Art of the Stone Age Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms and concepts from Chapter 1: Art of the Stone Age.

Cantilevered

A long projecting beam or girder fixed at only one end, used chiefly in bridge construction.

Carbon 14 Dating

A method of measuring the decay rate of carbon isotopes in organic matter to determine the age of organic materials such as wood and fiber.

Composite View

Method in which artists depict the human form in his/her most recognizable form using a combination of profile and frontal features together. This prevents confusion from the viewer because very minimal overlapping is occurring.

Composition

The way in which an artist organizes forms in an artwork, either by placing shapes on a flat surface or arranging forms in space.

Conceptual Representation

The representation of the fundamental distinguishing properties of a person or object (composite view), not the way a figure or object appears at a specific moment (visual).

Cong

A tubular object with a circular hole cut into a square-like cross section.

Contour line

A continuous line defining the outer shape of an object.

Courses

In masonry construction, a horizontal row of stone blocks.

Incise

To cut into a surface with a sharp instrument, especially to decorate metal and pottery.

Landscape

A picture of a natural setting without any narrative content.

Life-size

Actual or full size.

Megalith

In Greek, means "great stone." A large, roughly hewn stone used in the construction of monumental prehistoric structures.

Menhir

A large uncut stone erected as a monument in the prehistoric era; a standing stone.

Mortar

Dry masonry (the glue in stone wall construction)

Mural

A wall painting.

Neolithic

The "new" Stone Age.

Passage Grave

A prehistoric tomb with a long stone corridor leading to a burial chamber covered by a great tumulus.

Paleolithic

The "old" Stone Age, during which humankind produced the first sculptures and paintings.

Post-and-lintel

A system of construction in which two posts support a lintel.

Relief

In sculpture, figures projecting from a background of which they are part. The degree of relief is designated by, high, low/bas, or sunken.

Representation

To stand for or symbolize. To depict or portray subjects a viewer may recognize as having a likeness.

Shaman

A person regarded as having access to, and influence in, the world of good and evil spirits, especially among some peoples of northern Asia and North America

Strict profile

Method in which artists depict an animal in its most recognizable form using a combination of profile and frontal features together. This prevents confusion from the viewer because very minimal overlapping is occurring.

Therianthrope

Any mystical being which is part human, part animal.

Trilithons

A pair of vertical monoliths topped with a lintel; literally means three & stone.