When most people think about prehistoric humans, they think of cartoon characters like "The Flintstones" or odd-looking bearded men from car insurance commercials. In fact, prehistoric humans rarely lived in caves, and they certainly didn't drive cars. But they did leave some breathtaking works of art on cave walls all around the world and buried in ancient cities. In this lesson, you will step into the world of prehistoric humanity and see that world through art.

OBJECTIVES

• Identify the two types of Paleolithic art.

• Discuss various theories concerning the purposes of cave art.

• Differentiate between the art of the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods.

• Describe the megalithic structure of Stonehenge.

ART IN THE PALEOLITHIC ERA

It is difficult to imagine what life was like for humans in the Upper Paleolithic era or "Old Stone Age" (32,000 BC-9,000 BC). During this time, people known as Early Modern Humans lived in nomadic tribes and sustained themselves as roving hunters and gatherers rather than as stationary farmers. They generally lived in outdoor camps, although they probably camped near the mouths of caves when they needed shelter from bad weather. Because of the cave environment, artifacts and remains inside caves have been much better preserved than those outside the caves. Therefore, the Early Modern Humans became associated with caves and became known as "cavemen."

Cave Art

One example of cave art (also called rock art) includes relief sculptures such as the pair of clay bison found in the cave at Le Tuc d'Audoubert in France. This particular sculpture was probably made between 15,000 BC and 10,000 BC. You can also visit the Cave of Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc to see other examples of cave art from the Paleolithic period. Do you notice a common theme among them?

In addition to relief sculptures, cave paintings from the Paleolithic period have been discovered in Europe, Africa, Australia, South America, and Southeast Asia. Since the 1800s, more than 300 sites have been discovered, most of which were found in France and Spain. It is not always possible to pinpoint the dates of the work, but scientists believe the oldest of these cave paintings were made around 32,000 BC. Typical cave paintings include animal images, handprints, geometric figures, and dots. 

The picture Hall of Bulls seen here was found in the Lascaux caves. As you look at the art, notice the following characteristics:

• the animal is represented, but not its location

• no ground line

• twisted perspective — for example, although the bull is in profile, both horns are visible so that the viewer can tell the animal is a bull, not a one-horned animal

• movement — the animals (reindeer crossing a river, horses running, ibex leaping) appear to move over the surface of the walls

SIGNIFICANCE OF CAVE PAINTINGS

There are a number of theories about the purpose of the wall paintings. Some scientists believe that the wall paintings could have been used for target practice because of the dots sometimes found on the animal depictions. Others have postulated that the purpose of the paintings was for "magical" reasons; artists might have believed that the paintings would help hunters find and kill their prey or that the images would ensure the continued abundance of such animals.

But then other researchers point out that the animals depicted were not always the same animals that humans hunted. Some of these animals may have even been extinct. Perhaps the pictures were for decorative purposes to entertain and enlighten the community. They may have even been illustrations for oral stories. The dots may have represented the night sky. Recently one researcher has looked into the practices of a present-day shaman and linked visions to the types of art depicted on the cave walls. Could it be that the paintings were created by shamans in a trance? Without written records, scientists simply cannot be sure.

What is the significance of these cave paintings? 

The art found in the caves of Europe and elsewhere was not easy to produce. It was made in pitch-dark caves, sometimes on walls and ceilings far above human reach. The work must have required enormous resources in time, talent, and materials, and the cave art that had been preserved was obviously done by skilled artists. Assistants may have been required to help build scaffolding and mix paints. Moreover, the artists' unique understanding of visual depth and movement was not achieved again until a few centuries ago. 

These pictures were most likely enjoyed by other people for thousands of years. It is even possible that art is actually the oldest profession.

Creating and appreciating art demonstrates a cognitive leap for human kind. It may have helped us to evolve as early humans pondered the representations of animals and geometric figures and communicated their thoughts and feelings to one another.

