Prehistoric Art - Paleolithic (2 million years ago-13,000 BC.) The several Millennia following 30,000 BCE saw a powerful outburst of creativity. The works produced by the peoples of the OLD STONE AGE or PALEOLITHIC period (from the Greek paleo, old, and lithos, stone) are an astonishing variety. They range from simple shell necklaces to human and animal forms in ivory, clay, and stone to monumental paintings, engravings, and relief sculptures covering the huge wall surfaces of caves. During the Paleolithic period, humankind went beyond the recognition of human and animal forms in the natural environment to the representation (literally, the presenting again- in different and substitute form- of something observed) of humans and animals. The immensity of this achievement cannot be exaggerated.

Paleolithic Animal Facing Left Human with Feline Head Venus of Willendorf Bison Spotted Horse & Negative Handprints Hall of Bulls

Animal facing Left, from the Apollo 11 Cave, Namibia, ca. 23,000 BCE. Charcoal on stone, approx. 5” x4 ¼”. State Museum of Namibia, Windhoek. Between 1969 & 1972, scientists working in the Apollo 11 Cave in Namibia found seven fragments of stone plaques with paint on them, including four or five recognizable images of animals. In most cases, the species is uncertain, but the forms are always carefully rendered. The charcoal from the archaeological layer in which the Namibian plaques were found has been dated to around 23,000 BCE.

Human with Feline head, from Hohlenstein-Stadel, Germany, ca. 30,000-28,000 BCE. Mammoth ivory, 11 5/8” high. Ulmer Museum, Ulm. Carved out of mammoth ivory & nearly a foot tall- a truly huge image for its era- the statuette represents something that existed only in the vivid imagination of the unknown sculptor who conceived it. It is a human (whether male or female is debated) with a feline head. The animal-headed humans of Paleolithic art sometimes have been called sorcerers and described as magicians wearing masks.

Venus of Willendorf Nude woman, from Willendorf, Austria, ca. 28, ,000 BCE. Limestone, approx. 4 ¼” high. Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna. The anatomical exaggeration has suggested to many that this and similar statuettes served as fertility images. But other Paleolithic stone women of far more slender proportions exist, and the meaning of these images is as elusive as everything else about Paleolithic art. The sculptor did not aim for naturalism in shape and proportion. As with most Paleolithic figures, the sculptor did not carve any facial features. Here the carver suggested only a mass of curly hair or as some researches have recently argued, a hat woven from plant fibers. In either case, the emphasis is on female fertility. The breast of the Willendorf woman are enormous, far larger than the tiny forearms and hands that rest upon them. Whatever the purpose of such statuettes, the makers’ intent seems to have been to represent not a specific woman but the female form.

Bison- Detail of a painted ceiling in the Altamira cave, Santander, Spain, ca. 12,000-11,000 BCE. Each Bison approx. 5’ long. The discovery of Altamira- The works examined here thus far, whether portable or fixed to rocky outcroppings or cave walls, are all small. They are dwarfed by the “herds” of painted animals that roam the cave walls of southern France and northern Spain, where some of the most spectacular prehistoric art has been discovered. The first examples of cave paintings were found accidentally by an amateur archaeologist in 1897 at Altamira, Spain. Don Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola was exploring on his estate a cave where he had already found specimens of flint and carved bone. His daughter Maria was with him when they reached a chamber some 85 feet from the cave’s entrance. Because it was dark and the ceiling of the debris-filled cavern was only a few inches above the father’s head, the child was the first to discern, from her lower vantage point, the shadowy forms of painted beasts on the cave room.

Spotted horses and negative hand imprints, wall painting in the cave at Pech-Merle, Lot, France, ca. 22,000 BCE. Approx. 11’ 2” Long. At Pech-Merle in France, painted hands accompany representations of spotted horses. These and the majority of painted hands at other sites are “negative,” that is, the painter placed one hand against the wall and then brushed or blew or spat pigment around it. Occasionally, the painter dipped a hand in the pigment and then pressed it against the wall, leaving a “positive” imprint. Some scholars have considered them “signatures” of cult or community members or, less likely, of individual painters. But like everything else in Paleolithic art, their meaning is unknown.

Hall of Bulls- Lascaux, Dordogne, France, ca. 15,000-13,000 BCE. Largest bull approx. 11’ 6” long. Perhaps the best-known Paleolithic cave is that at Lascaux, near Montignac, France. It is extensively decorated, but most of the paintings are hundreds of feet from any entrance. The most magnificent is a large circular gallery, characteristically far removed from the daylight, called the Hall of the Bulls. Not all of the painted animals are bulls, despite the modern nickname, and the several species depicted vary in size. Many are represented using colored silhouettes, as in the cave at Altamira and on the Namibian plaque. Others– such as the great bull at the right of the illustration– were created by outline along, as were the Pech-Merle horses.

Good websites to check out! c/paleolithic.htm c/paleolithic.htm ml#paleolithic ml#paleolithic

Citations- Gardner’s Art Through The Ages, 12 th Edition. Fred S. Kleiner Christin J. Mamiya.