Prehistoric Art Early levels of civilization 3 periods: Paleolithic (stone age-35000-80000BCE), Mesolithic (8000-4000 BCE), Neolithic (new stone

age): 2 diff. sections-eastern (6000-3800BCE) and European (4000-15000BCE) hunters and gatherers, only fraction of artwork there, Paleolithic -1st area=santhander Spain, De Sautola found Altamira Caves, caves were low to ground so not easily discovered, daughter was playing in caves on his lands and saw paintings of bison on ceiling but found to be fakes, not credited with original founding, later was found to be real and hes credited after death, not credited as original founder -art =flat, no spatial depth, no overlapping, profile (bison looked at side) -1st sig. cave painting found=Breuil credited for 1st cave painting found, priest but turned to archaeology, founder/documenter of caves of Lascaux in France, boy was playing with dog, dog went into cave and sees paintings, his dad tells priest who starts digs, caves closed b/c peoples germs broke down paintings -Hall of the Bulls (1500-1300BCE): drawings go to an entrance, not about art, about hunting and gathering, drawings on walls and ceilings to insure successful hunts, later became target practice (threw dirt chunks at paintings, if dirt hit, then hunt=successful), animals seem pregnant with swollen bellyritualistic, more successful hunt b/c the animals would breed more, so more hunting available, well fed deer, horse, or ox, bull, fertility, -Spotted Horse and Negative Hand Imprints (15000-13000BCE-Pech-Merle, France): earliest form of spray paint, berries crushed in mouths, put hand on walls and spit to paint around hand, insures control over animals, never painted man, painted hands, used shape of cave walls to identify animals (right side horse) as outlines, spotted horse changes location -Chinese Horse (15000-13000 BCE): Lascaux: 4 feet 8 inches long, tried to make it closer to life size, assumed that more hunters magic/ritualistic practice used here, swollen belly, featherlike spears to show practice hunting, successful hunt, included in painting, techniques such as outline and color very similar to Chinese art -Well Scene/Rhinoceros wounded man and disemboweled bison, 3 feet 8 inches long, 1st seeing of human representation, intestines are falling out over back with human hitting it, bison got hit but man was gored too, hes dead, bird on stick and man has birdlike head maybe kind of like a soul or spiritual form -Bison with Turned Head: incised=tool carves out lines that are almost parallel (seen on mane=more detail), sculpture/carving (12000BCE), 4 inches long, 4 1/8 inches high, not just profile, head turned back=a bit more advanced, still very simplistic, more curved lines than straight as in paintings, carved from reindeer horn -Bison (12000 BCE), clay carving, each one is 2 feet long, profile, 3D is unusual, parallel lines in clay, small footprints were found around, ritualistic, small footprints=children?>initiation right for male children, carved from memory (some detail very precise, so people were a bit astute), -Venus of Willendorf (25000BCE): carved from limestone, from small Austrian town, known as fertility fetish-important for females at home (birth), females not previously in

rites, etc., Venus=goddess of love=fertility, always voluptuous, large child bearing hips, and very large breasts (feed children), face is not shown-face is not important for women, 4 in. in height -Women Holding a Bison Horn (Dordogne, France)-23000-20000BCE-female fetish, similar to bison carving in flatness Mesolithic Action, human form, human dominates animals, humans more important -Marching Warriors (7000-12000 BCE), 4 in. wide from end to end, more detail on each being, not stick line drawings, headdresses, bows and arrows, feathers, leader has larger headdress, legs are in wide stride=marching or ritualistic dance (common for hunting ritual), frontal body but profile head and legs so you can see what theyre carrying, clear eyes, mouths, and chins, not just bird beak heads, anatomy Neolithic Farmers not just hunters, people lived in houses, monumental architecture developed through graves (stones carved out), some stones are 17 feet tall and 50 tons megalith=great stone, dolmens=2 set stones with covering stone (also called post and lintel or -think Stonehenge), Trilithon=3 stones set together, cromlechs=circle of stones (for religious purpose) -Stonehenge (2000BCE) in very south of England (Salisbury Plain), giants built them or magicians (Merlin), how can men move these huge stones?, 24 feet tall stones, interior ones are taller, when lighting hits in different place each season, seasonal calendar, was supposed to be complete, theres mortar ( -Horse and Sun Chariot-Bronze Age, (1800-1600BCE), 23 in. long, wheeled horse pulling cart with large upright disc that represents sun, horses domesticated around (4000 BCE) but now used in carts, sun being pulled around, cult belief, horse pulling it around could be reenactment for town, lots of ornamentation, incised ped and neck of animal, eyes are tiny sun discs, collar and harness are slightly incised, engraved, lots of circles and rounded lines, curved lines suggest movement of sun