chapter one survey 1

Copyright © 2018, 2014, 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Art History
Sixth Edition
Chapter 1
Prehistoric Art

Learning Objectives (1 of 2)
1.a Identify the visual hallmarks of Paleolithic, Neolithic, and Bronze Age
art for formal, technical, and expressive qualities.
1.b Interpret the meaning of works of Paleolithic, Neolithic, and Bronze
Age art based on their themes, subjects, and symbols.
1.c Relate Paleolithic, Neolithic, and Bronze Age artists and art to their
cultural, economic, and political contexts.

Learning Objectives (2 of 2)
1.d Apply the vocabulary and concepts used to discuss Paleolithic,
Neolithic, and Bronze Age art, artists, and art history.
1.e Interpret Prehistoric art using appropriate art historical methods, such
as observation, comparison, and inductive reasoning.
1.f Select visual and textual evidence in various media to support an
argument or an interpretation of Prehistoric art.

SPOTTED HORSES AND HUMAN HANDS
Pech-Merle Cave. Dordogne, France. Horses 25,000–24,000 BCE; hands c. 15,000 BCE.
Paint on limestone, individual horses over 5' (1.5 m) in length. © 2016 Photo Scala,
Florence/bpk, Bildagentur für Kunst, Kultur und Geschichte, Berlin. [Fig. 01-01]

The Stone Age (1 of 2)
• Anthropologists speculate that Homo sapiens appeared about 400,000
years ago, and Homo sapiens sapiens evolved as early as 120,000
years ago.
• Today's researchers divide the time period of prehistory into Paleolithic
(which has Lower, Middle, and Upper phases) and Neolithic Ages.

RAINBOW SERPENT ROCK
Western Arnhem Land, Australia. © Marc Dozier/Corbis. [Fig. 01-02]

PREHISTORIC EUROPE
As the Ice Age glaciers receded, Paleolithic, Neolithic, Bronze Age, and Iron Age
settlements increased from south to north.
[Map 01-01]

The Stone Age (2 of 2)
• Much remains to be discovered about prehistoric art.
– Archaeologists associate the arrival of modern humans to Africa,
Australia, and western Arnhem Land with the advent of image
making.
• Our species is defined by our ability to make and understand art.

Tools or Art?
• The making of images, or "art," is a hallmark of the Upper Paleolithic
period.
• Early tools in the Lower Paleolithic period were made by chipping or
flaking.

PALEOLITHIC HAND-AXE
From Isimila Korongo, Tanzania. 60,000 years ago.
Stone, height 10" (25.4 cm). British Institute of History and Archaeology, Dar-es-Salam.
Werner Forman Archive. [Fig. 01-03]

The Paleolithic Period (1 of 3)
• Representational images appear at about 38,000 BCE in Australia,
Africa, and Europe.
– Before this time, objects made by human ancestors included tools
used to cut animal flesh or break bone.
• Changes in human cognitive ability and dexterity occurred around 1.65
million years ago.

• The Homo sapiens subspecies called Neanderthal survived for
thousands of years and overlapped with Homo sapiens sapiens.
– Its members used a wide range of stone tools and carefully buried
their dead.
– Homo sapiens could not think symbolically, unlike Homo sapiens
sapiens.

• The earliest examples of art include two 77,000-year-old blocks of red
ocher, found in South Africa.
– Engraving connect these two pieces as having been intentionally
decorated.
– It is likely that fragments of ocher were used to decorate clothing,
adorn hair, or color objects.

DECORATED OCHER
From Blombos Cave, southern Cape coast, South Africa. 75,000 years ago.
Image courtesy of Prof Christopher Henshilwood, University of Bergen, Norway.
[Fig. 01-04]

Shelter or Architecture?
• Building even a simple shelter requires creative process and planning,
even if "architecture" typically refers to spatial enclosures with
aesthetic intent.
• Settlements near today's Mezhirich, Ukraine have been unearthed and
feature houses dating from 16,000–10,000 BCE made with bones of the
woolly mammoth.

