Prehistoric Art! The Stone Age
May 30, 2015
Prehistoric Art!The Stone Age
The Stone Age
Paleolithic PeriodMesolithic Period Neolithic Period
From 25.000 B.C. until around10,000 B.C!
Paleolithic PeriodOld Stone Age
During this period human beings started to settle near riversand lakes, where they started to create the
1st PICTORIC manifestations in their surroundings.
They were still NOMADIC, they moved from place to place.
Paleolithic PeriodOld Stone Age
Cave ArtMost of the cave art paintings are found in
France and Spain.
Altamira Cave
Lascaux Caves
Paleolithic PeriodOld Stone Age
Paleolithic PeriodOld Stone Age
Paleolithic PeriodOld Stone Age
Look at the cavepainting in
Altamira Caves.
What do you noticeabout the
shapes and colors?
What type of paint and tools did humans use?
Paleolithic PeriodOld Stone Age
Sculptures and pottery
During this period, humans sculted smallfemale figurines called The Venus.
Archaeologists have suggested many different ways of understanding its significance.
FertilityGood luck charm
Mother goddess
Paleolithic PeriodOld Stone Age
Stone tools
Some of the first tools humans used were made during this period.
Ovate hand axe. 98mm x 76mm
Pointed handaxe.107mm x 74 mm.
Ovate hand122x76mm.
These tools are probably more than 100,000 years old!
Mesolithic PeriodMiddle Stone Age
Period between the LAST GLACIATION (12,000 years ago)and the beginning of the Neolithic period (7,000years ago)
It was a period of climatic instability.
During the Mesolithic,
humans learned to hunt
in groups and to fish, and began to
learn how to domesticate
animals and plants.
Mesolithic PeriodMiddle Stone Age
Mesolithic art is geometric, with a restricted range of colors, dominated by the use of red ochre.
Art objects include:
painted pebbles, ground stone
beads, pierced shells and teeth,
and amber.
Mesolithic PeriodMiddle Stone Age
Artifact from Lepenski Vir, Serbia.
The Mesolithic period saw the first small cemeteries!
Mesolithic PeriodMiddle Stone Age
Some of the burials included grave goods, tools, jewelry, shells, and animal and human figurines;
goods that archaeologists suggest are evidence of the emergence of social stratification.
Grave 13Skateholm
Megalithic tombScania
Mesolithic PeriodMiddle Stone Age
Stone toolsAfter the ice melted, humans began to visit new
hunting grounds.They invented many new tools, including the Tranchet
adze which was ment to be re-sharpened. They also began to use the hafted picks more regurlaly.
Tranchet adze. 151mm x 48mm
Blade. 76mm x30mm
microlith - used to make arrow heads, spears, and other
weapons and tools
Neolithic PeriodNew Stone Age
The Neolithic age represents a spree ofhellzapoppin' innovation
Humans were settling
themselves down into agrarian societies and
began to explore some key concepts
of civilization, namely, religion,
measurement, the rudiments of
architecture and writing and, yes,
ART.
Neolithic PeriodNew Stone Age
Climatic stability allowed humans to abandon their wandering ways and begin to construct more-or-less
permanent villages. Huge developments in agriculture were made.
What kinds of art were created during this time?
This is called
The Neolithic Revolution!
Neolithic PeriodNew Stone Age
Weaving
Clothes, textiles and straw mats held a prominent place in the daily life of Neolithic farmers.The main weaving fibres were flax and wool.
Neolithic PeriodNew Stone Age
Architecture - megaliths
Simple structures that were normally used as temporary
shelter. Some of the earliest forms of Neolithic architecture
can befound in Asia.Common materials: Mud bricks and Stone.
Neolithic PeriodNew Stone Age
Mud Bricks
Stone walls
Naturally shaped stone roof
CHARACTERISTICS
Neolithic PeriodNew Stone Age
Stylized pictographs
They were well on their way to becoming writing.
Neolithic PeriodNew Stone Age
Statuary
Their theme dwelt primarily on the female/fertility, or "Mother Goddess" imagery.
The “thinker" and the “sitting woman" of Hamangia
Neolithic PeriodNew Stone Age
Painting
It left the caves and cliffs for good, and became a purelydecorative element
Neolithic PeriodNew Stone Age
Pottery
It began replacing stone and wood utensils at a rapid pace,and also become more highly decorated.
Neolithic PeriodNew Stone Age
Key characteristics of Neolithic art
Functional More images of humans than animals It was used for ornamentation
Coming Soon! Ancient civilizations
Homework! Mind-Map ----- Main characteristics of The Stone Age