Contextualization of Prehistoric Art

• Prehistoric art refers to the art created by humans before the invention of writing.

• It is important to contextualize prehistoric art in order to understand its meaning and significance.

• Cultural context, historical context, and environmental context are three important factors to consider when contextualizing prehistoric art.

• Cultural context includes the beliefs, values, and practices of the people who created the art.

• Historical context includes the events and circumstances that were happening at the time the art was created.

• Environmental context includes the physical surroundings and natural resources available to the people who created the art.

• By considering these contexts, we can gain a better understanding of the purpose and meaning behind prehistoric art.

Materials, Processes, and Techniques in Prehistoric Art

• Materials

  • Stone: Prehistoric artists used stone to create sculptures, tools, and weapons. They used different types of stone, such as flint, obsidian, and jade, depending on availability and suitability for their purpose.

  • Bone: Bone was used to create tools, weapons, and decorative objects. It was often carved or engraved with intricate designs.

  • Ivory: Ivory was used to create small sculptures and decorative objects. It was often carved with intricate designs.

  • Clay: Clay was used to create pottery and figurines. Prehistoric artists would shape the clay by hand or using simple tools, and then fire it to harden it.

  • Pigments: Prehistoric artists used natural pigments such as charcoal, ochre, and manganese dioxide to create paintings and drawings. These pigments were often mixed with water or animal fat to create a paint-like substance.

• Processes

  • Carving: Prehistoric artists would carve stone, bone, and ivory using simple tools such as chisels and hammers. They would often use sand or water to smooth the surface of the object.

  • Engraving: Engraving involves cutting or scratching a design into a surface. Prehistoric artists would often use sharp stones or bones to engrave intricate designs onto bone or ivory objects.

  • Modeling: Modeling involves shaping a material such as clay or wax into a three-dimensional form. Prehistoric artists would use their hands or simple tools to shape clay into pottery or figurines.

  • Painting: Prehistoric artists would mix pigments with water or animal fat to create a paint-like substance. They would then apply the paint to a surface using brushes made from animal hair or plant fibers.

• Techniques

  • Relief: Relief is a sculptural technique where the sculpted elements remain attached to a solid background. Prehistoric artists would often create relief sculptures by carving into stone or bone.

  • Incision: Incision involves cutting or carving a design into a surface. Prehistoric artists would often use incision to create intricate designs on bone or ivory objects.

  • Hatching: Hatching involves creating a pattern of parallel lines to create shading or texture. Prehistoric artists would often use hatching in their drawings and engravings.

  • Stippling: Stippling involves creating a pattern of small dots to create shading or texture. Prehistoric artists would often use stippling in their drawings and engravings.

Theories and Interpretations of Prehistoric Art

Theories of Prehistoric Art

• Shamanism Theory

  • According to this theory, prehistoric art was created by shamans or religious leaders to communicate with the spirit world.

  • The art was used as a tool for religious and spiritual practices.

  • The images depicted in the art were believed to have magical powers that could help the shamans in their rituals.

• Sympathetic Magic Theory

  • This theory suggests that prehistoric art was created to control the environment.

  • The images depicted in the art were believed to have the power to control the animals and the environment.

  • For example, the images of animals were believed to attract the animals for hunting.

• Narrative Theory

  • According to this theory, prehistoric art was created to tell stories.

  • The images depicted in the art were used to tell stories of hunting, battles, and other important events.

  • The art was used as a form of communication to pass on information from one generation to another.

Interpretations of Prehistoric Art

• Art for Art's Sake

  • This interpretation suggests that prehistoric art was created for its own sake.

  • The art was created for aesthetic purposes and to express the creativity of the artists.

• Social and Political Interpretation

  • This interpretation suggests that prehistoric art was created to express social and political ideas.

  • The art was used to express the power and status of the individuals and the community.

• Psychological Interpretation

  • This interpretation suggests that prehistoric art was created to express the psychological state of the artists.

  • The art was used as a form of therapy to express emotions and feelings.

Global Prehistoric Artworks

➼ Camelid Sacrum in the Shape of a Canine

• Details

  • 14,000–7000 B.C.E.

  • From Tequixquiac, Central Mexico

  • Located at the National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City, Mexico

  • Preserved in 1870 in the Valley of Mexico.

• Materials

  • Bone sculpture from a camel-like animal.

  • The bone has been worked to create the image of a dog or wolf.

• Content

  • Carved to represent a mammal’s skull.

  • One natural form is used to take the shape of another.

  • The sacrum is the triangular bone at the base of a spine.

• Context

  • Second skull: A Mesoamerican idea

  • The sacrum bone symbolizes the soul in some cultures, and for that reason it may have been chosen for this work.

  

➼ Anthropomorphic Stele

• Details

  • 4th-millennium B.C.E.

  • From Arabian Peninsula

  • Mainly made of sandstone

  • Preserved in National Museum, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

• Stele: an upright stone slab used to mark a grave or a site

• Form and Content

  • Anthropomorphic: having characteristics of the human form, although the form itself is not human.