RECONSTRUCTION DRAWING OF MAMMOTH-BONE HOUSES
Ukraine. c. 16,000–10,000 BCE.
Jack Unruh/National Geographic Creative. [Fig. 01-05]

Artifacts or Works of Art? (1 of 4)
• Self-contained three-dimensional figures of people an animals called
sculptures in the round do not have a clear original significance.
• They were carved free of background or block and made of bone,
ivory, stone, or clay.

• The Lion-Human
– An example is the human figure with a feline head, which was
created not by copying directly by nature, but combining a unique
half-human, half-beast.

LION-HUMAN
From Hohlenstein-Stadel, Germany. c. 40,000–35,000 BCE.
Mammoth ivory, height 12-1/4 × 2-7/8" (31.1 × 7.3 cm).
Ulmer Museum, Ulm, Germany. Photo: Yvonne Mühleis © Landesamt für Denkmalpflege
im RP Stuttgart. [Fig. 01-06]

• Female figures
– The Woman from Willendorf displays exaggerated female
attributes and may have represented health and fertility.
 Figures like these are thought to have been subtle forms of
nonverbal communication among isolated groups of Paleolithic
people, signifying friendliness and the willingness to interact
and ally.

WOMAN FROM WILLENDORF
Austria. c. 24,000 BCE. Limestone, height 4-3/8" (11 cm).
Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna. © akg-images/Erich Lessing. [Fig. 01-07]

• Female figures
– The Woman from Dolní Vĕstonice was found at a site where
humans mixed water and soil, placed wet figures in a hot kiln to
bake, and allowed them to explode before a successful figure was
produced.
– The Woman from Brassempouy dates as early as 30,000 BCE.

WOMAN FROM DOLNÍ VĔSTONICE
Moravia, Czech Republic. 23,000 BCE.
Fired clay, 4-1/4 × 1-7/10" (11 × 4.3 cm).
Moravske Museum, Brno, Czech Republic.
© akg-images/De Agostini Picture Lib./A. Dagli Orti. [Fig. 01-08]

WOMAN FROM BRASSEMPOUY
Grotte du Pape, Brassempouy, Landes, France. Probably c. 30,000 BCE.
Ivory, height 1-1/4" (3.6 cm).
Musée des Antiquités Nationales, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France.
© akg-images/De Agostini Picture Lib./G. Dagli Orti. [Fig. 01-09]

Cave Painting (1 of 11)
• Cave paintings discovered by a young girl in 1879 were only accepted
as authentic in 1902 after other cave paintings, drawings, and
engravings had been discovered in Spain and France.

• Technique of Prehistoric Wall Painting
– Early artists would chew a piece of charcoal to dilute it and use
their hand as a stencil to blow out the mixture onto the cave wall.
– Archaeologist Michel Lorblanchet demonstrated techniques by
reproducing the Pech-Merle painting of spotted horses and
proving that a single artist could have made it.

MICHEL LORBLANCHET SIMULATING THE TECHNIQUE OF PREHISTORIC CAVE
PAINTERS

• The Meaning of Cave Paintings
– The effort required to create cave paintings suggests creators
were motivated for more than viewing pleasure.
– Theories in the early twentieth century related to art as social
function.
 Some envisioned caves as places of worship.

• The Meaning of Cave Paintings
– A theory developed in the 1980s led to the interpretation of
paintings as a hunting guide for privileged individuals.
– Regardless of changing theories, it is agreed that decorated caves
had a special meaning due to people returning to them over many
generations.

• Chauvet
– The earliest-known prehistoric cave paintings are at Chauvet,
France and feature two-dimensional animals.
– Human males and females are occasionally depicted, as well as
handprints and geometric markings.

