[CHP. 1: THE ART OF PREHISTORY]
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Summary and Study Guide
Learning Goals (AAT4)
After reading Chapter 1, you should be able to do the following:
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Trace the cultural, technological, and artistic changes from Paleolithic to Neolithic eras
Define the categories and techniques of sculpture
Identify the works and the terms in the chapter
Discuss differing interpretations of cave art
Compare Australian with western European and Saharan cave art
Describe what is meant by the Australian "Dreamtime"
Discuss the types and development of megalithic architecture
Locate, on a map of western Europe, the main sites mentioned in the chapter
Lascaux Cave, Dordogne, France
c 13,000 BCE
Third Chinese Horse
Photo© LaCour Slide Library
Living With Art Slide Set
Venus of Willendorf (stone)
3/4 view
25,000-20,000) or (15,000-10,000 BC, Vienna,
NatHistMus.
Photo© LaCour Slide Library
Living With Art Slide Set
Chapter Outline (AAT4)
Paleolithic (c. 50,000–c. 8000 B.C.)
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Ice Age ends c. 30,000 B.C.
Use of stone tools and weapons
Hunting-and-gathering
First evidence of sculpture (c. 25,000 B.C.)
First evidence of painting (c. 25,000 B.C.)
Shamanism
Rock Paintings of Australia
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The Dreaming
Mesolithic (c. 8000–6000/4000 B.C.)
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Tassili rock painting, Algeria
Transition to agriculture
Neolithic (c. 6000/4000–c. 1500 B.C.)
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Settled communities
Megalithic architecture
Ggantija Temple, Malta
Carnac, France
Stonehenge, England
[CHP. 1: THE ART OF PREHISTORY]
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Summary and Study Guide
Key Terms (AAT4)
Be prepared to define or identify the following:
Abstract
in painting and sculpture, having a generalized or essential form with only a symbolic resemblance to natural objects.
binder
a substance used in paint and other media to bind particles of pigment together and enable them to adhere to the support.
Cromlech
a prehistoric monument consisting of a circle of monoliths.
henge
Dolmen
a prehistoric structure consisting of two or more megaliths capped with a horizontal slab.
Façade
the front or "face" of a building.
Fire
to prepare (especially ceramics) by baking in a kiln or otherwise applying heat.
Incised
see sunken relief.
Kiln
an oven used to bake (or fire) clay.
Lintel
the horizontal cross beam spanning an opening in the post-and-lintel system.
Medium
(a) the material with which an artist works (e.g., watercolor on paper); (b) the liquid substance in which pigment is
suspended, such as oil or water.
Megalith
a large, undressed stone used in the construction of prehistoric monuments.
Menhir
a prehistoric monolith standing alone or grouped with other stones.
Modeling
(a) in two-dimensional art, the use of value to suggest light and shadow, and thus create the effect of mass and weight; (b)
in sculpture, the creation of form by manipulating a pliable material such as clay.
Monolith
A large block of stone that is all in one piece (i.e., not composed of smaller blocks), used in megalithic structures.
Necropolis
an ancient or prehistoric burial ground (literally "City of the Dead").
Parapet
(a) a wall or rampart to protect soldiers; (b) a low wall or railing built for the safety of people at the edge of a balcony, roof,
or other steep place.
Pigment
a powdered substance that is used to give color to paints, inks, and dyes.
Plane
a surface on which a straight line joining any two of its points lies on that surface; in general, a flat surface.
Polychrome
consisting of several colors.
post-and-lintel
construction
An architectural system in which upright members, or posts, support horizontal members, or lintels.
relief (low relief,
high relief)
(a) a mode of sculpture in which an image is developed outward (high or low relief) or inward (sunken relief) from a basic
plane; (b) a printmaking process in which the areas not to be printed are carved away, leaving the desired image projecting
from the plate..
sculpture in the
round
freestanding sculptural figures carved or modeled in three dimensions.
Corbelled vault
Support
in painting, the surface to which the pigment is applied.
Tenon
a projecting member in a block of stone or other building material that fits into a groove or hole to form a joint.
Trilithon
an ancient monument consisting of two vertical megaliths supporting a third as a lintel.
Vehicle
a term often used interchangeably with medium to mean the liquid in which pigments are suspended but not dissolved and
which, as it dries, binds the color to the surface of the painting.
