Pre-Historic Art: Art created before the beginnings of recorded history. It is often the only record of early cultures. “Generally, art is classified as prehistoric until that culture either develops writing or other methods of record keeping, or it makes significant contact with another culture that has.”

Pre-historic Architecture Stonehenge

Pre-historic Painting “Having been hidden for 17,000 years, the Lascaux Caves were in perfect condition when they were discovered. Unfortunately, however, the caves were opened to an enthusiastic public in 1948 without any thought to preservation. The combined effects of artificial lighting and 100,000 visitors per year soon caused great damage to the site. Much valuable archaeological information was lost, the bright colors of the paintings faded, and destructive layers of algae, bacteria and opaque calcite crystals formed on the walls.”

“The original Lascaux Grottoes consist of a main cave 66 feet wide and 16 feet high, plus several smaller galleries. The walls and ceilings of the caves are decorated with some 600 painted figures and almost 1,500 engravings in total.” “The subjects of the paintings are almost entirely animals, some of which are now extinct” “The Paleolithic painters of Lascaux employed a variety of colours, including red, yellow, black, brown, and violet. All these pigments would have been obtained locally from readily available materials such as iron-rich clay ochre and manganese dioxide and charcoal. No brushes have been found at Lascaux, thus one presumes that the paint was applied with moss or fur pads, or crude crayons made from solid lumps of pigment. Reeds and hollowed horns might also have been used as paint-sprayers.”

Cave Painting of Bulls and Horses. Lascaux Caves, France. c Cave Painting of Bulls and Horses. Lascaux Caves, France. c.15,000 – 10,000 BC

Horse c. 15,000-10,000 BC Lascaux, France

References: http://www.collectiveartisan.com/art-history/prehistoric-art/neolithic/ http://www.sacred-destinations.com/france/lascaux-caves http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/prehistoric/lascaux-cave-paintings.htm http://www.britannia.com/history/h7.html