Prehistoric Art!

The Stone Age

 The Stone Age

aleolithic Period
Mesolithic Period
Neolithic Period
Paleolithic Period
Old Stone Age

From 25.000 B.C. until around10,000 B.C!

During this period human beings started to settle near rivers

and lakes, where they started to create the
1st PICTORIC manifestations in their surroundings.

They were still NOMADIC, they moved from place to place.

Paleolithic Period
Old Stone Age

Cave Art
Most of the cave art paintings are found in
France and Spain.

Lascaux Caves

Altamira Cave
Paleolithic Period
Old Stone Age
Paleolithic Period
Old Stone Age
Paleolithic Period
Old Stone Age

Look at the cave

painting in
Altamira Caves.

What do you notice

about the
shapes and colors?

What type of paint

and tools did
humans use?
Paleolithic Period
Old Stone Age

Sculptures and pottery

During this period, humans sculted small

female figurines called The Venus.

Archaeologists have suggested many

different ways of
understanding its significance.

Fertility
Good luck charm
Mother goddess
 Paleolithic Period
Old Stone Age

Stone tools

Some of the first tools humans used were made

during this period.
tools are probably more than 100,000 years old!

Ovate hand axe. Pointed handaxe. Ovate hand

98mm x 76mm 107mm x 74 mm. 122x76mm.
Mesolithic Period
Middle Stone Age

Period between the LAST GLACIATION (12,000 years ago)

and the beginning of the Neolithic period (7,000years ago)

It was a period of
climatic instability.
During the Mesolithic,
humans learned to
hunt
in groups and to fish,
and began to learn
how to domesticate
animals and plants.
Mesolithic Period
Middle Stone Age

geometric
Mesolithic art is , with a restricted range
of colors, dominated by the use of red ochre.

Art objects include:

painted pebbles,
ground stone beads,
pierced shells and
teeth, and amber.
Mesolithic Period
Middle Stone Age

Artifact from Lepenski

Vir, Serbia.
Mesolithic Period
Middle Stone Age

The Mesolithic period saw the first small cemeteries!

Grave 13 Megalithic tomb
Skateholm Scania

Some of the burials included grave goods, tools, jewelry,

shells, and animal and human figurines; goods that
archaeologists suggest are evidence of the emergence
of social stratification.
Mesolithic Period
Middle Stone Age
Stone tools
After the ice melted, humans began to visit new
hunting grounds.
They invented many new tools, including the Tranchet adze
which was ment to be re-sharpened. They also began to use the
hafted picks more regurlaly.

Tranchet adze. Blade. microlith - used to make

151mm x 48mm 76mm x30mm arrow heads, spears, and
other weapons and tools
Neolithic Period
New Stone Age

The Neolithic age represents a spree of

hellzapoppin' innovation

Humans were settling

themselves down into
agrarian societies and
began to explore
some key concepts of
civilization, namely,
religion,
measurement, the
rudiments of
architecture and
writing and, yes, ART.
Neolithic Period
New Stone Age

Climatic stability allowed humans to abandon their wandering

ways and begin to construct more-or-less permanent villages.
Huge developments in agriculture were made.

This is called

he Neolithic Revolution!

What kinds of art were created during this time?

Neolithic Period
New Stone Age

Weaving
Clothes, textiles and straw mats held a prominent place in the
daily life of Neolithic farmers.
The main weaving fibres were flax and wool.
Neolithic Period
New Stone Age

Architecture - megaliths
Simple structures that were normally used as temporary
shelter.
Some of the earliest forms of Neolithic architecture can be
found in Asia.
Common materials: Mud bricks and Stone.
Neolithic Period
New Stone Age

Stone walls

CHARACTERISTICSMud Bricks

Naturally shaped
stone roof
Neolithic Period
New Stone Age

Stylized pictographs
They were well on their way to becoming writing.
Neolithic Period
New Stone Age

Statuary
Their theme dwelt primarily on the female/fertility, or
"Mother Goddess" imagery.

The “thinker" and the “sitting woman" of Hamangia

Neolithic Period
New Stone Age

Painting
It left the caves and cliffs for good, and became a purely
decorative element
Neolithic Period
New Stone Age

Pottery
It began replacing stone and wood utensils at a rapid pace,
and also become more highly decorated.
Neolithic Period
New Stone Age

Key characteristics of Neolithic art

 Functional
 More images of humans than animals
 It was used for ornamentation

Homework!
Mind-Map ----- Main characteristics of The Stone Age

Coming Soon! Ancient civ