Lower Paleolithic Era - 2.5 million to 100,000 years ago - First found from this era are stone tools and flaked cobbles. These have been associated with fossils of the oldest human species known, Homo habilis. One of the first sites to produce Lower Paleolithic stone tools was the Olduvai Gorge, in Kenya. The tools are dated to more than 1.5 million years ago. These sites tend to be concentrated along the valleys of the major rivers and their tributaries.
Upper Paleolithic - 40,000 and 10,000 years ago - The Upper Paleolithic is characterized by the development of projectile points made from bony materials, the use of personal adornments and art. The stone or bone points were glued into grooves on wooden sticks with resin to create spears. They were more advanced than the Middle Paleolithic flake tools because they were heat-treated or pressure retouched to make them objects of beauty. This era is dated between and is broken down into smaller subdivisions within that time frame. The human type that existed during the Upper Paleolithic age was the anatomically modern Cro-Magnon man or Homo sapiens sapiens.
Techniques for Creating Paleolithic Art
Painting & Drawing - Pigments and/or charcoal applied to rock to contrast with the rock background.Engraving - Scarring the rock or bone to produce fresh grooves to produce contrast.
Carving - The carving of stone, bone and other material produced sculpture and personal adornment.
Types of Paleolithic Art
Mobiliary Art - Transportable art, personal adornment, sculpture, stone slabs, bones, teeth and spear points.Rock Art - Art on outdoor rock surfaces, either painted or engraved.
Parietal Art - Art inside on cave walls, in rock shelters, bas-reliefs, engravings and paintings
Subject Matter of Paleolithic Art
- figurative - depicting animals or humans
- nonfigurative - taking the form of symbols
Methods and Materials
- Engraved drawings appear on small flat stones, flat bones, the shafts of bones, and antlers.
- Statuettes are made of ivory or soft stone; a few clay figurines of humans and animals have also survived.
- Fingers pressed into a soft layer of clay that covered the rock;
- Wall sculpture in the central regions of France, where the limestone could be shaped.
- Red pigment used to paint on cave walls. Consists of iron oxide, found in clays and ores.
- Black pigment is manganese or charcoal.
- Artists used recipes to prepare paint, combining pigments with talc or feldspar to increase their bulk and adding animal and plant oils to bind the materials.
- Methods included application of pigment with fingers.
- Specific tools for painting - animal-hair brushes, crushed twigs, lumps of pigment used as crayons and/or sources of powder.
- Dots and figures as well as hand stencils may have been produced by spraying paint (a solution of powdered pigment, water, and possibly some form of oil used as binder) from one's mouth or through a tube.
- High ceilings of caves were painted with the help of scaffolding.
Meaning of Prehistoric Art
The last two interpretations have been based of examination of sets on marks on bones and stones, cupmarks, etc. for internal periodicities and regularities. (ex. the painted pebbles of the Azilian culture - 16 signs found in 41 of all possible 246 combinations)
Lascaux, France, was done by Paleolithic artists about
13,000 bc
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Chauvet cave paintings in southeastern France. The paintings have been dated to 32,000 years ago.
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| Mammoth ivory horse, Vogelherd, Germany
30 000 B.C. |
Venus figurine from the area of Willendorf, Austria 30,000?
to 25,000? B.C.
More |
Venus of Lespugue Carved from a mammoth tusk. Size: 5
3/4 inches
25,000-18,000 BC |