Global Prehistory: Key Art Concepts (Paleolithic–Neolithic)

Prehistory and Global Art: Key Concepts, Works, and Questions

• Timeframe of Global Prehistory (as presented in the material): from about the early use of art and symbolic behavior to the emergence of more complex societies, roughly
  $30{,}000 ext{–}500 ext{ B.C.E.}$

  • This period is studied because it precedes written records, making interpretation uncertain and based on material remains.

• Guiding questions to frame the study:

  • How are groups of people shaped by their relationships with the natural world? How is that expressed through art?

  • How have artists adapted human and animal forms to depict natural and supernatural beings?

• Prehistory: two major periods

  • Paleolithic (approx. $2{,}500{,}000 ext{–}10{,}000 ext{ B.C.E.}$): Hunting, gathering, nomadic lifestyles, primitive stone tools.

  • Neolithic (approx. $10{,}000 ext{ B.C.E.}$–2000 B.C.E.) : Agriculture, settled communities, and more sophisticated tools and techniques.

Paleolithic Era

• Wonderwerk Cave, Namibia (South Africa region):

  • One of the oldest sites of human activity, with evidence spanning around $100{,}000 ext{ years}$.

  • Several stone fragments found; archaeologists believe many pieces were brought to the cave from elsewhere, implying exchange, movement, or ritual transport.

• Apollo 11 stones (Namibia):

  • Dating: approximately $25{,}500 ext{–}25{,}300 ext{ B.C.E.}$

  • Medium: Charcoal on stone.

  • Visuals: Animals depicted in profile; typical of prehistoric paintings.

  • Interpretations: Could be a composite of animals rather than a single species; suggests the possibility of therianthropy (mythical beings that are part human and part animal) such as:

  • Feline

  • Oryx antelope (horns)

  • Human (hind legs)

  • Name origin: Called the Apollo 11 stones after the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing and the year the cave was studied/discovered by researchers.

• Great Hall of the Bulls (Lascaux, France):

  • Timeframe: $15{,}000 ext{–}13{,}000 ext{ B.C.E.}$

  • Type: Rock painting in Paleolithic Europe.

  • Content: Hundreds of animal images (cows, bulls, horses, deer) with many figures in profile;

  • Some scenes show animals in side/profile views; some show twisted perspective (combination of frontal and profile views).

  • Visual effects: In flickering torchlight, the painted animals would have appeared to move.

  • Additional features: Negative handprints on the walls, which may have served as signatures or marks of the artists.

  • Nolens: The site was opened to the public after WWII, later closed in 1963 due to damage from visitors; replicas (Lascaux II) and new venues (Lascaux IV, 2016) were created for preservation and education.

  • How they were made:

  • Paint sources: Natural materials such as charcoal, iron ore, and plant-based binders from animal fat.

  • Application methods: No direct brushes have been found; plausible techniques include:

    • Use of mats, moss, or animal hair as brushes;

    • Blowing pigment onto the surface via mouth or through a hollow bone/tube.

  • Surface preparation: Wall scraping to create an even surface; evidence of scaffolding for access to higher areas.

• Additional notes on Great Hall of the Bulls (interpretive questions):

  • Why were these caves painted? With no written records, interpretations rely on archaeologists’ and art historians’ best guesses.

  • Theories about purpose include:

  • Ritual or ancestral animal worship

  • Narrative elements in stories or legends

  • Shamanism: contact with other states of consciousness via intermediaries (shamans) during trance-like states

• What these artworks tell us today:

  • Lascaux complex opened to the public post-WWII and later closed to protect the site; replicas like Lascaux II and Lascaux IV offer educational access while preserving originals.

• The Camelid sacrum in the shape of a canine (Tequixquiac, central Mexico):

  • Date range: $14{,}000 ext{–}7{,}000 ext{ B.C.E.}$

  • Medium: Bone (sacrum of a camelid).

  • Description: A natural form (sacrum bone) shaped into a canine-like form; an example of functional transformation from a natural shape to a sculpture.

  • Interpretation: Questions whether the piece represents an animal, a mask, or an anthropomorphic entity; demonstrates early experimentation with form and symbolism.

  • Significance: Demonstrates the reuse and re-contextualization of animal bones in ritual or symbolic contexts.

• The sacrum as a concept: A Mesoamerican idea that the sacrum may symbolize the soul or an intuitive gateway to the spiritual realm in certain cultures, influencing why a sacral bone would be chosen for such sculpture.

The Neolithic Era and its key works

• Transition to Neolithic: The shift from hunter-gatherer to agricultural societies brings settled communities and new artistic themes (e.g., ritual objects, monuments, crafted vessels).

Beaker with ibex motifs (Susa, Iran)

• Date: $4200 ext{–}3500 ext{ B.C.E.}$

• Medium: Painted terracotta; Southwestern Iran production.

• Production context: Pottery likely produced on a potter’s wheel; some debate whether items were wheel-thrown or hand-built.

• Visual elements:

  • Top frieze of stylized aquatic birds (implies a wading flock in a river valley).

