Prehistoric Art

Paleolithic tools found in Bernifal

cave in Meyrals, Dordogne, France,
estimated to be 12,000 - 10,000
years old
Paleolithic Art, Old Stone Age
● The Stone Age can be divided into three periods - Paleolithic (Old Stone Age) ,
Mesolithic( Middle Stone Age), Neolithic ( New Stone Age)
● Paleolithic means ‘Old Stone Age’
● The term comes from the Greek word ‘palaios’ means old and ‘lithos’ means stone.
● Upper Paleolithic- paintings, drawing, and sculpture appeared over a wide swath of
Eurasia, Africa, and Australia at roughly the same time, between 10,000 and 40,000
years ago long before writing
● The Lower and Middle Paleolithic periods- These cultures crafted stone tools,
which they sometimes decorated with abstract patterns.
● The caves at Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc, Lascaux, and Altamira contain the best known
examples of pre-historic painting and drawing
Why did they do it?

● The most famous theory was put forth by a priest named Henri Breuil
● He believed that the images played a role in "hunting magic."
● The theory suggests that the prehistoric people who used the cave may have
believed that a way to overpower their prey involved creating images of it
during rituals designed to ensure a successful hunt
● Another theory suggests that the images communicate narratives (stories).
While a number of the depictions can be seen to do this, one particular image
in Lascaux more directly supports this theory.
Disemboweled bison and bird-headed human figure? Cave at
Lascaux, c. 16,000–14,000 B.C.E.
Bhimbetka Cave Paintings
Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh
● Initially, scholars assigned relative dates to cave paintings by using stylistic
analysis, dating them according to their degree of naturalism, that is, how
closely the image resembled the subject in nature. As art historians at that
time considered naturalism the most advanced form of representation, the
more naturalistic the image, the more evolved and, therefore, the more recent
it was considered to be.
● But with Radiocarbon dating has since exposed these flaws
Cave of Altamira, Spain

● Prehistoric paintings first came to light in 1878 in a cave named

Altamira, in the village of Santillana del Mar in northern Spain.
● Don Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola was exploring a cave on his
estate where he had previously collected specimens of flint and
carved bone. His little daughter Maria was the one who
discovered the paintings from the ceilings
● Bisons in different positions are most common, There are other
animals like - Horses, red deer and Boar
The bison of Altamira
were painted from
memory, yet their
forms demonstrate
the painters acute
powers of
observation and skill
in translating
memory into image.
Paleolithic Cave Paintings
● Paleolithic cave artists used a wide
variety of techniques to achieve the
images that have survived.
● Often working far from cave entrances,
they illuminated the darkness using
lamps carved out of stone and filled
with fat or marrow.
● They prepared the surface by scraping
the limestone with stone tools, bringing
out its chalky whiteness as a
background.
● They then engraved some images onto
● They created black using vegetal charcoal and perhaps charred bones. Ocher, a natural
iron ore, provided a range of vivid reds, browns, and yellows.
An artistic depiction of a group of
rhinoceros, was completed in the Chauvet
Cave 30,000 to 32,000 years ago.
● To generate paint, they ground the minerals into powder on a large flat stone
they ground the minerals into powder on a large flat stone and heat them
Bison, Cave of Altamira, circa
17000 – circa 12000 years ago
● They could then blow these mineral powders through tubes of animal bone or
reed against a hand held up with fingers splayed to the rock surface to make
hand silhouettes.
Pech Merle Cave, France
The cave of Lascaux, France

● The Caves of Lascaux are the most famous of all of the known caves in the
region. Representation of Horses, Reindeers and Bulls
● Perhaps the most impressive collection of Paleolithic animal paintings is in the
Hall of the Bulls
Lascaux II (replica of the
original cave, which is
closed to the public),
original cave: c.
16,000–14,000 B.C.E
Left wall of the Hall of Bulls, Lascaux II (replica of the original cave,
which is closed to the public), original cave: c. 16,000–14,000 B.C.E.
Depiction of aurochs( Eurasian ox), horses and deer
● Paintings of animals appear
throughout the cave complex at
Lascaux, another important
work would be the “ Chinese
Horse”
● Archaeologists have found
hundreds of stone tools, they
have also identified holes in
some walls that may have
supported tree-limb scaffolding
that would have elevated an
artist high enough to reach the
upper surfaces.

Chinese horse,” Lascaux, ca. 16,000–14,000 BCE.

PECH-MERLE
● At Pech Merle in France, painted hands accompany representations of spotted horses.
(The “spots” also surround the horses and may not be spots at all but stones or abstract
signs).
● Most of the painted hands in Paleolithic caves are “negative,” that is, the painter placed
one hand against the wall and then brushed or blew or spat pigment around it.
● Occasionally, the painter dipped a hand in the pigment and then pressed it against the
wall, leaving a “positive” imprint.
● These handprints, too, must have served a purpose. Some researchers have considered
them “signatures” of cult or community members or, less likely, of individual painters.
But like so much in Paleolithic art, their meaning is unknown.
 Venus of Willendorf

● A small female figurine universally known

as the Venus of Willendorf. She’s only
about 11 cm high
● When archaeologists first encountered
Stone Age statuettes of women, they
dubbed them “Venuses,” after the Greco-
Roman goddess of beauty and love even
though it's doubtful the Paleolithic
figurines represent deities of any kind.
● As with most Paleolithic figures, the
sculptor did not carve any facial
features.
● The breasts of the Willendorf woman
are enormous, far larger in proportion
than the tiny forearms and hands that
rest upon them
● The anatomical exaggeration has
suggested to many observers that this
and similar statuettes served as fertility
images
Venus of Brassempouy

● A small ivory figurine found in 2008 in a

cave at Hohle Fels, near Ulm, Germany,
● The carver of the Willendorf figurine
suggested only a mass of curly hair or,
as some researchers have argued, a hat
woven from plant fibers—evidence for
the art of textile manufacture at a very
early date
The Mediterranean and the ancient Near East. On this map the red names refer to modern countries and islands. Names in
uppercase black denote ancient areas or countries, and names in lowercase black denote cities
Tell es-sultan, Jerico archaeological site from the air
Looking down at the tower at Jericho
Plastered human skull with shell eyes from Jericho, Pre-Pottery
Neolithic B, c. 7200 B.C.E.
The Mediterranean and the ancient Near East. On this map the red names refer to modern countries and islands. Names in
uppercase black denote ancient areas or countries, and names in lowercase black denote cities
Çatalhöyük after the first excavations by James Mellaart and his team
A model of Çatalhöyük, a commonly cited example of a proto-city.
Inhabitants of Catalhoyuk entered their homes from the roof, using a ladder,
as shown above in a reconstruction of a home
Deer hunt, detail of a wall painting from level III,
Çatalhöyük, Turkey (circa 5750 BCE
Hunters attack an aurochs, Çatalhöyük
Neolithic Wall Painting in Building 80, Çatalhöyük
Bull bucrania, corner installation in Building 77, Çatalhöyük
References
● Janson's History of Art
● Gardner's Art Through the Ages, Textbook by Helen Gardner
● The Story of Art Book by Ernst Gombrich
● Sites : Smart History
● BBC Documentary - How Art Made the World