AP Art History
Chapter I – The Birth of Art:
Africa, Europe and the Near East
in the Stone Age
© Kevan Nitzberg
Paleolithic Period
(Old Stone Age)
• First examples of Paleolithic paintings
and sculptures: ca. 30,000 BCE
Detail – Altamira Cave Painting – Spain, ca. 12,000-11,000 BCE.
Animal facing left – Namibia, Africa
ca. 23,000 BCE.
Human figure with feline head – Germany,
ca. 30,000-28,000 BCE.
Venus of Willendorf – Austria, ca. 28,000-25,000 BCE.
Woman holding a bison horn – France, ca. 25,000-20,000 BCE.
Reclining woman – France, ca. 12,000 BCE.
2 bison – France, ca. 15,000-10,000 BCE.
Bison with turned head – France, ca. 12,000 BCE.
Spotted horses and negative hand prints – France,
ca. 22,000 BCE.
Hall of the Bulls – Lascaux Cave, France, ca. 15,000-13,000 BCE.
Aurochs, horses, rhinos – Chauvet Cave, France,
ca. 15,000-13,000 BCE.
Great stone tower – Jericho, ca. 8,000-7,000 BCE.
Neolithic Period
(New Stone Age)
• Neolithic Period begins in the Near East
ca. 8000 BCE
• Neolithic Period begins in Europe
ca. 4000 BCE
Human figure –
Ain Ghazal, Jordan,
ca. 6750-6250 BCE.
Reconstruction of a section of Level VI, Çatalhöyük , Turkey,
ca. 6000-5900 BCE.
Deer hunt, Level III, Çatalhöyük, Turkey, ca. 5750 BCE.
Stonehenge – England, ca. 2550-1600 BCE.
Stonehenge (detail) – major trilithon
Art Comparison Section Study
Review
Criteria for Analysis:
Part I
A) size
B) material and technique
C) approximate date
D) about where they were found
Part II
Describe the bodily features of each figure
and how the similarities and differences might be
interpreted.
Comparison #1
Venus of Willendorf
and
Woman Holding a Bison Horn
Comparison #2
Two bison from cave at Le Tuc d’Audoubert
and
Bison with turned head from La Madeleine
Comparison #3
Venus of Willendorf
and
Human figure from Ain Ghazal