focus
• Chapter 6

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Terms to Know

• Megalith
• Post and Lintel

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Carnac Stones French village of Carnac, in
Brittany
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Stonehenge Wiltshire, England
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Prehistoric Art in Western Europe

• Stages of prehistoric civilization
• 1. Old Stone Age Paleolithic
• 30,000-10,000 BC
• 2. Middle Stone Age Mesolithic
• 10,000-5,000 BC
• 3. New Stone Age Neolithic
• 5,000 BC-

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Use of hunting rituals and artwork

• Cave painting was limited almost exclusively to
  animals. Why?
• Some believe that cave paintings were part of
  magic rituals before the hunt.
• What kinds of rituals do we use today?

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How were cave paintings discovered?

• Lascaux
• Altimira

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It was discovered by four boys in 1940 somewhat
accidentally. They found a large hole near a
tree that had fallen on a hill overlooking
Montignac in France. In 1955 the first signs of
deterioration appeared on the cave paintings.
Carbon dioxide from visitors breath was
discovered to be the cause the cave was closed.
It remains closed but a replica of the cave
located nearby is open to the public.
http//www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/lascaux/
en/
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In 1875 he heard about a cave in Altamira meadow.
When he visited it, he saw shells, bones and some
drawings that attracted his attention. Shortly
afterwards, in 1879, while he was digging in
Altamira Cave, his nine year old daughter Maria
wandered a little further inside. There she saw
what she thought were the paintings of oxen.
Sautuola recognized the figures at once they
were not oxen, but bison. His daughters
discovery of the paintings in the cave in 1879
was the first discovery of Paleolithic cave art,
and the cave is of one of the most spectacular
sites in the world.
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These sites have been protected from many of the
elements that otherwise would have caused erosion
and damage. They may not be a vibrant as they
once were but you can still see the amazing
artwork of these prehistoric people because the
paintings have been safe, deep inside caves for
thousands of years.
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Some of the materials used for pigment include

• Clay
• Soft stone
• Fat
• Blood
• Crushed plants and berries
• Ashes

Can you think of anything else that may have been
used?
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Some of the materials used to apply the pigment
to cave walls include

• Fingers
• Reed
• Plants
• Sticks
• Fur

Can you think of anything else that may have been
used?
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Most of these cave paintings are large in size.
Between five to seven feet in length.
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The subject matter of the cave paintings is
limited almost exclusively to animals, mostly
deer, bison, boar, wild horses, etc. Why?
Many experts believe that the earliest known
paintings were created nearly 30,000 years ago.
How do we know this?
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Dating Prehistoric Art

• One way is to date the artifact based on the age
  of the surrounding layers of earth.
• Another way is through radiocarbon dating.

http//id-archserve.ucsb.edu/Anth3/Courseware/Chro
nology/08_Radiocarbon_Dating.html
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Eventually prehistoric builders made their way
outside their caves and began building more
comfortable shelters. They built small
communities and eventually the hunters replaced
their weapons with farming tools.
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Art of the Fertile Crescent

• Civilizations developed in a few great river
  valleys where deposits of rich soil produced
  abundant harvests. (Remember that hunting
  communities were slowly making the transition to
  farming.) One of these river valleys extended
  about 170 miles north of the Persian Gulf,
  between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, this
  area became know as the Fertile Crescent.

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The Sumerians

• Sometime before 4500 B.C. a people from the east
  known as Sumerians abandoned their wandering,
  tent-dwelling lifestyle and settled in
  Mesopotamia. The region they settled was called
  Sumer.

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Ziggurats
A ziggurat is a stepped mountain made of brick
covered earth.
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As a towering symbolic mountain, the ziggurat
satisfied the desire to create a monument that
appeared to span the space between earth and
heaven. The most well known ziggurat, which
incidentally no longer exists, is the Tower of
Babel. However, there are many impressive ruins
of other ziggurats.
http//www.mesopotamia.co.uk/ziggurats/story/sto_s
et.html
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Sumerians as Artists

• Archeologists have unearthed evidence of a rich
  and flourishing civilization.
• Much evidence comes from ancient cemeteries and
  burial sites filled with jewelry, chariots
  (believe it or not!), headdresses, sculptures,
  and musical instruments.
• We cant tell if they were the first to establish
  a written language, however it is the oldest
  known to us.

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Stylus
To draw their picture like writing they used clay
tablets and a writing instrument called a stylus.
It was probably made from a reed and had a
three-cornered end. It could produce triangular
forms, wedges, and straight lines.
Cuneiform
The Sumerians were probably the first to develop
a writing system composed of wedge shaped
characters called cuneiform.
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Babylonian Civilization
Around 1800 B.C. after centuries of war between
various Mesopotamian city-states, the Babylonians
under the rule of King Hammurabi, gained control
of Mesopotamia.
King Hammurabi is famous for his code of conduct
he published to unify legal practices in his
empire. He had the code engraved on a stele,
which is an inscribed stone pillar, and placed it
in a public area for all to see. No one could
say they didnt know the law!
http//www.abu.nb.ca/ecm/topics/arch2.htm
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Persian Empire

• Nebuchadnezzar was a successor of Hammurabis, he
  rekindled Babylonian supremacy and increased the
  empire.
• Tradition tells us that Nebuchadnezzar, after a
  long reign marked by conquest and properity,
  suffered from insanity. It is said he thought he
  was an animal, walked on all four, and ate grass.
• He died in 562 B.C. and within 30 years his
  empire was in shambles.
• A new people took over. They were mistakenly
  called Persians after a territory known as Parsa,
  or Persis. (They called themselves Irani.)
• In 539 B.C. they advanced on Mesopotamia

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Persian Art
Persian art found its highest accomplishment in
architecture and relief sculpture. We can see
this best at Persepolis in modern Iran. It was
built on a stone platform with magnificent rooms
and wooden ceilings supported by huge columns.
The most important room was the Audience Hall
where the king would formally greet important
visitors. This great hall contained 100 columns
65 feet high. Nothing remains of it today but a
few columns and the outlines of the general floor
plan.
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