WALL PAINTING WITH HORSES, RHINOCEROSES, AND AUROCHS
Chauvet Cave. Vallon-Pont-d'Arc, Ardèche Gorge, France.
c. 32,000–30,000 BCE. Paint on limestone. French Ministry of Culture and
Communication, Regional Direction for Cultural Affairs - Rhône-Alpes region - Regional
department of archaeology - Slide n°10. [Fig. 01-10]

• Lascaux
– The best-known cave paintings are at Lascaux in southern
France, including the Hall of Bulls.
– Animals are emphasized by their most characteristic features and
rendered in a composite pose with hooves, eyes, and horns seen
from the front but bodies and heads in profile.

HALL OF BULLS
Lascaux Cave. Dordogne, France. c. 15,000 BCE.
Paint on limestone, length of largest auroch (bull) 18' (5.50 m).
© akg-images. [Fig. 01-11]

• Lascaux
– Painters worked in far back regions of large caverns that are
almost inaccessible today.
– One scene includes a human figure and appears to tell a story of a
bison being disemboweled.
 Other paintings do not seem to present a narrative.

BIRD-HEADED MAN WITH BISON
Shaft scene in Lascaux Cave. c. 15,000 BCE.
Paint on limestone, length approx. 9' (2.75 m).
Photo © Hans Hinz/ARTOTHEK. [Fig. 01-12]

• Altamira
– The cave paintings at Altamira in northern Spain were dated to
about 12,000 BCE.
– Artists created sculptural effects by painting over and around
natural irregularities in the walls.

BISON
Ceiling of a cave at Altamira, Spain. c. 12,500 BCE.
Paint on limestone, length approx. 8'3" (2.5 m).
Sisse Brimberg/National Geographic Creative. [Fig. 01-13]

• How Early Art Is Dated
– Relative dating relies on relationships among objects in a single
or several excavation sites.
– Absolute dating aims to provide a precise span of calendar
years.
– Radiometric dating is the most accurate method, measuring the
degree to which radioactive materials have disintegrated over
time.

– Potassium-age dating measures decay of radioactive potassium
isotope into a stable argon isotope.
– Uranium-age dating measures the decay of uranium into thorium
in deposits of calcium carbonate.

– Thermo-luminescence dating measures irradiation of a crystal
structure of a material subjected to firing.
– Electron spin resonance dates a material such as tooth enamel
by using a magnetic field and microwave irradiation.

Cave Sculptures
• Some caves were adorned with relief sculpture, either heightened from
existing rock forms or modeled from clay on the cave's floor.
• The bison on the cave floor in Le Tuc d'Audoubert are well preserved
and surrounded by numerous footprints, suggesting that important rites
took place there.

BISON
Le Tuc d'Audoubert, France. c. 13,000 BCE.
Unbaked clay, length 25" (63.5 cm) and 24" (60.9 cm).
Yvonne Vertut. [Fig. 01-14]

The Neolithic Period
• The gradual ending of the Ice Age affected the distribution, density,
and stability of plant, animal, and marine life.
• People exerted increasing control over land and resources, changing
the economy and community interactions.

Architecture (1 of 10)
• People built simple but durable structures as they became more
attached to the land and its resources.
• The Lepenski Vir house was set on stone foundations that covered
human burials.
– In some surrounding houses, art made of boulders from the rivers
was found.
– It may have been a ritual site.

RECONSTRUCTION DRAWING OF LEPENSKI VIR HOUSE/SHRINE
Serbia. 6300–5500 BCE.
Illustration: John Gordon Swogger. [Fig. 01-15]

HUMAN-FISH SCULPTURE
From Lepenski Vir, Serbia. c. 6300–5500 BCE.
© akg-images/Erich Lessing. [Fig. 01-16]

• Houses and Communities
– Çatalhöyük dates to 7400 BCE and was home to as many as 3,000
people.
– The houses of Çatalhöyük were densely clustered and made of
mud brick and mortar.

