Prehistoric Art/Architecture 35,000 B.C.-15,000 B.C.

Prehistoric Art/Architecture **Prehistoric Art first appeared about 30,000 years ago during the Paleolithic period which is also know as the Old Stone Age. The people of the Old Stone Age were hunter-gatherers who lived in caves. Not much is known about them except what has been discovered painted on cave walls or objects that have been excavated.

Prehistoric Art/Architecture Some of the most important art work to come from this time period were Paleolithic Cave Paintings and Paleolithic Sculptures. Early cave paintings have been discovered all the way from southern Spain to southern Siberia. They might have painted these paintings to teach lessons of survival, to portray legends, or to illustrate traditions. Although it is not known if the artists were men or women, it is known that the caves were used for thousands of years, with many surfaces over painted a number of times.

Prehistoric Art/Architecture *Determining the Age of Prehistoric Art: -Many of today’s experts believe that the earliest known works of art were created some 30,000 years ago - There are several ways experts can determine the age of an artifact/art piece. a) Experts can date something based on the age of the surrounding earth layer. b) Experts can also use the method of radiocarbon dating of once-living objects found near the artifact. -Both these methods help experts to determine the approximate date the paintings/artifacts were produced.

Prehistoric Art/Architecture See, Think, Wonder What do you see? (Describe with as much detail as you can) What do you think? (why was this sculpture created?) What do you wonder? (Is there a meaning? Purpose?)

Paleolithic Sculptures The first sculpture is the “Venus of Willendorf”. (Discovered in Willendorf, Austria in 1908) This is the oldest and most famous prehistoric statue to date. The limestone figure is nude and just 4 inches high. The artist emphasizes the woman’s head, bosom , torso, and thighs, while her facial features, neck, arms and lower legs are disproportionately small. WHY?? The exaggerated bosom, abdomen and hips indicate their use as fertility figures. Interestingly, this early portrayal of a nude female is a distinctive aspect of Paleolithic art that began a long standing tradition in art. It was created between 24,000 BC and 22,000 BC Have the students do the first activity in the Art History/Appreciation book on PG. 28.!!!! ***Show them the Willendorf figure and have them write about what they think it is and the meaning behind. Then discuss as a group their answers and the real reasoning behind it.

Paleolithic Sculptures The second sculpture was discovered in 1986 in Dolni Vestonici in the Czech Republic, this figure was carved from mammoth ivory and is dated at 26,640 BCE What is this a sculpture of??

Paleolithic Sculptures The third sculpture is the “Venus de Lespugue” found in Les Eyzies de Tayac, France. The Venus of Lespugue is a Venus figurine, a statuette of a nude female figure from approximately 25,000 BC. It was discovered in 1922 Approximately 6 inches (147 mm) tall, it is carved from tusk ivory, and was damaged during excavation. This sculpture looks similar to which other one??

Paleolithic Sculptures The fourth sculpture is the “Venus de Brassenpouy” (French: la Dame de Brassempouy "Lady of Brassempouy" or Dame ‡ la Capuche "Lady with the Hood") is a fragmentary ivory figurine from the Upper Paleolithic which was discovered at Brassempouy, France in 1892. About 25,000 years old, it is one of the earliest known realistic representations of a human face.

Paleolithic Sculptures 1. What commonalities do these 4 sculptures have? 2. Why do you think similar styled sculptures were made in various parts of now modern day Europe? 3. If you were to “create” yourself as a prehistoric sculpture, what would it look like and why did you create that “design”? *Take the next 10-15 minutes sketching TWO sculptures of your self with a description* Keep in mind the simplicity of Pre-historic Art!!!

Paleolithic Cave Paintings The first Paleolithic cave paintings were discovered in 1879 at the Altamira in northwest Spain. The cave paintings of Altamira were painted between 15,000 BC-10,000 BC. The ceiling on the Altmira cave in Spain has been called the Sistine Chapel of prehistoric paintings. There are at least 200 known painted caves in Europe alone. Many of the animals painted in these caves are extinct. Most of the cave paintings consisted of horses, bison, mammoth, auraux (huge oxen), ibex and six species of deer.

