Prehistoric- Paleolithic Flashcards
Give the three eras that occurred during the stone age.
Paleolithic- 30,000-10,000 BC
Mesolithic or Archaic 10,000-8,000 BC
Neolithic- 8,000-3,000 BC
Give the three time periods that occurred during that prehistoric times.
Stone Age- 30,000-3,000 BC
Bronze Age- 2,300 BC
Iron Age- 1,200 BC
Where does the word Paleolithic come from?
Paleos - Greek meaning Old
Litho- Greek meaning stone.
Paleolithic age is also known as?
The age of chipped stone
It was the longest phase of human history, with its most outstanding feature was the development of the human species, what human species are these?
Old stone age- Homo Sapiens
Paleolithic age is also the age of what?
It was also known as ice age.
Describe the Paleolithic people.
They were nomadic hunters and gatherers who sheltered communally. Culture identified by distinctive stone tool industries.
What were the materials used during the Paleolithic age?
Stone
Shell
Ivory
These were the things that the Paleolithic people gave emphasis on.
Animals
Hunting
Women and Fertility
Where did the Paleolithic people live in and what did they use?
Caves, tents (animal skin)
huts (mud, stone, and bone)
The two kinds of art produced during the Paleolithic age.
Portable art- small figurines or decorated objects out of bone, stone or modeled in clay.
Cave art- mural art; consists of engraved or painted works on open air rocks on the floor, walls and ceilings of caves, some of them in deep and almost inaccessible crannies.
What were the subject matter during the Paleolithic age?
Figurative- Mostly animals (bosons, horses, deer, mammoth, mastodons, aurochs) drawn in profile, human figures are scarce.
Non-figurative- signs and symbols, markings ranging from single dots to linear marks.
Give the technique or methods and Medias used for Portable art, during the Paleolithic age.
Technique/ Method
- boring holes
- carving
- modeling
- engraving
Media
- teeth
- shells
- bones
- ivory
- flat stones
- antler’s horns
- clay
- wood
Give and describe the three types of portable art during the Paleolithic age.
Statuettes- 3D objects cut out from soft stone or other materials (antler, mammoth’s tusk) (venus of Willendorf, Austria)
Flat objects- with engravings and paintings.
Small relief sculptures- in caves, grottoes and under natural roofs.
What are the significance of the Venuses?
- used as a ritual or symbolic function
- seen as religious figures
- an expression of health and fertility
- grandmother goddesses
- self- depictions by female artists
Give the methods and media used for cave art.
Media
- iron oxide (red)
- Ochre (yellow)
- Manganese and Charcoal (black)
- animal fat and plant oil (binder)
- talc
Method
- finger/animal hair brush
- finger-pressed marks
- incorporating contours of rock formations
- engravings
- low and high relief sculptures
- stencils using mouth or tubes
Give five characteristics of cave art or paintings.
Show a full range of colors but with no clear background.
Silhouette of some animals were incised in the rock first.
Concerned with either food (hunting scenes, animal carvings) or fertility (Venuses).
Animals (bison, horses, aurochs, deer, etc) in expressive features constitute the majority of images.
Attempts to gain some sort of contril over their environment, whether by magic or ritual.
It is the total number of decorated sites found all over the world.
400 plus
Where are some of the places where you can see cave arts?
France Spain Portugal England Italy Romania Germania Russia Indonesia
Give the seven famous cave art sites.
Chauvet Cave, near Vallon-Pont-d’Arc, France
Lascaux, France
Altamira, near Santillana del Mar, Cantabria, Spain
La Marche, near Lussac-les-Chateaux, France
Cosquer Cave, near Marseille, France
Font de Gaume, in the DordogneValley in France
Creswell Crags, Nottinghanshire, England
Located near the Vallon-Pont-d’Arc in the Ardeche region of Sounthern France, it is named after Jean-Marie Chauvet, who discovered it on December 18, 1994, together with Christian Hillaire and Eliette Brunel- Deschamps.
Chauvet Cave, France (32,000- 30,000 BC)
Give 3 facts about the Chauvet Cave in France
Contains the world’s oldest rock art ever found and has one of the most extensive Paleolithic rock art galleries ever recorded.
Human occupation in 2 distinct periods: Aurignacian (32,000- 30,000 BC) and Gravettian (27,000- 25,000 BC)
The cave is extensive, about 400 meters longs, with vast chambers.
Give five artistic features on Chauvet Cave Art
The most spectacular images are the Horse Panel and the Panel of Lions and Rhinos.
Keen observation and strong outline
Vivid and lifelike rendering of figures.
Shows power and expressiveness in the painting
Depiction shows the self assurance and refinement of the artisits/
Give three art works found in the Chauvet Cave
Hand stencil
Panel of Horses
Chauvet Venus
give the 4 teenagers who discovered Lascaux, France. 15,000-13,000 BC
Marcel Ravidat, Jacques Marsal, Georges Agnel, Simon Coencas.
Give three facts about Lascaux.
Contains nearly 2,000 figures mostly images of large animals also geometric figures.
Complex of caves in southwestern France (near Montignac Village)
Showed line Flexibility and expressiveness as seen in movement of hunt and animal qualities.
give five art works from Lascaux Cave paintings
Great hall of bulls
Bisons and horses painted gallery
Panel of the fallen cow
Panel of back to back bisons
Dead man’s shaft
Where is Altamira, Spain located?
Monte Visperes, Spain, occupied by humans in 2 distinct periods, Solutrean (18,500 BC) and Nagdalenian (16,000 - 14,000 BC)
Give three facts about Altamira, Spain.
The cave is 270 meters long, consists of series of twisting passages and chambers. The main passage varies from 2 to 6 meters high
Has the best cave paintings, executed in magnificent, vivid polychromes of red, black and violet tones, and showing accuracy of physical proportions of depicted animals.
Includes the renowned “Ceiling of Polychromes” (Sistine Chapel of the Paleolithic Age)
What are the significance of Cave Art?
started the tradition of decorating walls and ceilings with spiritual meanings.
Captured the style and subject matter of our ancestor’s early artistic work.
Cave art were the precursor of religious architecture, they may have functioned like churches or temples.
