By: Tammie L. Smith

The art found in the Paleolithic Period communicates to present day viewers the struggles of living back in the early times of civilization. This period was marked by the rise of Homo sapiens and their ever-developing ability to create tools and weapons from stone which set them apart and above their meals. Art could be either portable or stationary because they were constantly on the move to hunt and gather they couldn’t always keep something with them.

Sculpture 30,000-25,000 B.C. a fertility symbol, perhaps carried by a male hunter/gatherer as a reminder of his mate back home. Venus of Willendorf, c. 30, ,000 BCE, found in Austria.

Paints were made from combinations of minerals, ochres, burnt bone meal and charcoal mixed into mediums of water, blood, animal fats and tree saps. Many researchers believe that these stone paintings served a ritualistic purpose. Cave at Lascaux, France, "Hall of Bulls", 15,000-13,000 BCE

The Chauvet Cave Paintings, Pont d’Arc France c. 28,000 B.C.E.

Currently residing in the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia, this female figurine was found in Kostenky settlement, Russia.

The Lascaux Caves, 15,000-13,000 BCE

Civilization undergoes a change from hunters/gatherers of the Paleolithic Era to the Neolithic farmers thus their basic needs change along with the art applied to their tools. Art becomes more geometric and abstract, as well as their tools become more honed and less basic.

Stonehenge, is perhaps one of the most famous Neolithic Architectural findings. Located in Southern England near Salisbury ca. 3,200- 1,800 BCE

Basin (pen), Majiayao culture, Majiayao phase, ca. 3200–2700 b.c. Gansu Province, China Earthenware with painted decoration

Ritual object (bi), Neolithic period, Liangzhu culture, ca. 2700–2500 b.c. Jiangsu or Zhejiang Province, China Nephrite

Anthropomorph, ca b.c. India, Uttar Pradesh Copper

This concludes the Paleolithic and Neolithic Periods of arts, artifacts, and tools.