Art in the Neolithic Era

The Neolithic era took place from around 9000 BC to 330 BC. It is often called the "New Stone Age." During this era, the climate became warmer, and people began to settle in one place where they could raise crops and animals. Communities of people became more organized, and the artwork of the Neolithic period reflects these changes. Architecture, pottery, carved wood, religious objects, temples, tombs, and urns all allowed for the flourishing of artistic expression.

Catalhöyök in Turkey is an early settlement that provides a number of examples of Neolithic art, including paintings and relief carvings on the walls of various shrines as well as examples of portable art.

The Human Figure

An important difference between Paleolithic cave paintings and the murals of Catalhöyök is the prevalence of human figures in the paintings. This ancient village is also the setting of the world's earliest known landscape, painted around 6150 BC. On this Web site for Catalhöyök, you will notice that the human figure is painted as a composite of a frontal and profile view. This style of depicting the human figure on a flat surface would be used for several thousand years. List three other facts you discover on this site.

In Ain Ghazal, a Neolithic settlement in Jordan, more than thirty small statues and busts were found in two caches. The sculptures were made of white plaster built over a core of reeds and twine. The eyes were designed from cowry shells painted with black bitumen and were of indeterminate gender. These figures are much larger than the figures from the Paleolithic period and are considered precursors to the larger monumental sculptures of the ancient civilizations of Greece, Egypt, and the Near East.

Follow this link to see an archaeological report on the findings at Ain Ghazal. What can scientists learn from studying fragments such as these?

The last example we'll examine from the Neolithic era is one you probably already know: Stonehenge near Salisbury, England.

Stonehenge (the word henge means circle) has had us guessing for thousands of years. How was it made? Who made it? What was its purpose? Was it an astronomical observatory? Scientists today tell us that Stonehenge is an extremely accurate solar calendar, an example of the intellectual development of Neolithic humans. If you stand in the center of the complex of stones and look toward the "heel-stone" outside the circle, you can mark the point at which the sun rises at the summer solstice, the longest day of the year.

Located in a vast plain and surrounded by hundreds of round burial mounds, Stonehenge is ninety-seven feet in diameter and made of large monoliths of sarsen (a type of sandstone) stones. These were topped by lintels. Inside this circle is a ring of bluestones, formed from volcanic rock. Inside the second ring is a horseshoe of trilithons. The giant sarsen stones that form the outer circle weigh as much as fifty tons each and had to be transported from the Marlborough Downs, approximately twenty miles away.

"Most of the way, the going is relatively easy, but at the steepest part of the route, at Redhorn Hill, modern work studies estimate that at least 600 men would have been needed just to get each stone past this obstacle."

The builders of Stonehenge (and we are still not sure who they were) had to have patience as it took several centuries to create the structure, and some of the stones were transported from as far away as Wales (about 170 miles away). Scientists have identified three phases of construction for Stonehenge. They believe it was begun around 3000 BC and was completed around 1600 BC or 1500 BC. In the middle ages, people thought that Merlin, the magician of the King Arthur legend, must have created it.

LET'S REVIEW!

In this lesson, you have covered the following concepts:

• Paleolithic art was created between 32000 BC and 9000 BC. and can be divided into two categories: portable art and cave art.

• Portable art was usually small and made of limestone.

• Cave art covered great expanses of walls and ceilings in underground chambers.

• Paleolithic artists usually depicted animals or geometric designs. They rarely created likenesses of human beings with the exception of the "Venus" statuettes.

• Neolithic art (9000 to 330 BC) brought artistic expression into everyday life. From the way the villages were constructed to the way shrines were decorated, art was an important part of the Neolithic world.

• Statues and paintings found in excavated villages show an increased and more sophisticated depiction of human figures.

• In addition to these statues and paintings, megalithic structures such as Stonehenge were created by many generations of people, but the purpose of the structures and even the identity of the builders remains a mystery.

Take this test before moving on!