Prehistoric+Art

. ** Prehistoric Art **
 * Chapter 1 **

There is really no single, known beginning to the history of art. We must take as our starting point the earliest works that have survived. However, we suspect that these examples came after a long period of development, because the style and technique of these examples already show refinement.

Among the earliest works that survive today are the cave paintings rendered by people of the Paleolithic Era, or Old Stone Age, between 30,000 and 10,000 B.C. Towards the latter half of the Paleolithic period (15,000-10,000 B.C.), there was an outpouring of artistic creation. It was common for these early artists to cover the walls of caves with gigantic paintings and sculptures. Although not all are that old, ancient images panted or carved on rock (sometimes referred to as rock art) have been discovered in different parts of the world, including Africa, Australia, Europe, and North and South America. The caves of Altamira and Lascaux, are among the most famous sites of Paleolithic art. These caves and other sites in prehistoric Europe had served as underground water channels, a few hundred to several thousand feet long. They are often choked, sometimes almost impassibly, by deposits such as stalactites and stalagmites. Far inside these caverns, well removed from the cave mouths early humans sometimes used for habitation, hunter-artists painted pictures on the dark walls. For light, they used tiny stone lamps, filled with marrow or fat, with a wick, perhaps, of moss. For drawing, they used chunks of red and yellow ocher. For painting, they ground these same ochers into powders they blew onto the walls or mixed with some medium, such as animal fat, before applying. Recent analysis of these pigments show they comprise many different minerals mixed according to different recipes, attesting to a technical sophistication surprising at such an early date.
 * Paleolithic Era**

Because these events took place before there was any written record, we are not sure what motivated these early artists to create these images. Various answers have been given, including that they were mere decoration but this theory cannot explain the narrow range of subjects or the inaccessibility of many of the paintings. In fact, the remoteness and difficulty of access of many of the cave painting sites and the fact they appear to have been used for centuries are precisely what have led many scholars to suggest that the prehistoric hunters attributed magical properties to the images that they painted. According to this argument, by confining animals to the surfaces of their cave walls, the artists believed they were bringing the beasts under their control. Some have even hypothesized that rituals or dances were performed in front of the images and that these rites served to improve the hunters’ luck. Still others have stated that the painted animals may have served as teaching tools to instruct new hunters about the character of the various species they would encounter or even serve as targets for spears.

By contrast, some scholars have argued that the magical purpose of the paintings was not to facilitate the destruction of bison and other species. Instead, they believe prehistoric painters created animal images to assure the survival of the herds they depended on for food and clothing. A problem with both of these theories is that the animals that seem to have been diet staples of Paleolithic people are of those that are most frequently portrayed. For example, at Altamira, remains show that red deer and not bison were eaten for food. For now the paintings and their meanings remain a mystery. The application of these images was so important that their creators would take great pains to render them over several days taking hours at a time. They would build complex scaffolds of thin trees lashed together so that the artist could reach the tall sloping roofs of some of the larger caves. Remains of meals have been found in these lofty areas indicating that the artists could have meals without having to descend.

The animals these artists painted have basic similarities from one cave to the next. The most obvious is that the animals are always painted in full profile. A profile view is the only way to create a sure description of the animal that is being depicted. A front view would hide everything except the head, and a three-quarter view would obscure half of the animal. Only a profile image would describe the animal sufficiently. The idea of using a profile would continue in art until the time of the Greeks, some 9,000 years later.

Around 9,000 B.C. the sheets of ice from the Paleolithic period began to melt and the climate grew warmer. This marked a transition for early man as he began the transition from being strictly a hunter and gatherer to becoming a cultivator. This is known as the Mesolithic era, or Middle Stone Age. Not only is there evidence of a shift in the ways these people provided for themselves, but there is also a shift in the way that they made their art. Paleolithic man seldom included images of people in any of their artworks. The Mesolithic artists created a vast amount of images of people with surprising detail. Images of people appear with detailed facial and clothing features. These images are usually grouped together in clusters.
 * Mesolithic Era**


 * Neolithic Era**

Early artists made their greatest strides during the Neolithic Period, or New Stone Age. Focusing their energies on cultivation, the Neolithic people began to cluster together in communities that were more like towns than tribes. These people settled in fixed homes and domesticated plants and animals. With their food supply almost guaranteed, they went from hunters to herders, to farmers and eventually, to townspeople. As with the rest of their culture, the art of the Neolithic people also evolved. Evidence of this can be seen in a wall painting from the city of Catal Huyuk, known as the //Deer Hunt//. Paleolithic people would often have covered walls with various animals. These were created at different times and never meant to create any type of story or narrative. This is not true of the //Deer Hunt//. This panel describes a single event, with the figures painted with fuller bodies and much more detail than those of earlier periods.

Architecture also made a significant appearance for the first time. The town of Jericho started as a collection of mud brick homes and covered about 10 acres in 8,000 B.C. By 7,500 B.C. the town with a population of 2,000 people, was surrounded by a wide, rock-cut ditch and a 5 foot thick wall.

With the development of towns and cities, people slowly began to give up their nomadic ways. They began to develop systems of government as their societies and cultures evolved. These cultures began to form along the major river system all across Africa and Asia. These rivers are the Nile in Egypt, the Tigris and Euphrates in Mesopotamia, the Indus in India and the Yang-tze in China. We are going to look at these and other cultures and the art that they produced.



Prehistoric Art Questions

1. Why did Paleolithic artists create works on cave walls? What are some possibilities? 2. How would artists reach the roof of the cave to paint it? 3. How were animals depicted? Why? 4. What happened ecologically that led to the change from the Paleolithic to the Mesolithic era? 5. What was a difference between Paleolithic art and Mesolithic art? 6. What is thought to be special about where paintings of people were found? 7. What is new about Neolithic art? 8. What changes did Neolithic people make in their societies? List 3 new changes. 9. What do the words //Paleolithic, Mesolithic// and //Neolithic// actually mean? 10. Using the criticism worksheet, describe a prehistoric work of art. ||