Transcript Prehistoric

Paleolithic (2 million-10,000 bce)
Coincides with last ice age
During the Upper Paleolithic
developed rudimentary tools
began to express themselves through paintings
and carvings
people migrated across frozen land, following
reindeer
Is Art integral to our human species?
Do the objects and paintings of Paleolithic
people fit into our definition of art?
Aesthetics or style?
Conscious representation of something?
Symbolic representation?
Problems in the Art Historical approach-
Context of discovery and bias of those
doing research and writing history
Tendency to focus more on things that
confirm the researches preconceptions
about art, culture and progress
How can we ever know the intentions and
perceptions of prehistoric people?
In the early years of anthropology, the prevailing
view of anthropologists and other scholars was
that culture generally develops (or evolves) in a
uniform and progressive manner.
First Neanderthal bones discovered in 19th c. Europe.
Paleolithic cave paintings also discovered at this time.
European thinkers were highly invested in the idea of progress.
Scholars are still debating the notion that human culture proceeds
in a progressive way, from the primitive to the more sophisticated.
The climates of Spain and France make these areas rich in prehistoric cave art sites
Chauvet Cave (Ardèche region of France), discovered 1994, as early as 31,000 B.C.
Ardèche region of FranceThe geological evolution of these caves began 100 million years ago with a
succession of glacial periods. The limestone of this area makes formation of deep
gorges possible through continued force of water level changes.
Hall of Bulls, Lascaux. 15,000-10,000 B.C.E. visit the cave
Hall of Bulls, Lascaux. 15,000-10,000 B.C.E.
Lascaux, ca. 15,000-13,000 B.C.E.
Cave Paintings in Western Europe
Deep within the cave, away from human habitation
Sophisticated use of pigments, manganese, iron oxide
Not all pigments used were local
Tools for grinding
Animal oils used for binding
Hollow reeds used for blowing
pigment
Theories about Cave Paintings
Henri Breuil - hunting magic, meant to increase the number of
animals.
David Lewis-Williams- based on ethnographic studies of
contemporary hunter-gatherer societies-the paintings were made
by paleolithic shamans.
R. Dale Guthrie- fantasies of adolescent males, who constituted a
large part of the human population at the time.
Dean Snow – a good proportion of the hand prints are female
Pech-Merle: Chapel of Bison Panel of Spotted Horses
23,000 B.C
Herd of rhinoceroses
30,000 B.C.E.
Chauvet Cave, Ardeche, France
Discovered in 1993, the carbon dating
of these drawings are now in question
The sophistication of the Chauvet
drawings challenges earlier theories
about the development of cave
painting
Werner Herzog "Cave of Forgotten
Dreams“ Scenes from Cave of
Forgetton Dreams
Bradshaw foundation
Breaking News! cave of forgotten
dreams
Dr. K. Bolman's Micro-lessons
Heilbrunn
Chauvet Cave (France) 30,000 B.C
Chauvet: Lion Panel: With Mammoth
The longest continuously practiced cave and rock paintings stretching from 40,000BCE to present day are found in Australia and are made by
the Aboriginal culture. Since these artistic traditions have been passed down from generation to generation we know more about their
meaning. For the Aboriginal “the act of painting creates a direct link between the past and the present” and the individual “artists do not
believe that they create or invent their subjects; rather, the mimis (or ancestral spirits) give them their design” for the artist to simply
transmit caves, rocks or flat boards.
Hot topics today-
Did these paintings result from an explosion
of creativity, marking an evolutionary leap in
intelligence?
Was representational art present in the
earliest humans and even Neanderthal?
Complications in locating cave art in
theories of human cultural evolution:
Theories about Neanderthal artistic production
The general neglect of prehistoric “art” making in nonEuropean sites
The simultaneous use of “realistic” figures with geometric
symbols
Neanderthal remains first
discovered in 1908 at La
Chapelle-aux-Saints in
southwestern France.
50, 000 years old
Researchers today believe
this was a deliberate burial
Along with DNA evidence
that Europeans are a
product of interbreeding of
Neanderthal and Modern
Human, this lessens the
difference between us and
them.