  • Belted robe from which hangs a double-bladed knife or sword.

  • Double cords stretch diagonally across body with an awl unifying them.

• Function: Religious or burial purpose, perhaps as a grave marker.

• Context

  • One of the earliest known works of art from Arabia.

  • Found in an area that had extensive ancient trade routes.

➼ Jade Cong

• Details

  • c. 3300–2200 B.C.E.

  • From Liangzhu, China

  • Made from a carved jade

  • Preserved in Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, China

  • Cong: a tubular object with a circular hole cut into a square-like cross-section

• Form

  • The circular hole is placed within a square.

  • Abstract designs; the main decoration is a face pattern, perhaps of spirits or deities.

  • Some have a haunting mask design in each of the four corners—with a bar-shaped mouth, raised oval eyes, sunken round pupils, and two bands that might indicate a headdress—which resembles the motif seen on Liangzhu jewelry.

• Materials and Techniques

  • Jade is a very hard stone, sometimes carved using drills or saws.

  • The designs on congs may have been produced by rubbing sand.

  • The jades may have been heated to soften the stone, or ritually burned as part of the burial process.

• Context

  • Jades appear in burials of people of high rank.

  • Jades are placed in burials around bodies; some are broken, and some show signs of intentional burning.

  • Jade religious objects are of various sizes and found in tombs, interred with the dead in elaborate rituals.

  • The Chinese linked jade with the virtues of durability, subtlety, and beauty.

  • Made in the Neolithic era in China.

➼ The Ambum Stone

• Details

  • c. 1500 B.C.E.

  • From Ambum Valley, Enga Province, Papua New Guinea

  • Made from graywacke

  • Preserved in National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

• Form

  • Composite human/animal figure; perhaps an anteater head and a human body.

  • Ridgeline runs from nostrils, over the head, between the eyes, and between the shoulders.

• Theories

  • Masked human.

  • Anteater embryo in a fetal position; anteaters thought of as significant because of their fat deposits.

  • May have been a pestle or related to tool making.

  • Perhaps had a ritual purpose; considered sacred; maybe a ­fertility symbol.

  • Maybe an embodiment of a spirit from the past, an ancestral spirit, or the Rainbow Serpent.

• History

  • Stone Age work; artists used stone to carve stone.

  • Found in the Ambum Valley in Papua New Guinea.

  • When it was “found,” it was being used as a ritual object by the Enga people.

  • Sold to the Australian National Gallery.

  • Damaged in 2000 when it was on loan in France; it was dropped and smashed into three pieces and many shards; it has since been restored.

➼ Tlatilco Female Figurine

• Details

  • c. 1200–900 B.C.E.

  • From Central Mexico, site of Tlatilco

  • Made out of ceramic

  • Preserved in Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, New Jersey

• Form

  • Flipper-like arms, huge thighs, pronounced hips, narrow waists.

  • Unclothed except for jewelry; arms extending from body.

  • Diminished role of hands and feet.

  • Female figures show elaborate details of hairstyles, clothing, and body ornaments.

• Technique: Made by hand; artists did not use molds.

• Function: May have had a shamanistic function

• Context and Interpretation

  • Some show deformities, including a female figure with two noses, two mouths, and three eyes, perhaps signifying a cluster of conjoined or Siamese twins and/or stillborn children.

  • Bifacial images and congenital defects may express duality.

  • Found in graves, and may have had a funerary context.

➼ Terra cotta fragment

• Details

  • 1000 B.C.E.

  • From Lapita, Reef Islands, Solomon Islands

  • Made from incised terra cotta

  • Preserved in University of Auckland, New ­Zealand

• Form

  • Pacific art is characterized by the use of curved stamped patterns: dots, circles, hatching; may have been inspired by patterns on ­tattoos.

  • One of the oldest human faces in Oceanic art.

• Materials

  • Lapita culture of the Solomon Islands is known for pottery.

  • Outlined forms: they used a comb-like tool to stamp designs onto the clay, known as dentate stamping.

• Technique

  • Did not use potter’s wheel.

  • After pot was incised, a white coral lime was often applied to the surface to make the patterns more pronounced.

• Tradition

  • Some designs found on the pottery are used in modern Polynesian tattoos and tapas.

➼ Apollo 11 Stones

• Details

  • c. 25,500–25,300 B.C.E.

  • Painted using charcoal on stone,

  • Preserved in State Museum of Namibia, Windhoek, Namibia

• Form

  • Animal seen in profile, typical of prehistoric painting.

  • Perhaps a composite animal rather than a particular specimen.

• Materials

  • Done with charcoal.

• Context

  • Some of the world’s oldest works of art, found in Wonderwerk Cave in Namibia.

  • Several stone fragments found.

  • Originally brought to the site from elsewhere.

  • Cave is the site of 100,000 years of human activity.

• History

  • Named after the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969, the year the cave was discovered.

➼ Great Hall of the Bulls

• Details

  • 15,000–13,000 B.C.E.

  • From Paleolithic Europe

  • A rock painting,

  • Found in Lascaux, France

• Content

  • 650 paintings: most common animals are cows, bulls, horses, and deer.

