Chapter 1Prehistory

Key terms

►Paleo-lithic: palaiós (Gk: old) líthos (Gk: stone).

►Meso-lithic: mesos (Gk: middle)

►Neo-lithic:néos (Gk: New)

►Mega-lithic mega (Gk: big)

►Parietal art parietes (Latin: walls)

Key Terms►Paleo-lithic: Old Stone Age

2,500,000 up to c. 10,000 BCE►Meso-lithic: Middle Stone Age

c. 10,000-8,000 BCE►Neo-lithic: New Stone Age

c. 8,000-3,000 BCE

Key Terms►Mega-lithic Built with large stones►Parietal art Paintings in the walls of

caves

1. Origins of human life and culture

a) Scientists estimate the Earth is between 4 and 5 billion years old.

b) Hominids first appeared in Africa only 5,000,000 years ago.

….but what is a “hominid”?

1. Origins of human life and culture

HOMINID

► Hominid refers to humans and their ancestors, who distinguished themselves from hominoids (apes).

► What are the characteristics of hominids?

1. Origins of human life and culture

Characteristics of hominids:

►bipedal ► shorter arms►better dexterity► larger brains► smaller faces

1.Origins of human life and culture

►Early hominids ►(Australopithecus , homo habilis, homo

erectus). Flourished 1.5 million to 200,000 years ago,

east Africa Large brain, sophisticated tools, knew how

to control fire Developed language skills They were carnivores and hunted large

animals. Between 500,000 and 200,000 years ago

they migrated to Asia and Europe

1.Origins of human life and culture The homo sapiens evolved in Africa,

ca. 120,000 BCE during the Pleistocene (Ice Age).

The homo sapiens was extremely successful, had larger brain and a lighter skeletal structure.

They spread from Africa into Asia, Europe Australia and the Americas.

2. Paleolithic Period (2,000,000 up to c. 10,000 BCE)► hunter-gatherer nomadic cultures► individuals did not accumulate private

property► lived an egalitarian existence ► lived in small bands, about 30 to 50

members in each group ► created tools made of stone► buried their dead with rituals► created artistic forms of expression:

Cave paintings Stone carvings

Paleolithic Parietal Art►When?: Towards the end of the

Paleolithic period (30,000-10,000 BCE)

Paleolithic Parietal Art(30,000 up to c. 10,000 BCE)

►Where?:►Southern France and Northern Spain:

Lascaux, France http://www.lascaux.culture.fr/#/en/00.xml

Chauvet, France►http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/chau

vet/en/index.html Altamira, Spain

►Altamira, Spain

Paleolithic Parietal Art(30,000 up to c. 10,000 BCE)

►Exercise 1. Form and themes

Lascaux, France

Paleolithic Parietal Art(30,000 up to c. 10,000 BCE)

Form and themes of Paleolithic Parietal Art(30,000 up to c. 10,000 BCE)

Lascaux, France, c. 15,000-10,000 BCE.

►The animals do not form a group: no sharing of the ground line and no common orientation.

►Overlapping: animals painted at different times.

►  There is not a narrative or indication of place.

Form of Paleolithic Parietal Art(30,000 up to c. 10,000 BCE)

► The paintings are a pictorial definition of the animals.

►  Animals are represented in profile.

► Use of composite view: profile of body and frontal for horns.

Form of Paleolithic Parietal Art(30,000 up to c. 10,000 BCE)

►Perspective: use of rock protuberances and gallery shapes.

Paleolithic Parietal Art(30,000 up to c. 10,000 BCE)

►Meaning and function

Meaning and Function Paleolithic Parietal Art

(30,000 up to c. 10,000 BCE)

► Penguins, Cosquer Cave

Bear and rhinoceroses, Chauvet Cave

Meaning of Paleolithic Parietal Art(30,000 up to c. 10,000 BCE)

► Decorative? The paintings and engravings are located in the most remote areas of the caves.

► Arrows and markings: ritual based on the belief that harming the animal’s image is like harming the animal itself.

► But predators, not only animals hunted for their meat are depicted. Shaman summoning powers, visions, calendar, shrine?

Paleolithic Parietal Art(30,000 up to c. 10,000 BCE)

►Chauvet Cave: Discovered in 1994 Oldest prehistoric paintings (30,000BCE)

yet the most artistically accomplished. Great variety of animals (13 species)

Paleolithic Parietal Art(30,000 up to c. 10,000 BCE)

Chauvet Cave

2. Paleolithic Sculpture (20,000 up to c. 10,000 BCE)

Clay bison. Cave of Tuc d'Audoubert, France, c. 13,000 BCE

2. Paleolithic Sculpture(20,000 up to c. 10,000 BCE)

Bison Licking an Insect Bite. La Madeleine, France, 20,000-12,000 BCE

2. Paleolithic Sculpture (26,000 up to c. 10,000 BCE)

Willendorf Figurine,

c. 20,000 BCE

2. Paleolithic Period (2,000,000 up to c. 10,000 BCE)

Later Fertility Goddesses

► Çatal Hüyük. c. 6000 B.C Artemis of Ephesus. 1st century CE Roman copy

Female representation and women’s social status

3. Mesolithic and Neolithic Periods (c. 10,000-3,000 BCE)► Agrarian Revolution

End of the Ice Age Permanent settlement Domestication of animals Farming replaces hunting Pottery, weaving develop The wheel is invented At the end of this period metal tools

appear; copper and tin are made into bronze

3. Mesolithic and Neolithic Periods (c. 10,000-3,000 BCE)

3. Mesolithic and Neolithic Periods

(c. 10,000-3,000 BCE)

Mesolithic and Neolithic Periods

(c. 10,000-3,000 BCE)►Agriculture

results in awareness of seasonal change.

►Regeneration (life/death of crops, cults associated with fertility and the contributing forces (rain))

3. Mesolithic and Neolithic Periods (c. 10,000-3,000 BCE)

Valtorta Gorge, Spain, c. 8000-3000 BC

3. Mesolithic and Neolithic Periods

(c. 10,000-3,000 BCE)

Cingle de la Mola, Spain. 7,000-4,000 BCE

Exercise 1: Paleolithic vs. Neolithic cave paintings

3. Mesolithic and Neolithic Periods (c. 10,000-3,000 BCE)

Megalithic monuments:-burial sites- France, Ireland and

EnglandMenhir/ monolith

3. Mesolithic and Neolithic Periods (c. 10,000-3,000 BCE) Megalithic monuments: Dolmen

3. Mesolithic and Neolithic Periods (c. 10,000-3,000 BCE)

Dolmen from Antequera, Spain, c. 2800 BCE.

3. Mesolithic and Neolithic Periods (c. 10,000-3,000 BCE)

Megalithic monuments:

Alignments

Carnac, France, c. 2,800 BCE

3. Mesolithic and Neolithic Periods (c. 10,000-3,000 BCE)

Megalithic monuments:

Cromlech/ Circle of stones

Stonehenge (England), c. 3000 BCE