  • Bottom register shows stylized running dogs with elongated bodies, potentially hunting dogs.

  • Central scene depicts an ibex with oversized, abstract, stylized horns.

  • Clan symbol embedded within the horns (suggesting ownership or group affiliation in the deceased’s identity during burial).

• Burial context: Found near a burial site but not buried with human remains; in proximity to other goods (baskets, bowls, metallic items), indicating a ritual or ceremonial function.

Jade cong (Liangzhu culture, China)

• Date: $3300 ext{–}2200 ext{ B.C.E.}$

• Medium: Carved jade; shape is a square cross-section with a circular hole (the cong).

• Decoration: Abstract designs; main motif is a face pattern, possibly representing spirits or deities; some congs feature haunting mask designs in each of the four corners (mouths, eyes, headdress-like motifs) linked to Liangzhu jewelry motifs.

• Significance of jade: Jade revered for durability, subtlety, and beauty; associated with ritual and burial practices.

• Production/techniques: Jade is extremely hard; carving could involve sanding/rubbing, heating to soften the stone, or ritual burning.

• Cultural context: Jade objects appear in burials of high-status individuals; often interred around bodies; some jades broken or showing signs of burning; related to elaborate funerary rites.

• Interpretive notes: The symbolism ties to earth (rectilinear shape) and sky (central circular hole); however, it is unclear if this applies to earlier Liangzhu jade with the same logic.

Ambum Stone (Ambum Valley, Enga Province, Papua New Guinea)

• Date: $1500 ext{ B.C.E.}$

• Medium: Greywacke

• Type: The Ambum Stone is a composite human/animal figure; several interpretive theories exist:

  • Anteater head with a human body or a masked human; or an anteater embryo in fetal position (anteaters were considered significant for their fat deposits).

• Usages proposed:

  • Mortar and pestle or a tool-making object

  • Ritual object or fertility symbol; possibly an ancestral spirit embodiment or a Rainbow Serpent-like deity in Aboriginal Australian cosmologies

• Context and history:

  • Stone Age artifact carved from greywacke; found in Ambum Valley; initially used by the Enga people as a ritual object.

  • Later commercial history includes: sold in 1870 to a European trader, then to Philip Goldman, eventually ending up in the Australian National Gallery for about $110,000.

  • Damage and restoration: In 2000, while on loan in France, it was dropped and smashed into three pieces; subsequently restored.

Tlatilco female figurine (Central Mexico)

• Date: $1200 ext{–}900 ext{ B.C.E.}$

• Material: Ceramic; hand-modeled (no molds); unclothed save for jewelry.

• Physique: Prominent hips, thighs, and a narrow waist; arms extended out; relatively small hands and feet; elaborate hairstyles and body ornaments.

• Variants and significance:

  • Some figurines show deformities (e.g., two noses, two mouths, and three eyes), suggesting explorations of duality.

  • Found in graves, indicating funerary context; possibly shamanistic function.

Diprosopus and duality imagery

• Diprosopus (two-faced) and duality concepts appear in the Tlatilco corpus, indicating symbolic concerns with multiplicity, dual identities, or complementary forces in life and death.

Lapita terracotta fragment (Solomon Islands, Reef Islands)

• Date: $1000 ext{ B.C.E.}$

• Material: Terra cotta, incised

• Cultural setting: Lapita pottery tradition in the Solomon Islands; known for stamped geometric patterns

• Design features:

  • Curved, stamped patterns: dots, circles, and hatching

  • Techniques: Dentate stamping created using comb-like tools; no potter’s wheel used

  • Surface finishing: White coral lime often applied after incising to make patterns more pronounced

• Significance:

  • One of the oldest human faces found in Oceanic art

  • The motifs echo patterns later seen in Polynesian tattoos and barkcloth designs

Stonehenge (Neolithic Europe) – key points

• Location/timeframe: Wiltshire, UK; $2500 ext{–}1600 ext{ B.C.E.}$; sandstone

• Construction and phases:

  • Likely built in three phases over many generations (possibly >1,000 years):

  • Phase 1: Circular ditch (36 feet deep, 360 feet in diameter) with 56 Aubrey Holes (chalk-filled today).

  • Phase 2: Wooden structures; Aubrey Holes used for cremations; adult males burials suggest a select group.

  • Phase 3: Stone construction with a horseshoe of sarsen (large central stones) and lintels attached by mortise-and-tenon joints.

  • Outer stone setting originally connected by lintels; central horseshoe of bluestones and sarsen stones; additional stones placed around the monument.

• Theories about purpose:

  • Astronomical/solstitial orientation: aligned to sunrise at summer solstice and sunset at winter solstice; potential for predicting eclipses and acting as an observatory.

  • Ceremonial center for death and burial rites among elites; healing cults with sacred stones carried away as talismans.

  • Healing or pilgrimage site with ritual significance.

• Structural details:

  • Large megaliths (Sarsen stones) over 20 feet tall; lintels placed to create post-and-lintel architecture.

  • Bluestones transported from western Wales; transport and quarrying imply symbolic importance.