• Form

  • Bodies seen in profile; frontal or diagonal view of horns, eyes, and hooves; some animals appear pregnant.

  • Twisted perspective: many horns appear more frontal than the bodies.

  • Many overlapping figures.

• Materials

  • Natural products were used to make paint: charcoal, iron ore, plants.

  • Walls were scraped to an even surface; paint colors were bound with animal fat; lamps lighted the interior of the caves.

  • No brushes have been found.

    • May have used mats of moss or hair as brushes.

    • Color could have been blown onto the surface by mouth or through a tube, like a hollow bone.

• Context

  • Animals placed deep inside cave—some hundreds of feet from the entrance.

  • Evidence still visible of scaffolding erected to get to higher areas of the caves.

  • Negative handprints: are they signatures?

  • Caves were not dwellings, as prehistoric people led migratory lives following herds of ­animals; some evidence exists that people did seek shelter at the mouths of caves.

• Theories

  • A traditional view is that they were painted to ensure a successful hunt.

  • Ancestral animal worship.

  • Represents narrative elements in stories or legends.

  • Shamanism: a religion based on the idea that the forces of nature can be contacted by intermediaries, called shamans, who go into a trance-like state to reach another state of consciousness.

• History

  • Discovered in 1940; opened to the public after World War II.

  • Closed to the public in 1963 because of damage from human contact.

  • Replica of the caves opened adjacent to the original.

➼ Running Horned Woman

• Details

  • 6000–4000 B.C.E.

  • A pigment on rock,

  • Found in Tassili n’Ajjer, Algeria

• Form

  • Composite view of the body.

  • Many drawings exist—some are naturalistic, some are abstract, some have Negroid features, and some have Caucasian features.

  • The female horned figure suggests attendance at a ritual ceremony.

• Content

  • Depicts livestock, wildlife, and humans

  • Dots may reflect body paint applied for ritual or scarification; white patterns in symmetrical lines may reflect raffia garments.

• Context

  • More than 15,000 drawings and engravings were found at this site.

  • At one time the area was grasslands; climate changes have turned it into a desert.

  • The entire site was probably painted by many different groups over large expanses of time.

➼ Beaker with Ibex Motifs

• Details

  • 4200–3500 B.C.E.

  • From Susa, Iran

  • Painted terra cotta

  • Found in ­Louvre, Paris

• Form and Content

  • Frieze of stylized aquatic birds on top, suggesting a flock of birds wading in a Mesopotamian river valley.

  • Below are stylized running dogs with long narrow bodies, perhaps hunting dogs.

  • The main scene shows an ibex with oversized abstract and stylized horns.

  • Stylized: a schematic, nonrealistic manner of representing the visible world and its contents, abstracted from the way that they appear in nature

• Materials and Techniques

  • Probably made on a potter’s wheel, a technological advance; some suggest instead that it was handmade.

  • Thin pottery walls.

• Context and Interpretation

  • In the middle of the horns is a clan symbol of family ownership; perhaps the image identifies the deceased as belonging to a particular group or family.

  • Found near a burial site, but not with human remains.

  • Found with hundreds of baskets, bowls, and metallic items.

  • Made in Susa, in southwestern Iran.

➼ Stonehenge

• Details

  • c. 2500–1600 B.C.E.

  • Made out of sandstone, Neolithic Europe,

  • Found in Wiltshire, United Kingdom

• Technique

  • Post-and-lintel building; lintels grooved in place by the mortise and tenon system of construction.

    • Mortise and tenon: a groove cut into stone or wood, called a mortise, that is shaped to receive a tenon, or projection, of the same dimensions

  • Large megaliths in the center are over 20 feet tall and form a horseshoe surrounding a central flat stone.

  • A central horseshoe is surrounded by lintel-connected megaliths.

  • Hundreds of unidentified stones surrounded the monument.

  • Builders lacked wheels and pulleys. Stones may have been transported on logs or a greased sleigh.

• Context

  • Each stone weighs over 50 tons, reflecting the structure's intended permanence.

  • Some stones were imported from over 150 miles away, suggesting they were sacred.

• History

  • Perhaps took 1,000 years to build; gradually redeveloped by succeeding generations.

• Probably built in three phases:

  • First Phase: circular ditch 36 feet deep and 360 feet in diameter containing 56 pits called Aubrey Holes, named after John Aubrey who found them in the 18th century.

    • Today the holes are filled with chalk.

  • Second Phase: wooden structure, perhaps roofed.

    • The Aubrey Holes may have been used as cremation burials at this time.

    • Adult males were buried at these sites, generally, men who did not show a lifetime of hard labor, signifying it was a site for a select group of people.

  • Third Phase: stone construction.

• Tradition

  • British Isles forests may have inspired wood circles.

  • Stone circles are still common in Britain, indicating Neolithic popularity.

• Theories

  • As an observatory, it may predict eclipses and be oriented towards the summer and winter solstices.

  • According to a new theory, elite males were buried at Stonehenge.

  • An alternative theory suggests it was a healing site.