- Prehistory

The first tangible artifacts of human art are found from the Stone Age (Upper Pa
leolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic), periods when the first demonstrations that
can be considered art by humans, appear. During the Paleolithic (25 000-8000 BC
), man practiced hunting and lived in caves, where cave painting was developed.[
6] After a transitional period (Mesolithic, 8000-6000 BC), in the Neolithic peri
od (6000-3000 BC), when man became sedentary and engaged in agriculture, with so
cieties becoming increasingly complex and religion gaining importance, the produ
ction of handicrafts commenced. Finally, in the Bronze Age (c. 3000-1000 BC), th
e first protohistoric civilizations arise.
- Paleolithic
The first traces of man-made objects appear in southern Africa, the Western Med
iterranean, Central and Eastern Europe (Adriatic Sea), Siberia (Baikal Lake), In
dia and Australia. These first traces are generally worked stone (flint, obsidia
n), wood or bone tools. To paint in red, iron oxide was used, in black, manganes
e oxide and in ochre, clay.[7] Surviving art from this period is small carvings
in stone or bone and cave painting, this especially from in the Franco-Cantabria
n region; there are pictures with magical-religious character and also pictures
with a naturalistic sense, which depict animals, notably the caves of Altamira,
Trois Frres, Chauvet and Lascaux. Sculpture is represented by the so-called Venus
figurines, feminine figures which were probably used in fertility cults, such a
s the Venus of Willendorf.[
- Neolithic
This period from circa 8000 BC in the Near East was a profound change for the ancien
t man, who became sedentary and engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry, new
forms of social coexistence and religion developed.[11] The rock art of the Ibe
rian Mediterranean Basin dated between Mesolithic and Neolithic contained small, sch
ematic human and figures, with notable examples in El Cogul, Valltorta, Alpera a
nd Minateda. This kind of painting was also similar in northern Africa (Atlas, S
ahara) and in the area of modern Zimbabwe. Neolithic painting was schematic, red
uced to basic strokes (man in the form of a cross and woman in a triangular shap
e). There are equally noteworthy cave paintings in Pinturas River in Argentina,
especially the Cueva de las Manos. In portable art, the Cardium Pottery was prod
uced, decorated with imprints of seashells. New materials were produced like amb
er, crystal of rock, quartz, jasper, etc. In this period there appear the first
traces of urbanistic planimetry, noting the remains in Tell as-Sultan (Jericho),
Jarmo (Iraq) and atalhyk (Anatolia).[12]
- Mesopotamia
Mesopotamian art was developed in the area between Tigris and Euphrates (modern
day Syria and Iraq), where from the 4th millennium BC many different cultures ex
isted such as Sumer, Akkad, Amorite, Chaldea, etc. Mesopotamian architecture was
characterized by the use of brick, lintel and the introduction of construction
elements like arc and vault
Sculpture was developed through wood carving and relief and was used in religiou
s, military and hunting scenes, depicting both human and animal figures, whether
they were real or mythological.
Assyrian sculpture is notable for its anthropomorphism of cattle and the winged
genie.
- Egypt
In Egypt arose one of the first great civilizations, with elaborate and complex
works of art, which assume the professional specialization of the artist/craftsm
an. Its art was intensely religious and symbolic, with a highly centralized powe
r structure and hierarchy, giving great importance to the religious concept of i

mmortality, especially of the pharaoh, for whom were built great monuments.
The architecture is characterized by its monumentality, achieved by the use of s
tones in large blocks, lintel and solid columns. Notable are the funerary monume
nts, with three main types: mastaba, tomb of rectangular form; pyramid, which ca
n be a step pyramid (Saqqarah) or smooth sided (Giza); and the hypogeum, undergr
ound tomb (Valley of the Kings).
- Medieval Western art
In Byzantine and Gothic art of the Middle Ages, the dominance of the church insi
sted on the expression of biblical truths. There was no need to depict the reali
ty of the material world, in which man was born in a "state of sin", especially
through the extensive use of gold in paintings, which also presented figures in
idealised, patterned (i.e."flat") forms.
- Renaissance Western art
The Renaissance is the return yet again to valuation of the material world, and
this paradigm shift is reflected in art forms, which show the corporeality of th
e human body, and the three dimensional reality of landscape.