Art History: Prehistory

Parietal art

umbrella term which refers to several types of creations including finger markings left on soft surfaces, bas-relief sculptures, engraved figures and symbols, and paintings onto a rock surface

Mobiliary art

small examples of Prehistoric art that could be carried from place to place

Representational

blanket term for art that represents some aspect of reality, in a more or less straightforward way

Panel of Horses (fighting rhinoceroses and 4 horses' heads). Paleolithic, Aurignacian era (35 000 to 22 000 BP). Charcoal drawing on rock; length of left rhinoceros, c 100 cm. Chauvet Cave, Vallon-Pont-d'Arc, Ardèche, France.

Venus of Willendorf, c. 24,000-22,000 B.C.E., limestone, 11.1 cm high (Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna)

Relief

in sculpture, any work in which the figures project from a supporting background, usually a plane surface.

Neolithic Revolution

the transition in human history from small, nomadic bands of hunter-gatherers to larger, agricultural settlements and early civilization.

Stonehenge, Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, England, c. 2550-1600 B.C.E., circle 97 feet in diameter, trilithons: 24 feet high

Post and lintel

a building system where strong horizontal elements are held up by strong vertical elements with large spaces between them.

Interior of the sarsen circle and bluestones in the foreground, Stonehenge, Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, England, c. 2550-1600 B.C.E., circle 97 feet in diameter, trilithons 24 feet high

Cong, c. 2500 B.C.E., Liangzhu culture, Neolithic period, China, nephrite, 20.5 cm high (The British Museum)

Registers

horizontal bands or divisions within a composition that separate different narrative or thematic elements.

Beaker with ibex motifs, 4200-3500 B.C.E., Susa I period, necropolis, acropolis mound, Susa, Iran, painted terra-cotta, 28.9 x 16.4 cm

Curved Pick Bannerstone, Glenn Falls, New York, 6,000-1,000 B.C.E., banded slate, 2.7 x 13.6 cm (American Museum of Natural History DN/128)