A HOUSE IN ÇATALHÖYÜK
Reconstruction drawing. Çatalhöyük, Turkey. c. 7400–6200 BCE.
Illustration: John Gordon Swogger, originally published in Ian Hodder, The Leopard's
Tale: Revealing the Mysteries of Çatalhöyük. London: Thames & Hudson, 2006., fig. 5.8.
[Fig. 01-17]

– While early structures did provide shelter, houses had more
significant functions for the communities of people who lived in
them.
 Seasonal replastering and repainting of walls in Çatalhöyük
enhanced a sense of long-term continuity.
 Skulls of the dead were placed in the foundation of new
houses.

– Interior walls at Çatalhöyük were painted with scenes, some
depicting violent interactions between humans and animals.
– The mix of shelter, architecture, art, spirit, ritual, and ceremony
makes it tricky to label a structure as "domestic" or "sacred."

MEN TAUNTING A DEER (?)
Detail of a wall painting from Çatalhöyük, Turkey. c. 6000 BCE.
Museum of Anatolian Civilization, Ankara, Turkey.
© akg-images/De Agostini Picture Lib./M. Seemuller. [Fig. 01-18]

– At the site of Sesklo, stone-based buildings were rebuilt time and
again and appeared distinctly differently from temporary structures
in architectural style.
– Regions in Germany and central Europe featured rectangular
structures with posts supporting a ridgepole.
 They were likely roofed with thatch.

SESKLO STONE-FOUNDATION HOUSE
Sesklo, northern Greece. 6500 BCE.
From: Stella G. Souvatzi, A Social Archaeology of Households in Neolithic Greece. An
Anthropological Approach. 2009, fig. 4.8b. Cambridge University Press. After D.R.
Theocharis, Neolithiki Hellas, National Bank of Greece, Athens, 1973 [Fig. 01-19]

• Ceremonial and tomb architecture
– Megalithic architecture consisted of large stone monuments in
western and northern Europe.
– Archaeologists disagree about the nature of societies that created
these monuments.
– Megalithic structures are often associated with death.

• Ceremonial and tomb architecture
– Elaborate tombs first appeared in the Neolithic period.
 A simple type was the dolmen, wherein a chamber was
formed with upright stones supporting capstones.
– The mound of a passage grave in Newgrange, Ireland stood 44
feet high and contained a three-part chamber.

TOMB INTERIOR WITH CORBELING AND ENGRAVED STONES
Newgrange, Ireland. c. 3000–2500 BCE.
©National Monuments Service. Dept of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. [Fig. 01-20]

• Stonehenge
– Stonehenge in southern England is an example of a complex
megalithic monument.
 Stone circles of the henge were constructed in over eight
phases as part of a cemetery of cremation burials.
 The center was arranged with five sandstone trilithons and
bluestones on the outskirts were rearranged over time.

RECONSTRUCTION DRAWING OF STONEHENGE FROM THE AIR
Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, England. c. 3000–1500 BCE. [Fig. 01-21]

• Stonehenge
– Differences in types of stone used during each phase are
significant because they indicate locations from which the stone
was quarried.
– Many theories exist to explain the meaning of Stonehenge, from
Merlin to Celtic druids, but none are supported by current
evidence.

• Stonehenge
– Current theories about Stonehenge link it to death and burial.
– A mile from Stonehenge is Durrington Walls, which connects to the
Avon River and would have been a settlement of people who had
come from faraway regions.

PLAN OF STONEHENGE AND ITS SURROUNDING SETTLEMENTS
© 1998 Antiquity Publications Ltd. Reprinted with the permission of Cambridge University
Press. [Fig. 01-23]

RECONSTRUCTION DRAWING OF DURRINGTON WALLS
The settlement at Durrington Walls, near Stonehenge, southern England. 2600 BCE.
Private collection. © Historic England/Bridgeman Images. [Fig. 01-24]

Sculpture and Ceramics (1 of 2)
• A pottery revolution marked a shift from reliance on skin, textile, and
wooden containers.
• Technology for producing ceramics developed in stages over time.
• Neolithic people made thousands of miniature figures of humans with
various functions and styles.

