first discovered prehistoric paintings
discovered in altamira (13,000 bce) spain in 1878
why did people start making art
art appears when people move out of africa and into europe/asia
could have been a neurological mutation in brain that caused people to start creating art (thinking abstractly, making images, develop symbolic language)
or art may have existed way before th
paleolithic art
10,000-40,000 years ago
ice age
mostly animals
abstract shapes that could represent weapons, traps, insects
human hands, rare instances show human forms
women and kids worked as well as men
shading and highlighting
paleolithic art - tools and process
use lamps to paint by
prepare surface with limestone
ores, minerals, charcoal for colors
blow minerals thru tubes of animal bone or reeds
paint made by mixing powders with cave water/saliva/blood etc
brushes made of feather fur chewed stick
naturalism
scholars first dated art based on how naturalistic (close to reality) it was
more naturalistic, the more recent
this isnt really accurate b/c some paintings that were super natural were actually the oldest
what purpose did paintings serve
naturalism is not only goal
not optical images but composite ones - show features that make up animal but not necessarily anatomically accurate
ritual or religious purpose maybe
magico religious interpretation:
create image to have power over subject - im
shamanism
belief in parallel spirit world accessed thru alternative states of consciousness
bulges in wall suggest animals spirit
paleolithic (old stone age) years
2 million years to 10k BCE
lower (2 mill-100,000 BCE), middle (100,000-40k BCE), upper (40,000-10,000 BCE)
mesolithic (middle stone age) years
10k to 8k BCE
neolithic (new stone age) years
8k to 2k BCE
carving
half human half cat from germany
hard to make
could be to contact spirit world
often of animals
women and children were artists
women are frequent subjects (possible matrilineal structure?)
facial features arent a priority, reproductive ones are
could be
paleolithic houses
small huts
caves for shelter and ritual purposes
huts in the ukraine found made of mammoth bones
inside huts were prepared foods, tools, skins
seasonal residences
neolithic (new stone age) art
ice age ends around 10,000 bce
humans mature
settle in places instead of moving seasonally
domesticate animals and plants
earliest evidence in east mediterranean and mespotamia
settlement at Jericho
settlement at Jericho
houses of mud brick or stone
dead buried beneath floors
skulls displayed, made to look alive
concept of afterlife? respect for dead, ancestor worship
stone wall built around town in 7500 bce
circular tower inside - monumental architecture was born
ain ghazal
30 plaster figures
some are 3 ft tall (first known large scale sculptures)
large size was moitvating force behind design
made of bundles of reeds and plaster
may have represented ancestors
some are two headed - mythical function
catal hoyok
neolithic town 7500 bce
a thousand years later than jericho
trade in ores
12 building phases
no streets, houses have no doors at ground level
houses are side by side with ladders in roofs
any attracker would have to scale walls
burials beneath floor
platf
oven fired pottery
beginnings of specialization in neolithic period
reg food supply means ppl devote time to special skills
pottery weaving smelting
pottery is durable
clay also used
female and male figures from romania
architecture in europe - tombs and rituals
houses of wood, branches, mud
ten houses built of stone in scotland skara brae
3100-2600 bce
hearth for cooking, beds and shelving of stone
monumental architecture created for ceremonial burial and ritual
megaliths
huge blocks of stone for tombs and rituals
trilithic (3 stone) post and lintel arrangement (two upright stones support 3rd horizontal one) to make a tomb
dolmen tombs
menhirs
upright megaliths
mark out horizontal space, maybe served as ritual centers
large field of these at Menec - could be used to measure sun as a calander
hard to get all these stones together
often megaliths appear in circles (cromlechs)
stonehenge
made with
relative dates
one object is older or more recent than another
determined using stratigraphy - object found at lower layer or stratum of excavation is usually older than one found above it
absolute dates
calander date for object
written records maybe
radiometric dating
radiation levels
common motifs found in cave paintings of Southern france and northern spain?
large wild animals - bison, horses, deer
traces of human hands
how have interpretation of the meanings of paintings changed over time?
eartly 19th cen: art was for decorative purposes
early 20th cen: social function - cave painting strengthens bonds between people. act of making art has religious purpose. magico religious theory.
2nd half of 20th cen: cave images systematically organized
what is an agreement that many contemporary scholars share?
one explanation may not work for all art. magico religous interpretation may work for lascaux, but not for chauvet, where 72% of animals represented were not hunted.
decorated caves must have had special meanings because people returned to them for thousa
what do the figures at lascaux represent?
cow, deer, bulls, horses, a bear, engraved felines, a woolly rhinoceros are all depicted along the white limestone. curved walls suggest space.
differences between depictions of animals at lascaux and chauvet
lascaux: red deer, horses, bulls, goats.
chauvet: 5 times larger than lascaux. some consider it more impressive and beautiful. older. large, powerful animals. animals that couldnt be eaten or hunted (symbolized a religous purpose possibly). lions, cave be
bird headed man with a bison
unusual because it shows a human. seems to tell a story. stylistically different than other paintings. man could be a shaman (special powers, leaves body to communicate with spirits.
hybrid figure with a human body and feline head is similar in this way.
woman of willendorf
28-25000 BCE. hair covers head.
different from romanian figure, which has facial features and shows woman sitting in introspection.
lion panel
chauvet.
25-17,000 BCE
three large lion heads
rhinos.
mammoths and horses
25-17 BCE
engraving.
a horse and 2 mammoths
overlapping. series of parallel lines on horse can be identified as claw marks. a ritual killing of the animal? help hunters by symbollically killing before hunt? representation of animals behavior in hature?
hall of the bulls
lasaux
ceiling view with bison
altamira