Unit 1: Global Prehistory, 30,000–500 BCE

Prehistory

The period of human art and material culture made before the invention of writing, so meaning/dates must be inferred from evidence rather than texts.

Cultural context

The beliefs, values, and practices of the people who made an artwork; used to argue how an object may have functioned in a society.

Historical context

The events and circumstances of the time an artwork was made, reconstructed archaeologically when written records do not exist.

Environmental context

The physical surroundings and natural resources available to a culture; helps explain materials, subject matter, and survival needs.

Relative dating

Dating that places objects in sequence (earlier/later) without giving a specific year.

Stratigraphy

A relative dating method: in an undisturbed site, lower layers were deposited earlier than upper layers.

Absolute dating

Dating that provides a date range in years (often approximate spans like “c. 25,500–23,500 BCE”).

Radiocarbon dating (C-14)

An absolute dating method for organic materials (charcoal, bone, plant fibers) based on carbon isotope decay; it cannot directly date stone.

Thermoluminescence

An absolute dating method for fired clay that estimates when a ceramic object was last fired.

Pigment

A natural colorant (e.g., charcoal, ochre) often mixed with water or animal fat to make paint for prehistoric images.

Ochre

A naturally occurring earth pigment commonly used in prehistoric art to produce red/yellow tones.

Carving

Shaping stone, bone, or ivory using tools (e.g., chisels/hammers) and often smoothing with sand or water.

Engraving

Scratching or cutting designs into a surface using sharp stone or bone tools.

Modeling

Forming clay into 3D shapes by hand or with simple tools before firing.

Painting (prehistoric)

Applying pigment mixtures to surfaces (cave walls, rock, stone slabs), sometimes with hair/fiber applicators or by blowing pigment through a tube.

Relief

A technique where forms are carved but remain attached to a background surface.

Incision

Cut or carved lines made into a surface as part of a design.

Hatching

Parallel lines used to create shading or texture in an image.

Stippling

Dots used to create shading or texture in an image.

Evidence-based interpretation

A claim about meaning/function that is strongly supported by observable features and findspot (materials, wear, location, associated objects).

Speculation

An interesting but unprovable idea about meaning/function that goes beyond what the available evidence securely supports.

Shamanism theory

The idea that some prehistoric art was made by shamans/religious intermediaries to communicate with the spirit world, often in ritual or trance contexts.

Sympathetic magic theory

The idea that making images (especially of animals) could influence reality—such as attracting prey or controlling hunting outcomes.

Narrative theory

The idea that prehistoric images served storytelling and information-sharing purposes (events, hunts, group memory).

Art for art’s sake

An interpretive approach proposing that aesthetic pleasure and creativity alone could motivate making art.

Social and political interpretation

An approach emphasizing art as a way to express power, status, community identity, or social organization.

Psychological interpretation

An approach proposing art could express emotional/mental states or function as a psychological outlet (similar to therapy).

Parietal art

Art made on permanent surfaces such as cave walls and ceilings (site-bound imagery).

Portable art

Small, movable objects (stone, bone, tools) that can be carried, handled, and circulated among people/groups.

Apollo 11 Stones

Portable painted stone slabs with animal imagery (charcoal on stone), c. 25,500–25,300 BCE, Namibia; named after the 1969 Apollo 11 landing (year the site was discovered).

Great Hall of the Bulls (Lascaux)

A major parietal art space in the Lascaux caves, c. 15,000–13,000 BCE, Dordogne, France; discovered in 1940 and closed to the public in 1963 due to damage.

Twisted perspective

A representation strategy where an animal’s body is shown in profile while features like horns/eyes/hooves may be frontal/diagonal to maximize legibility.

Camelid sacrum in the shape of a canine

A modified camelid sacrum bone shaped so its natural form reads like a canine head, c. 14,000–7,000 BCE, Tequixquiac (Central Mexico); shows minimal intervention enhancing an “image already there.”

Running horned woman

Rock painting from Tassili n’Ajjer, Algeria, c. 6,000–4,000 BCE; a dynamic horned figure often linked to ritual symbolism and environmental change in the Sahara.

Stylization

A schematic, non-naturalistic way of representing forms, emphasizing pattern/abstraction over realistic appearance.

Beaker with ibex motifs

Painted terra cotta beaker from Susa, Iran, c. 4,200–3,500 BCE (Louvre); thin-walled vessel with horizontal bands and a highly stylized ibex with oversized horns.

Stele

An upright stone marker often associated with graves, territory, memory, or ritual sites.

Anthropomorphic stele

A simplified human-like stone marker (4th millennium BCE, Arabian Peninsula) with carved elements (belted robe, double-bladed weapon, cords/awl), likely related to burial or religious practice.

Jade cong

Neolithic Chinese ritual object (Liangzhu culture), c. 3,300–2,200 BCE; typically has a circular interior and square exterior and appears in elite burial contexts (Shanghai Museum).

Megalithic architecture

Monumental construction using large stones; its scale implies coordinated labor, planning, and shared social/ritual goals.

Post-and-lintel construction

A building system with vertical supports (posts) holding horizontal beams (lintels), used at Stonehenge.

Mortise and tenon

A joinery system in which a projection (tenon) fits into a matching groove/hole (mortise); used to secure Stonehenge lintels.

Aubrey Holes

A set of 56 pits in Stonehenge’s early enclosure/ditch phase; later associated with cremation burials (named after John Aubrey).

Stonehenge

A phased megalithic site in Wiltshire, England (c. 3,000–1,500 BCE) featuring earthworks and post-and-lintel stones; often discussed for labor coordination and possible solstice alignments.

Ambum Stone

Small carved stone figure from the Ambum Valley, Papua New Guinea, c. 1,500 BCE (National Gallery of Australia); portable object with debated ritual/tool meanings and a documented modern damage/restoration history.

Lapita terra cotta fragment

Incised pottery fragment from the Lapita cultural tradition, c. 1,000 BCE (Solomon/Reef Islands region); important evidence for migration networks and shared design systems across the Pacific.

Dentate stamping

A Lapita pottery technique using a comb-like tool to stamp repeated patterns into clay; often paired with white lime infill to highlight designs.

Navigation chart (Marshall Islands)

A stick-and-shell chart modeling swells, currents, and island relationships; used as a teaching/memory aid rather than a modern scaled “map.”

Tlatilco female figurine

Handmade ceramic figurine from Central Mexico, c. 1,200–900 BCE; emphasizes the body and shows variation (including deformities/duality themes), often found in graves and linked to debated functions.

Nok terra cotta fragment

Fragmentary fired-clay sculpture from Nok culture (Nigeria), c. 500 BCE–200 CE; among the earliest large-scale figural traditions in sub-Saharan Africa and a key example of interpreting fragments responsibly.