ART OF THE PALEOLITHIC AND NEOLITHIC ERAS ART HISTORY SURVEY I

While the Paleolithic era refers to the "old stone age," the entire time period during which human beings were making tools of stone, art begins at approximately 35,000 bce a time at which human beings seem to have circled the globe. The time frame for "paleolithic art" can be described from 35,000 bce to aproximately 12,000 bce when people lived in hunter-gatherer nomadic tribes and prior to the development of agriculture. The time frame has been pushed back in recent years to reflect current discoveries that show earlier use of stone tools. "Neolithic" refers to the "new stone age," generally reflecting the use of stone tools with some use of metals and with people settling into permanent communities, the development of agriculture, and animal husbandry. In art, the Paleolithic era is marked by cave paintings and drawings of animals. It is thought that the animals were either those needed for food and that the paintings were some type of ritual related to the hunt, or that the animals were sacred and were given god-like qualities. It has also been suggested that the paintings represent primitive calendars or almanacs, "coming of age" ceremonies, records of tribal migrations, and mystic paintings during a shamanistic trance. While the purpose of paleolithic works of art is far from being certain, the art can be categorized as being "invitational," that is, created and viewed on purpose by selected or invited individuals for specific purposes; "public," that is, created to be viewed by anyone in the area or passing by the area, such as a public monument, territorial marker, or gravestone; and "personal," that is, small private objects carried by individuals as ritual items or charms.

The polychrome painting above, of a "cow and a horse," is a paleolithic cave painting from the caves at Lascaux, in the Dordogne region of France. The painting is dated at approximately 15,000 bce. The animal figures are both naturalistic and stylized, often showing fine details that suggest keen familiarity with the animal painted or drawn. There does not appear to be a "ground line" in the cave paintings or a sense of depth, although people today tend to understand overlapping figures as suggesting an illusion of three-dimensional space. The overlapping of figures may be due to the oil lamp or candle lighting which would illuminate small areas at a time; such lights have been found inside the caves.

Left: "Big Cats" from the Chauvet cave in Ardeche, France. The caves contain many images of rhinos and big cats. Dated at 30,000 bce...these cave paintings may be the oldest found in Europe to date. Right: Horse outlined with charcoal from the Lascaux caves. This cave painting from Lascaux includes additional markings which may be representations of arrows, indications of counting or tribal signatures. The blending of colors seen here, such as in the horse's mane blending into the horse's neck, may suggest the paint was blown or 'spit' onto the wall. Paleolithic artists also created several types of sculpture. Small portable pieces like the "Bison with Head Turned" below suggest imagination in looking at an object (like looking at clouds in the sky and seeing elephants!). The center relief sculpture below shows a nude female holding an animal horn. The horn is incised with lines that are thought to represent a lunar calendar or a woman's menstrual cycle. The sculpture at the right is a high relief in stone with clay added to enhance the image of the bison.

Bison with head turned, from the Dordogne region of France. 4 l/2" length.

Carved female ("Venus") figure holding horn with Relief bison, clay and stone. From markings, from Le Tuc d'Audobert in Southern Laussel in France. c.15,000 bce. France,c.20,000 bce.

Discovered in 1986 in Dolni Vestonici Rock art at a cliff face at Huashan, Southwest in the Czech Republic, this figure was China, is probably Neolithic, considering the carved from mammoth ivory and is presence of many, active human figures. dated at 26,640 bce. Rock painting and engraving seem to be world-wide phenomena in the Paleolithic and Neolithic eras, although it has been observed that the subject matter in Africa (center below) and Australia (left and right images below) is more likely to be human beings in addition to animals. A major difference between Paleolithic and Neolithic images is the depiction of the human person. In the Paleolithic era, the most common human representation is the highly abstract female figure, usually carved or incised; in the Neolithci era, the figures show up everywhere, including out in the "public's view" in rock paintings and engravings. There the human figures appear in groups actively pursuing animals or at least are depicted with a potential for movement.

Ancestral spirit figure, from Arnhem Land, Australia. Human figure images Presently dated to approximately from Tanzania. 7-9,000 years ago.
Page Updated 1/19/2010

Male and female figures from Ubirr Rock, Arnhem Land, Australia.

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Copyright M. Hoover and San Antonio College, July, 2001. All rights reserved.