Welcome to the Stone Age

Prehistoric Art Prehistory is the time before people had writing systems, which means we have NO written documents from that time! We only have the objects and images left behind to tell us about how these people lived.

Prehistoric Art

The Stone Age is divided into three large time periods: Paleolithic – Old Stone (1,500,000 – 45,000 years ago) Mesolithic – Middle Stone (8000 to 4000 B.C.) Neolithic – New Stone (4000 to 2000 B.C.)

Prehistoric Painting Cave painters used powered minerals to paint onto damp walls, or they mixed their own paints using animal fats, vegetable juices, water, or blood! Hyena and Panther Chauvet cave, Ardeche Valley, France 25,000 – 17,000 B.C. Red ochre on limestone

Prehistoric Sculpture Sculpture in the round – this means you can view the sculpture from ALL angles Relief sculpture – this means the sculpture is attached to the original material and has a background

Sculpture in the Round or Relief? Venus de Brassempouy, Brassempouy, France, 25, 000 years ago, Carved from ivory

Sculpture in the Round or Relief? Bison with turned head La Madeleine, Tarn, France 11,000 – 9,000 B.C. Carved from Reindeer Horn

Paleolithic Paleolithic Nomadic hunter-gatherers Tents of animal skins Huts of mud, plant fibers, stone, and bone Sculptures of ivory, bone, clay, and stone Bison with turned head La Madeleine, Tarn, France 11,000 – 9,000 B.C. Carved from Reindeer Horn

Paleolithic Paleolithic Jellyfish Cosquer cave, Marseilles, France 25, 000 B.C. Painting on black stalagmite

Paleolithic Paleolithic Hall of Running Bulls Lascaux, Dordogne, France 15,000 – 13,000 B.C. Paint on limestone rock

Mesolithic Paleolithic People began to gather around bodies of water and fishing became a major source of food. Beginnings of agriculture Focus on survival tools

Neolithic Paleolithic No longer hunter gatherers due to farming New art form created: monumental stone architecture known as megaliths. Megaliths are huge stone structures built without mortar (paste).

Paleolithic Menhirs Menhirs are slightly shaped single stones that stand upright in the ground. Kerloas Menhir France 3,000 – 4,000 B.C.

Paleolithic Dolmens Dolmens are like tables. They have two or more tall stones that support a large single stone. Likely started as tombs and later became passageways. Dolmen Carnac, Brittany, France 4,000 B.C.

Paleolithic Cromlechs Cromlechs are groups of menhirs arranged in circles. Believed to be sacred spaces. Stonehenge Salisbury Plain, England 2800-1500 B.C. Interpretations: Giant sundial Druid ritual site Architectural magic conjured by Merlin

Paleolithic Post and Lintel Also called a trilithon.