1. Prehistoric Art Watch: Stone Age Art
We don’t farm, write, live in houses, wear clothes, or invent the wheel, but we have Art!

2. Prehistoric Art in Western Europe
Stages of prehistoric civilization
1. Old Stone Age – Paleolithic
30,000-10,000 BC
2. Middle Stone Age – Mesolithic
10,000-5,000 BC
3. New Stone Age – Neolithic
5,000 BC-

3. Major Sites of Prehistoric Art

4. Use of hunting rituals and artwork:
Cave painting was limited almost exclusively to animals. Why? Some believe that cave paintings were part of magic rituals before the hunt. What kinds of rituals do we use today?

5. Lascaux Cave
It was discovered by four boys in 1940 somewhat accidentally. They found a large hole near a tree that had fallen on a hill overlooking Montignac in France. In 1955 the first signs of deterioration appeared on the cave paintings. Carbon dioxide from visitors’ breath was discovered to be the cause the cave was closed. It remains closed but a replica of the cave located nearby is open to the public.
Watch: Lascaux Cave

6. Painted in yellow on the cave ceiling Lascaux, France, early period, 15,000-13,500 BC
(Dun Horse)

7. The Venus of Willendorf was carved from oolitic limestone, and was covered with a thick layer of red ochre when found. The figurine was unearthed during the Wachau railway construction in 1908.
Venus of Willendorf
c. 24,000-22,000 BCE 4 3/8 inches (11.1 cm) high

8. These sites have been protected from many of the elements that otherwise would have caused erosion and damage. They may not be a vibrant as they once were but you can still see the amazing artwork of these prehistoric people because the paintings have been safe, deep inside caves for thousands of years.

9. Some of the materials used for pigment include:
Clay
Soft stone
Fat
Blood
Crushed plants and berries
Ashes
Can you think of anything else that may have been used?

10. Some of the materials used to apply the pigment to cave walls include:
Fingers
Reed
Plants
Sticks
Fur
Can you think of anything else that may have been used?

11. Most of these cave paintings are large in size
Most of these cave paintings are large in size. Between five to seven feet in length.

12. The subject matter of the cave paintings is limited almost exclusively to animals, mostly deer, bison, boar, wild horses, etc. Why?
Many experts believe that the earliest known paintings were created nearly 30,000 years ago. How do we know this?

13. Dating Prehistoric Art
One way is to date the artifact based on the age of the surrounding layers of earth.
Another way is through radiocarbon dating.

14. An accurate astronomic calendar.
Stonehenge
Wiltshire, England
Purpose?
An accurate astronomic calendar.

15. Stonehenge – England - 3200 BCE
Modern theories speculate that the stones were dragged by roller and sledge from the inland mountains to the headwaters of Milford Haven. There they were loaded onto rafts, barges or boats and sailed along the south coast of Wales, then up the Rivers Avon and Frome to a point near present-day Frome in Somerset. From this point, so the theory goes, the stones were hauled overland, again, to a place near Warminster in Wiltshire, approximately 6 miles away. From there, it's back into the pool for a slow float down the River Wylye to Salisbury, then up the Salisbury Avon to West Amesbury, leaving only a short 2 mile drag from West Amesbury to the Stonehenge site.

16. Images of handprints are common all over the world
Images of handprints are common all over the world. These are from the North American Anasazi tribe. (These images were created much later than the European cave paintings – 1500 BCE.)
Link to handprints from all over the world!
Why Handprints?

17. The Cosquer Cave: The Hands
Fifty-five hand prints have been found in the cave, giving a moving documentation of human life in the Paleolithic era. They were drawn as negative (stencils) and as positive (hands coated with pigment and then applied to the rock) images.

18. Altamira Spain:
Human occupation was limited to the cave mouth, although paintings were created throughout the length of the cave. The artists used charcoal and ochre or haematite to create the images, often diluting these pigments to produce variations in intensity.

19. How did they make the art?
Altamira Spain:
How did they make the art?
Ancient Spray Paint
Many of the paintings at Altamira appear to have been airbrushed, a sophisticated technique which may be done as shown. Two hollow bones are used, one set perpendicularly in a container of water and ochre, the other is held in the mouth. When the artist blows across the open hollow bone, the reduction in air pressure forces the ochre up the vertical hollow bone, at which point it is blown onto the rock surface by the jet of air from the bone held in the mouth of the artist.