SESSION 2- HISTORY OF ART, ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN

PALEOLITHIC AGE

• Primitive men were basically nomads, hunters and gatherers.

• They moved from one place to another in search of food and shelter.
• Lived communally, simple social organization .
• Built shelters at cave entrances and under rock overhangs.
• Animal skin tents, mud huts where made for shelter.
• No writing, but symbolic marks (maybe to keep time)
•They systematically buried their dead.
• Societies tended to be very small and egalitarian
•Fire ( by rubbing stones together) was one of the most important discoveries.
They roasted their meat.
 TYPES OF ARCHITECTURAL STRUCTURES IN
PALEOLITHIC AGE

• Rock Shelter
• Cave Dwelling
• Temporary structures of plant and animal materials
 ROCK SHELTERS

Rock Shelters and Caves provided

natural protection.
 CAVE DWELLINGS
• Caves were more popular as dwellings.
• Caves used by stone age people have been found in many regions of the world.
• A good example is the Cave at Lascaux in France.
• Discovered in 1940 which was used about 10 to 20 thousand years ago.
• Entered through one entry to a large hall.
• From the hall cave branches out into other spaces.
 TEMPORARY STRUCTURE
• Early stone people constructed temporary shelters using available materials.
•One of the earliest example dates back to 400,000 years which is oval in shape
and constructed of tree branches.
•The hut was used by a band of people for limited hunting days and was left to
collapse after use and new huts build over by the next year.
• Entire structure was covered with mammoth skin.

OVAL HUT. TERRA AMATA. NICE, FRANCE

 TEMPORARY STRUCTURE

Leantons:
Erected against one wall of cave Defined at
base by stones 12mx4m Skin curtain and
roof draped over post. Many have two
compartments each having an entrance on
the longer side.

Tents:
Skirts weighed down with pebbles Paved
interiors Open air hearths. Wooden posts
driven into earth covered with skins. At a
later stage, were secured by reindeer
antlers.
 TEMPORARY STRUCTURE

MAMMOTH / ANIMAL BONE HOUSES:

Best known from the plains of the Ukraine,
as well as Poland and the Czech Republic,
some houses are as ancient as 27,500
years ago.
They used Animal Bones as supporting
structures and skin as curtains over the
animal bone.
 ART IN PALEOLITHIC AGE
Art - Concerned with either food (hunting scenes, animal carvings) or fertility
(Venus figurines). Its predominant theme was animals. Is considered to be an
attempt to gain some sort of control over their environment and represents a
giant leap in human cognition: abstract thinking.
 CAVE PAINTINGS

Bisons, from the

Caves at Altamira,
circa 15000 BC (Cave
Painting)
Painted in yellow on the cave ceiling Lascaux,
France, early period, 15,000-13,500 BC (Dun
Horse)

Hall of bulls Lascaux cave. Dordogne, France 15000 BC The cave ceiling lascaux, France, early
Paint on limestone, length of largest bull is 18’ period, 15,000-13,500 BC
 SCULPTURES

LION – HUMAN

• Made of mammoth ivory

• Shows complex thinking and creativity
• Probably male, but with a feline head.
• Nearly a foot tall
• Dint copy nature exactly, used imagination
• A breakthrough- ability to conceive and
represent a creature never seen in nature.
 SCULPTURES

VENUS OF WILLENDORF

•The Venus of Willendorf was carved from

oolitic limestone.
•Covered with a thick layer of red ochre
when found.
•The figurine was unearthed during the
Wachau railway construction in 1908.
•Symbolises fertility, and the God of fertility.
•The contours of stone used as a starting
point for carving on cave walls

Venus of Lespugue 20,000 BC

Venus of Willendorf 24,000-22,000

BCE 4 3/8 inches (11.1 cm) high
 SCULPTURES

BISONS

These bison were carved out of

rock. Each one is about 2 ft long and
is as old as 12,000 BC.

This bison was carved out of a reindeer

horn. Its about 4” long as dates back
to ,12,000 BCE.
MESOLITHIC AGE

•Due to new migratory patterns of their prey due to the end of the ice age,
temperate weather and diverse edible plants aided in survival.
•Humans had to adapt to prevent extinction.
•Important cultural and environmental changes
•People left the caves and gathered around water bodies building primitive huts.
• Fishing became a major source of food
• Settling into agricultural communities
•The Mesolithic is characterized in most areas by small composite flint tools.
MESOLITHIC AGE

People moved out of the caves and

built huts.
MESOLITHIC AGE TOOLS

They invented wooden bow and arrow for

hunting and boats for fishing.

Some of the stone tools which were

like fishing hooks
MESOLITHIC AGE TOOLS

Animals became smaller in size and faster than before, so humans had to
develop his stone tools and weapons made of bones and wood in a lighter and
more practical form .
They also made some ornamentation and daily use items such as combs etc.
ART IN MESOLITHIC AGE
•The rich art of Paleolithic was replaced with many changes in style as well as
meaning.
•Paleolithic cave art depicts colored drawings and expressive features of animals.
•Mesolithic art in contrast is schematic, no realistic figures are present and only
color red is used.
ART IN MESOLITHIC AGE

They made pottery to store food

Jewelry also was their favorite pass time

ARCHITECTURE IN MESOLITHIC AGE
•Villages arranged systematically.
•Houses aligned in rows with more regular plans.
•Settlements began around water bodies.
•Dwellings were more durable as compared to Paleolithic age.
•The structure mainly comprised of bamboos.
•The sizes of the hut varied from 5.5 -30 meters and the huts had wide entrances
facing the water-bodies.
•Floors were plastered with lime and posts were reinforced with stones.
ARCHITECTURE IN MESOLITHIC AGE

PIT HOUSES

•Shallow oval pits 6-9m long and 2-5m wide.

•Central post holes indicating existence of
roof.
•Constructed by making shallow depression in
the ground surrounded by a ring of mammoth
bone.
•Roofs were made of timber
•Stone hearths were used as working slabs.
MAJOR IMPACT DURING THE MESOLITHIC AGE
•Shift from hunting and gathering to growing their own food.
•Domestication of animals began.
•People began to settle into permanent villages town.
•Separation of labor.
•Artisans- skilled laborers who made tools.
•Trade began.