EARLY POTTERY FROM JAPAN'S JOMON CULTURE
Approx 7,000 BCE.
Excavated at Choshichiyama Shell Midden, Hachinohe, Aomori prefecture.
Hachinohe City Museum, Japan. [Fig. 01-25]

EARLY POTTERY FROM THE FRANCHTHI CAVE, GREECE
6500 BCE.
Catherine Perlès. [Fig. 01-26]

Sculpture and Ceramics (2 of 2)
• Scholars have searched for the meaning of figures such as the Human
Figures from 'Ain Ghazal.
– The figures were found in a group of 32, each about 3 feet tall.
– The same plaster that coated the walls of houses also coated
these figures.
– The statues were found buried in pits and with their eyes wide
open.

FIGURES OF A WOMAN AND A MAN
From Cernavodă, Romania. c. 4500 BCE. Ceramic, height 4-1/2" (11.5 cm).
National History Museum, Bucharest. © akg-images/Erich Lessing. [Fig. 01-27]

HUMAN FIGURE
From 'Ain Ghazal, Jordan. 6500 BCE.
Fired lime plaster with cowrie shell, bitumen, and paint, height approx. 35" (90 cm).
National Museum, Amman, Jordan. © akg-images/Erich Lessing. [Fig. 01-28]

Art and Its Contexts: Figures of a
Woman and a Man
• These ceramic figures, c. 4500 BCE, were found in a grave but have no
clear interpretation.
• The woman exudes stability and groundedness and tilts her head
upward in a hopeful or spiritual gaze.
• The man sits in a pensive pose with his head in his hands.

Metallurgy
• Gold was one of the first metals to be used for jewelry and
ornamentation, followed shortly by malachite.
• Copper and gold works became more complex in the late Neolithic
period.
– Objects in the cemetery at Varna show rich adornment, for
example.
– Ceremonies surrounding death were the focus of impressive
displays.

GOLD-ADORNED FACE MASK
From Tomb 3, Varna I, Bulgaria. Neolithic, 3800 BCE.
Terra cotta and gold. Archaeological Museum, Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
© akg-images/Erich Lessing. [Fig. 01-29]

GOLD SCEPTERS
From Varna, Bulgaria. 3800 BCE.
National Museum of History, Sofia, Bulgaria. © akg-images/Erich Lessing. [Fig. 01-30]

The Bronze Age
• Copper was an abundant but relatively nonfunctional metal beyond
representational use.
• The alloy bronze proved to be a stronger substance vital to the
development of weapons, therefore vital to the shift in power bases of
communities to those who had the resources to make bronze.

Rock Carvings (1 of 2)
• People scratched and abraded the surface of rock in designs starting
around 1500 BCE.
• The region of northern Bohuslän possesses over 40,000 images
carved in rock.
– Motifs include boats, animals, people, wheeled vehicles, and
weapons.

ROCK ART: BOAT AND SEA BATTLE
Fossum, northern Bohuslän, Sweden.
Bronze Age, c. 1500–500 BCE.
Bridgeman Images. [Fig. 01-31]

Rock Carvings (2 of 2)
• The region of northern Bohuslän possesses over 40,000 images
carved in rock.
– The majority of rock art near shorelines is suggested to connect
sky, earth, and sea; themes familiar to a community and its
worldview.
– Other suggestions of the meanings include a boundary between
the living and spirit worlds.

Think About It (1 of 3)
• Prehistoric artists created representations of human figures using a
variety of media, styles, and techniques. Compare two examples
drawn from different times and places by discussing the relationship
between style or technique and expressive character.
• What are the common motifs found in cave paintings such as those at
Lascaux and Altamira? Summarize the current theories about their
original meaning and purpose.

• Many examples of prehistoric art and architecture express
relationships between the living and the dead. Discuss how this theme
is evoked in one work of architecture and one example of sculpture
discussed in this chapter. Why do you think this theme was so
important?

• How did the emergence of ceramics and metallurgy transform art
making in the Neolithic era? Select and analyze a work discussed in
the chapter that was made in one of these new media and discuss the
unique properties of the medium

chapter one survey 1

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