Prehistoric art (The Stone Age Paleo/Meso/Neolithic period)

Prehistoric Art!The Stone Age

The Stone Age

Paleolithic PeriodMesolithic Period Neolithic Period

From 25.000 B.C. until around10,000 B.C!

Paleolithic PeriodOld Stone Age

During this period human beings started to settle near riversand lakes, where they started to create the

1st PICTORIC manifestations in their surroundings.

They were still NOMADIC, they moved from place to place.


Cave ArtMost of the cave art paintings are found in

France and Spain.

Altamira Cave

Lascaux Caves




Look at the cavepainting in

Altamira Caves.

What do you noticeabout the

shapes and colors?

What type of paint and tools did humans use?


Sculptures and pottery

During this period, humans sculted smallfemale figurines called The Venus.

Archaeologists have suggested many different ways of understanding its significance.

FertilityGood luck charm

Mother goddess


Stone tools

Some of the first tools humans used were made during this period.

Ovate hand axe. 98mm x 76mm

Pointed handaxe.107mm x 74 mm.

Ovate hand122x76mm.

These tools are probably more than 100,000 years old!

Mesolithic PeriodMiddle Stone Age

Period between the LAST GLACIATION (12,000 years ago)and the beginning of the Neolithic period (7,000years ago)

It was a period of climatic instability.

During the Mesolithic,

humans learned to hunt

in groups and to fish, and began to

learn how to domesticate

animals and plants.


Mesolithic art is geometric, with a restricted range of colors, dominated by the use of red ochre.

Art objects include:

painted pebbles, ground stone

beads, pierced shells and teeth,

and amber.


Artifact from Lepenski Vir, Serbia.

The Mesolithic period saw the first small cemeteries!


Some of the burials included grave goods, tools, jewelry, shells, and animal and human figurines;

goods that archaeologists suggest are evidence of the emergence of social stratification.

Grave 13Skateholm

Megalithic tombScania


Stone toolsAfter the ice melted, humans began to visit new

hunting grounds.They invented many new tools, including the Tranchet

adze which was ment to be re-sharpened. They also began to use the hafted picks more regurlaly.

Tranchet adze. 151mm x 48mm

Blade. 76mm x30mm

microlith - used to make arrow heads, spears, and other

weapons and tools

Neolithic PeriodNew Stone Age

The Neolithic age represents a spree ofhellzapoppin' innovation

Humans were settling

themselves down into agrarian societies and

began to explore some key concepts

of civilization, namely, religion,

measurement, the rudiments of

architecture and writing and, yes,

ART.


Climatic stability allowed humans to abandon their wandering ways and begin to construct more-or-less

permanent villages. Huge developments in agriculture were made.

What kinds of art were created during this time?

This is called

The Neolithic Revolution!


Weaving

Clothes, textiles and straw mats held a prominent place in the daily life of Neolithic farmers.The main weaving fibres were flax and wool.


Architecture - megaliths

Simple structures that were normally used as temporary

shelter. Some of the earliest forms of Neolithic architecture

can befound in Asia.Common materials: Mud bricks and Stone.


Mud Bricks

Stone walls

Naturally shaped stone roof

CHARACTERISTICS


Stylized pictographs

They were well on their way to becoming writing.


Statuary

Their theme dwelt primarily on the female/fertility, or "Mother Goddess" imagery.

The “thinker" and the “sitting woman" of Hamangia


Painting

It left the caves and cliffs for good, and became a purelydecorative element


Pottery

It began replacing stone and wood utensils at a rapid pace,and also become more highly decorated.


Key characteristics of Neolithic art

Functional More images of humans than animals It was used for ornamentation

Coming Soon! Ancient civilizations

Homework! Mind-Map ----- Main characteristics of The Stone Age

Art & Photos

Prehistoric art (The Stone Age Paleo/Meso/Neolithic period)