  • Heel Stone marks horizon alignment at dawn of solstices.

• The builder’s scale and time: It may have taken more than one generation to complete; the construction method relied on primitive technology: rolling heavy stones on logs or greased sleds; no wheels or pulleys.

• Diagram features (for study): Key components include the Heel Stone, Bluestones, Sarsen stones, lintels, the Horseshoe, Aubrey Holes, Station Stones, and the Avenue.

Ethnographic and methodological notes across Neolithic artifacts

• General themes: The artifacts reflect a blend of ritual, burial, social structure, and environmental adaptation.

• Animal and human hybrid forms (e.g., therianthropy-like ideas, as seen in some Paleolithic specimens) illustrate early attempts to fuse natural and supernatural elements.

• Composite forms and dualities (e.g., Diprosopus motifs in Tlatilco) reveal early symbolic thinking about life, death, and cosmology.

• The role of trade and mobility: Many of these objects were produced in core regions yet found at sites far from their likely production centers, implying networks of exchange and shared beliefs.

Common terms and concepts to know

• Therianthrope: A mythical being that combines human and animal features.

• Shamanism: Spiritual practice centered on mediators who access altered states of consciousness to interact with other realities.

• Stele: An upright stone slab or column, often with inscriptions or relief designs; can serve commemorative or burial purposes.

• Cong (Liangzhu): A square cross-section jade tube with a circular hole, representing a form of early Chinese jade ritual object; emphasizes the earth-and-sky symbolism through its rectilinear and circular elements.

• Beaker with ibex motifs: A Neolithic Iran ceramic piece featuring birds, dogs, and an ibex with prominent horns; suggests clan ownership markers.

• Lapita motifs: Early Oceanic pottery decorated with dentate stamping; linked to broader Pacific island culture and tattoo/tapash patterns.

• Aubrey Holes: Pit formations at Stonehenge site, possibly linked to cremation burials.

• Mortise-and-tenon: A method used to join lintels to vertical stones in Stonehenge; demonstrates early architectural engineering.

Practical and ethical considerations when studying prehistoric art

• Provenance and authenticity: Many artifacts have complex histories of discovery, sale, and restoration; researchers must consider context and potential alterations.

• Conservation ethics: Large monuments like Stonehenge require ongoing preservation; replicas may offer public access while protecting originals.

• Interpretive caution: Without written records, interpretations rely on archaeology, ethnography, and comparative religion; multiple hypotheses may coexist and evolve with new findings.

Connections to broader themes

• Technology and society: The shift from portable artifacts to monumental architecture (e.g., Stonehenge) marks a change in social organization, religious practice, and labor coordination.

• Relationship with nature: Many works (e.g., Great Hall of the Bulls, Tassili n’Ajjer) depict wildlife and humans in ritual or symbolic contexts, showing a deep engagement with the natural world.

• Ritual, burial, and status: Objects like jade cong, beakers with symbolic motifs, and the Ambum Stone reflect beliefs about afterlife, status, and the protections or powers conferred by sacred objects.

• Artistic techniques across cultures: From carving and engraving to painting and stamping, these works reveal diverse technologies (wheel use in Beaker ibex motifs vs. hand-built Lapita forms) and cross-cultural contacts.

Key numerical and factual references to review

• Wonderwerk Cave activity span: $ext{about }100{,}000$ years.

• Apollo 11 stones dating: $25{,}500 ext{–}25{,}300 ext{ B.C.E.}$

• Great Hall of the Bulls dating: $15{,}000 ext{–}13{,}000 ext{ B.C.E.}$

• Lascaux cave discovery/opening chronology: post-WWII public access; Lascaux II (replica) followed by Lascaux IV (2016).

• Beaker with ibex motifs: $4200 ext{–}3500 ext{ B.C.E.}$

• Liangzhu Jade Cong: $3300 ext{–}2200 ext{ B.C.E.}$

• Ambum Stone dating: $1500 ext{ B.C.E.}$

• Tlatilco figurine dating: $1200 ext{–}900 ext{ B.C.E.}$

• Stonehenge construction window: $2500 ext{–}1600 ext{ B.C.E.}$

• Lapita fragment dating: $1000 ext{ B.C.E.}$

Suggested study prompts and reflections

• Look at each artifact and consider the following:

  • What natural world elements are depicted, and what might their inclusion imply about beliefs or daily life?

  • How does the form (human, animal, composite) affect interpretation of its meaning or function?

  • What can the technique tell us about technology, resources, and skills of the people who made it?

  • In what ways might the object have served social or ceremonial roles (burial, status display, rites of passage, etc.)?

• Think–Pair–Share ideas to test your understanding:

  • What similarities do you notice between the Great Hall of the Bulls and Tassili n’Ajjer works in terms of composition and symbolism?

  • How does the shift from Paleolithic to Neolithic art reflect broader changes in society (mobility vs. settlement, ritual vs. daily life, etc.)?

  • How do the Beaker ibex motifs and Jade cong illustrate different regional approaches to ritual signaling and burials?