Chapter 1
The Birth of Art:
Africa, Europe, and
the Near East in the
Stone Age
For art historians to declare a piece an
“artwork,” it must have been modified
by human intervention beyond mere
selection.
“Waterworn pebble
resembling a human
face”
Makapansget,
South Africa
3,000,000 BC
Reddish brown
jasperite
2 3/8” wide
“Animal Facing Left”
Apollo 11 Cave, Namibia 23,000 BC
Charcoal on Stone 5” x 4 1/4”
“Venus of Willendorf”
Willendorf, Austria
28,000 - 25,000 BC
Limestone
4 1/2 “ high
“Two Bison” Cave at Le Tuc d’Audoubert, Ariege, France, 15,00010,000 BC
High Relief, Clay, each figure @ 2” long
“Bison With Turned Head” La Madeleine, Dordogne, France,
12,000 BC
Fragmentary Spearthrower, Reindeer Horn, 4” long, Bas-relief
“Bison”
(detail of a painted
ceiling)
Altamira Cave,
Santander, Spain
12,000 - 11,000 BC
(discovered 1879)
Each Bison @ 5’ long
“Hall of the Bulls” (left wall), Lascaux, Dordogne,
France,
15,000 - 13,000 BC Largest Bull @ 11’ 6” long
“Aurochs, Horses, and Rhinoceroses,”
Chauvet Cave, Vallon-Pont-d’ArcArdeche, France,
30,000 - 28,000 BC or 15,00 - 13,000 BC
Great stone tower
built into the
settlement wall,
Jericho
8000-7000 BC
Ruins of Jericho’s
walls today,
Human Figure
from
Ain Ghazal, Jordan
6750-6250 BC
3’ 5 3/8” high
Schematic reconstruction drawing of a section of Level
VI,
Catal Hoyuk, Turkey 6000 - 5900 BC
Deer Hunt, detail of a wall painting from Level III,
Catal Hoyuk, Turkey 5750 BC
Landscape with Volcanic Eruption
Catal Hoyuk, Turkey 6150 BC
(Considered by many to be the world’s first landscape)
“Stonehenge”
Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, England, 2550 -1600 BC
Circle is 97’ in diameter, trilithons are @ 24’ high