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prehistoric art

Art that predates written records. The history of the fine arts painting, engraving, and sculpture begins around 40,000 BC in thePalaeolithic period (Old Stone Age). The oldest known rock

engravings are in Australia, but within the next 30,000 years artoccurs on every continent. The earliest surviving artefacts in Europedate from approximately 30,00010,000 BC, a period of hunter-gatherer cultures. Small sculptures are generally of fecund femalenudes and relate to the cult of the Mother Goddess; for example, thestone Willendorf Venus (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna) about21,000 BC. The murals of the caves ofLascaux, France, andAltamira, Spain, depict mostly animals.

During the Neolithic period (New Stone Age) 10,0002,000 BC,

settled communities were established, which led to a greatertechnical and aesthetic sophistication in tools, ceramic vessels,

jewellery, and human and animal figures. Human figures appearmore often in wall paintings, and are skilfully composed intogroups. The period 4,0002,000 BC saw the erection of the greatmegalith monuments, such as those at Carnac, France, andStonehenge, England, and the production of ceramic pots andfigurines with decorative elements that were later to be developed inCeltic art.

Palaeolithic cave artFrench prehistorian Abb Henri Breuil pioneered the study ofPalaeolithic art in the first half of the 20th century, making detailedstudies in the caves of southern France, northern Spain, Ethiopia,and southern Africa. The paintings and engravings, dating from theUpper Palaeolithic (from about 30,000 BC), are found on theceilings and walls of deep caves beyond the reach of natural light,and indications of torches and cup-shaped lamps have been seen.The art depicts animals in fresh and vigorous line which is often

enriched with rubbed-on pigments of red and yellow ochre, redhaematite, manganese, and graphite, and sometimes emphasized byvery finely powdered colour blown on through a pipe. Bison,mammoths, horses, auroch (wild cattle), red deer and reindeer, arerepresented; animals known to be hunted by Upper Palaeolithichumans from dateable bone deposits. Human forms are rarelydepicted in this period, and then only as sticklike figures, sometimeswearing masks or pointing arrows at the vital parts of animals,which are frequently drawn pregnant.

Prehistoric art was probably associated with hunting magic or ritual,perhaps intended to ensure success in the hunt and fertility of theanimals. Drawings sometimes overlie others, suggesting that the act

Lascaux cavedrawings

Prehistoric Art:NewTechniques forDating

Prehistoric Art

of the Pyrenees

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of drawing may have been the essence of the ritual magic and notthe picture itself. Anthropological comparisons may be useful inattempting to explain the significance of the art for instance, theinitiation rituals of hunter-gatherer peoples such as the Aboriginesin Australia but direct relationships are problematic.

Interpretations have included links with the female cycle, andincorporation of children's marks may be significant. Hand stencils,seen from America to Australia, may be symbolic or signify art in asimple sense. The art has also been seen as early and crudeanimation, with animals appearing to move in the light of a candleor flickering fire.

In France cave art can be found at Lascaux, near Montignac,discovered 1940; Font de Gaume, Dordogne, which contains aremarkable series of bison in polychrome (decoration in many

colours); and the Trois Frres cave, northern central Pyrenees,where a figure called 'the Sorcerer', with a human body and the headof a deer, possibly represents a hunting spirit or god.

In Spain there are several fine examples of cave art in the provinceof Santander, including a series of polychrome paintings,particularly of bison, at Altamira, the first of this type ofPaleaolithic art to be discovered 1879. Executed in earth coloursakin to pastel technique, the murals are of a very high order andappear to have been done in near-impossible conditions, perhaps as

a rite of initiation.

Sculpture and engravingThis is the oldest known art form, dating from the Palaeolithic, andhas a wide distribution over many countries. Carvings made byearly peoples may variously represent magic protection for thedwelling place; links with a hunting economy and ritual influencingof food supplies; or a gathering place, cult shrine, or religioussanctuary.

In Africa, there are rock engravings in the Sahara, for example theGilf Kebir Plateau, Egypt, which appear to date from between theend of the Palaeolithic period and the present day. In southernAfrica the sacred animals of Egypt are represented together withthose of central Africa, and it is believed that nomadic huntingcultures were still practising this form of art in the 19th century.Rock art is also seen in Siberia, another location of nomadicactivity.

Sculpture and engraving may be found alongside the cave paintingsof southern France and northern Spain. In the Trois Frres cave,north central Pyrenees, a magnificent series of engravings made on

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the yellow claylike surface skin of a black rock, formed possibly byweathering, produces a cameo effect.

In the USA, examples include the 'sun-dagger' and numerousengravings in the rock art at Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. InScandinavia, rock engravings of the Mesolithic period, withnaturalistic representations of animals in conjunction with graphicsigns, possibly anecdotal, are known on the coast of Norway. InSweden, north of Gothenburg, are rock carvings from the height ofthe Bronze Age which include ships, agriculturalists with an ox-drawn plough, and a fight between armed men on horses. Art fromthe Spanish Levant, dating from the Mesolithic, shows a honeygatherer, dancers, and archers in combat.

Other carvings include Bronze Age cup and ring marks found on

portable objects and stone monuments, and distributed widely fromIndia to Ireland.

Portable artExamples of portable art include the limestone figurine of acorpulent female, the Willendorf Venus, found in Austria, and anivory plaque from Mal'ta, Siberia, which is worked with pits inspirals, and considered to be calendrical.

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