Neanderthal burials at Shanidar Cave in IraqEvidence of flowers from pollen, food remains
Discovered in the 1950’s
Date of burial- 45,000 years ago
Recent discover of hand prints, oldest cave art? Thought to be Neanderthal.
48,000 years old. Spain
Ornament making is not
exclusive to modern
humans
But is body art evidence of
higher symbolic activity?
Additive process: clay bison, Dordogne , France. 15,000-10,000 BCE
.
15th to 10th millennium BCE, Dordogne, France. Reindeer horn, 4 “
.
Female Statues
Long considered fertility statues
Unlikely that women would have gotten
this plump in hunter-gatherer societies
Many similar statues found all over the
world, though some are quite thin
Combination of naturalism and
abstraction
Found shapes, sacred stones
Navel is a natural recess
Female statuette from Willendorf, Austria, c. 25,000-21,000
.
Venus of Lespugue Date c.
25,000-18,000 BCE
tusk ivory
6 inches
Discovered in 1922 in the
Rideaux cave of Lespugue
(Haute-Garonne) in the foothills of
the Pyrenees.
.
Female Head
Ivory
Ca. 23,000 BCE
From Brassempouy, France
.
Paleolithic 2,000,000- 10,000 BCE
•18,000 BCE -Peak of last glaciations.
•Warming of climate creates forests in Europe
•Mesopotamia saw warming and filling in of earth created by
alluvial build up from mountains to the north.
•Egypt saw a formation of large crater from plate shifts: Nile
River flows through it.
Neolithic Revolution and the Rise of Civilizations
8,000-4,000 BCE
Shift from hunting to agriculture
Accompanied by a shift in the way people viewed themselves
Jericho settlement, Catal Huyuk (Turkey)gradual development of agriculture in near
east, spread to west with migration or shared knowledge
Pottery in Neolithic
• Smart History
Susa Vase
•
Rise in need for storage with
agrarian settlements
First Fired Pottery
• Jamon Culture in
Japan
• 10,000 BCE-200
BCE
• Jamon refers to
the corded pots
• Hand built, fired
c. 1500 BCE
Neolithic Mammoth Bone House
Discovered in
Ukraine in the
60’s
15,000 years old
Don's Maps
Jericho, 7000 BCE
plastered skull
Heads displayed in
houses, while rest of the
body beneath ground
Portraiture tradition
that will continue
Into Bronze Age
Mesopotamia, Egypt,
and Rome
Symbolic work
Suggests a belief that
the spirit resides in the
head
Attempt to preserve life
Early Neolithic settlement, Jericho. 7000 BCE. Settlement fortified with walls.
Catal Huyuk
Neolithic Turkey
c.6000 BCE
Baked clay
Goddess figures
with two leopards
Houses built of mud, bricks, timber
Religious activity in individual homes, each having its own altar
Hunting Shrine, Catal Huyuk
Shift to Neolithic, hunting becomes ritualized, figures static
Hunting Shrine, Catal Huyuk- reconstructed drawing
Agriculture originates in Middle East and spreads to
Western Europe
Varieties of grain (millet, wheat and barley) brought in by
small groups of migrants
Encountered hunter/fishers of the Atlantic coast
The Neolithic monuments of the Atlantic fringe are unlike
anything produced elsewhere
Metal working also originated in the east and was carried
to western Europe
Neolithic Europe
Does not reach the sophistication of
Middle East in terms of
Centralization
Governmental structures
Administration of large
surpluses of agriculture
Monumental architecture
Scandinavia, Great Britain,
France: standing stones,
Barrows, Cromlechs
West Kennet Longbarrow, Oxfordshire,
England
3500 BCE.
Neolithic Europe
West Kennet Longbarrow, Oxfordshire,
England
3500 BCE.
Most famous cromlech: Stonehenge, Salisbury Plain, England. 2000 B.C.E.
Michael Parker Pearson Article skeletal remains Documentary Documentary 2
Standing With Stones
lecture neolithic
Vast network of henges,
barrows, cairns, stone circle, hill
forts
Changing lifestyle of prehistoric
Britain, focus on seasons
Deforestation
New burial find Mystery of the
Moor