Prehistory
Paleolithic
hunter-gatherer
subtractive method
of sculpture
Chauvet
[CHP. 1: THE ART OF PREHISTORY]
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Summary and Study Guide
Altamira
Lascaux
Twisted perspective
Potential Exam Essay Questions
1.
Using the figures in Chapter 1 of your text, write an essay comparing the cave paintings of Australia with those of western Europe.
Consider the style, the subject matter, and possible interpretations. **(used in previous semesters)
2.
Discuss the development of Stonehenge from c. 3000 B.C. to 1800 B.C.
3.
Discuss the different approaches to interpreting cave paintings. Include specific examples of works and indicate which scholar took which
approach.
4.
Describe the cultural and artistic changes from Paleolithic to Neolithic. Include dates, styles of living and working, painting, sculpture, and
architecture.
5.
If you were a Paleolithic boy or girl of about 15, how do you imagine your average day from the time you wake up in the morning to the
time you go to sleep at night?
6.
Discuss the interpretations of prehistoric female figures, such as the Venus of Willendorf and the Venus of Laussel.
Identify
(know these works by sight, title, date, medium, scale, and location (original location also if moved) and be able to explain and analyze these in
relation to any concept, term, element, or principle)
Paleolithic
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“Venus of Willendorf,” from Willendorf, Austria, c.28,000-25,000BC, limestone
Bison, from La Madeleine, Dordogne, France, c.12,000BC, reindeer horn
Neolithic
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Human skull with restored features, from Jericho, c.7,000-6,000BC
Stonehenge, Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire England, c.2550-1600BC
Chronology
c. 30,000 BC
First Paleolithic paintings and sculptures
c. 30,000-28,000 BC
Chauvet Cave
c. 28,000-25,000 BC
“Venus of Willendorf”
c. 15,000 BC
Paintings begun at Lascaux
c. 12,000 BC
Bison (from La Madeleine)
c. 9000 BC
Final recession of ice sheet in Europe accompanied by a climatic shift.
c. 8000 BC
Neolithic begins in the Near East
c. 7000-6000 BC
Human skull with restored features from Jericho
c. 4000 BC
Neolithic begins in Europe
c. 3000 BC
City-states arise in Mesopotamia
c. 2551-2472 BC
Great Pyramids at Gizeh
c. 2550-1600 BC
Stonehenge
1879 AD
1880
Altamira paintings found when a man and his young daughter were walking
through the caves. Because she was shorter, she was able to look up and see the
images.
The Lisbon Congress on Prehistoric Archeology decides that the Altamira
paintings are fake.
[CHP. 1: THE ART OF PREHISTORY]
Summary and Study Guide
1896
More cave paintings are found in France. Because parts of these are covered by
slow forming deposits, cave paintings are proven to be authentic.
1940
The paintings at Lascaux are discovered.
1963
Lascaux is closed to all but a select few because moisture and oxygen (carried by
human visitors) along with other contaminants are rapidly damaging the
paintings. Specifically, the moisture and oxygen have helped fuel the growth of a
fungi that destroys the paintings.
1994
The paintings at Chauvet are discovered.
Study Guide Questions
1.
List two caves that contain Paleolithic paintings:
2.
What were the functions of Paleolithic art (monumental paintings and sculpture)?
3.
The figurine known as the Venus of Willendorf was probably used originally as:
4.
What new type of subject matter became important in the Mesolithic rock-shelter paintings?
5.
Why was Stonehenge thought to have been erected? What evidence supports this belief?
6.
Archeological findings indicate that civilization did not originate in the Nile River valley of Egypt,
as was earlier believed, but developed in grassy uplands in settlements like Jericho, located in
____________________________ and dating from the ___________ millennium B.C. and Catal
Huyuk, located in _______________ , which is modern day __________________.
7.
Describe the unique structure erected in Jericho.
8.
Describe the peculiarity of Catal Huyuk and the materials and system of building houses and
shrines.
9.
When was Stonehenge thought to have been erected? What do archeologists generally consider
Stonehenge’s original purpose to have been? What evidence supports this belief?
10. Discuss the materials and techniques used by Paleolithic artists to create images of animals. How
might the materials have influenced the representations?
11. What do you think the purpose of the early female figures like the Venus of Willendorf might
have been? Why do you think that Paleolithic artists depicted women more often than men?
12. In what way did the social and economic changes that took place in human development between
the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods affect the art produced in each period?
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