Paleolithic Cave Paintings Most of the paintings were outlined in black and then color was applied. Paints used were black and yellow manganese, red and yellow ocher and occasionally violet. The pigments were mostly mixed with blood or animal fat. **Pg. 132 Some of the animals are decorated with mysterious, abstract signs and geometric shapes such as circles, ellipses, dots and crescents.

Paleolithic Cave Paintings The second Paleolithic Cave Paintings were the Lascaux Caves, a cave complex in southwestern France, contain some of the most remarkable Paleolithic cave paintings in the world. The Lascaux cave paintings were painted between 15,000BC-10,000BC. The Lascaux cave paintings were discovered on Thursday, September 12, 1940, by four French teenagers. The news of the discovery quickly spread and many villagers came to see it themselves. Soon archaeologists visited the site as well.

Paleolithic Cave Paintings One of the most famous wall paintings inside the Lascaux caves is the “Great Hall of Bulls”. The artists used strong outlines and vivid naturalistic colors while demonstrating an intimate knowledge of the physical characteristics of the creatures being portrayed. Although they clearly possessed great artistic skills, cave artists never drew landscapes and rarely portrayed human figures.

Paleolithic Cave Paintings Pech-Merle is a cave in the south of France. Pech- Merle was discovered in 1922 by two teenagers, Andre David and Henri Dutertre, when they were 16 and 15 years old respectively. The examination of the paintings and engravings was immediately begun by Father AmÈdÈe Lemozi, the priest of Cabrerets. The galleries of the cave are on average 10 m wide and the height of the ceilings is about 5 to 10 m. There are two levels of the cave, but there are only paintings on the first level. 300 m of the walls are painted.

Paleolithic Cave Paintings The cave paintings inside Pech-Merle were painted between 15,000 BC-10,000 BC. The most famous paintings within these caves is the “Spotted Horses with Negative Hand Prints”.

Use of Paintings in Rituals: Paleolithic Cave Paintings Use of Paintings in Rituals: 1) Prehistoric hunters often performed “magic” to place spells over their prey which was intended to make them weak and easier to hunt. 2) These hunters would perform a ceremony in which they would paint the animals they intended to hunt on the walls of the cave. They believed by doing this they were capturing some of the animal’s strength and spirit. 3) These ceremonies often boosted the confidence and the courage of these hunters and they were also convinced their prey would be weaker and easier to kill. 4) Are there any modern day ceremonies or rituals that compare to this?

Paleolithic Cave Paintings Materials and Processes of Cave Paintings: 1) Pigment: The colors are very bold and crisp looking. Pigments were created by taking lumps of clay or soft stone, grounding them up and mixing them with animal fat, blood or some other medium. 2) Brushes: Most of the images painted on the cave walls were applied with the use of fingers but at times some kind of reed or bristle brush was used as well. 3) Technique: When creating these cave paintings the outline of the image was scratched 1st, then the outline was painted over with black or brown pigment to give a crisp edge. Finally, the image was filled in with shades of color-reds or browns or yellows.

Prehistoric Art/Architecture Virtual Tour of Lascaux Caves, France http://www.lascaux.culture.fr/?lng=en#/fr/00.xml

Prehistoric Architecture Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument located in the English county of Wiltshire. Archaeologists had believed that the iconic stone monument was erected around 2500 BC, as described in the chronology below, although this has since been advanced to 2400-2200 BC Stonehenge is one of the most remarkable and certainly the best-known Neolithic monument. A henge is a circle of huge stones. With enormous stones rising as high as 17 feet and weighing as much as 50 tons, Stonehenge is indeed a massive henge. Today, archaeologists believe that Stonehenge is a remarkably accurate solar calendar constructed in phases beginning about 4,000 years ago. Stonehenge is an early example of Post-and-lintel in which massive posts support crossbeams or lintels.

Prehistoric Architecture http://www.history.com/topics/stonehenge/videos#historys-mysteries-stonehenge