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PART I
THE ANCIENT WORLD
CHAPTER 1
PREHISTORIC ART
Google Earth Coordinates:
House interior, Skara Brae, Scotland
Stonehenge (aerial view), Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, England
Video Links:
Stonehenge Decoded
The Birth of Human Creativity: the Vézère Valley Decorated Caves
Paleolithic Art
Key Images
Wounded Bison, Altamira, p. 3, 1.1
Bear, Chauvet Cave, p. 3, 1.2
Materials and Techniques: Cave Painting, p. 5
Informing Art: Telling Time: Labels and Periods, p. 9
Dating Techniques, p. 17
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Upper Paleolithic painting, drawing, and sculpture appeared over a wide area of
Eurasia, Africa, and Australia between 40,000 and 10,000 BCE. The Lower and
Middle Paleolithic periods extend back as far as 2 million years ago. While these
earlier cultures did make patterned stone tools which were sometimes decorated with
abstract patterns, they did not make representational imagery of any kind.
Major cave sites include those at Altamira, Lascaux, and Chauvet.
There is much speculation about the interpretation and function of art in prehistoric
societies. The inaccessibility of many of the images suggests that they did not serve a
purely decorative function. Instead these images may have served some ritual purpose
(help in the hunt) or religious function (shamanism). Recent interpretations suggest
that one explanation may not be applicable to all times and places.
In the Paleolithic period small huts and caves were used for shelter and ritual
purposes. Some evidence suggests that these huts might have been used as seasonal
residences for mobile groups.
Neolithic Art
Key Images
Neolithic plastered skull, Jericho, p. 12, 1.16
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The Old Stone Age gradually gave way to a period known as the Neolithic or New
Stone Age, dating from about 8000 BCE in the Near East and Asia and about 5000
BCE in Europe.
At Jericho, the inhabitants buried skeletal remains beneath the floors of homes and
displayed the skulls above ground, reconstructing them with plaster made to resemble
flesh and eyes made of seashell fragments. This practice suggests a concept of an
afterlife, respect for the dead, or ancestor worship.
Jericho was heavily fortified with walls 5 feet thick and over 13 feet high, and
surrounded by a wide ditch. Several towers were constructed in the wall, measuring
28 feet tall and 33 feet in diameter at the base with a staircase providing access to the
summit.
At Ain Ghazal, near Amman, Jordan, the sculptural tradition appears to be quite
different from the one in Jericho. These figures are constructed from reeds bound
with cordage, covered in plaster, and then painted. Some are bust-size, while others
are much taller, with the tallest being 3 feet in height. These statues represent the first
known large-scale sculptures.
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One painting from a room in a building at Çatal Hüyük seems to depict rows of
irregular blocklike houses which could represent Çatal Hüyük. A bright red feature
spotted with black is placed above the town, and this could represent a twin-peaked
volcano in view of the town. If this is correct, then this image represents the first
known landscape painting.
While there are no written records of these early periods in human history to explain
meanings behind the works, the techniques of painting, sculpting, and pottery making
as well as the development of monumental stone architecture were developed during
this period. Painted and sculptural works during these periods were naturalistic and
abstract.
Key Terms/Places/Names
Altamira landscape painting
Lascaux pigment
Discussion Questions
1. Discuss the ways in which art was used as a vehicle to link the physical with the
spiritual world in Paleolithic and Neolithic communities.
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3. Do you find the argument that fertility objects such as the Woman of Willendorf
(1.14) and the Woman from Brassempouy (1.13) were created by women
convincing? Why or why not?
6. What were the major architectural developments of the Neolithic period? In what
ways are we indebted to the architectural developments of this period?
7. What do the construction methods and building choices in Jericho tell us about the
concerns of the people living there?
Resources
Books/Articles
Current Archaeology 219 (2008): 40-3.
Clottes, Jean. Return to Chauvet Cave: Excavating the Birthplace of Art. The First Full
Report. London: Thames & Hudson, 2003.
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Ruspoli, Mario. The Cave of Lascaux: The Final Photographs. New York: Harry
Abrams, 1987.
Thomas, Julian. Understanding the Neolithic. New York: Routledge, 1999.
DVDs
National Geographic: Stonehenge Decoded. (2008). 90 min.