1. PRE-HISTORICAL ART in Europe
BCE = Before Common Era
CE = Common Era
Previously was B.C. (Before Christ) and A.D. (Anno Domini – “In the year of”)
PRE-HISTORY is the period before written forms of communication.
Written communication originated earlier in the Near East and Egypt therefore European pre-history is a longer period of time.

2. PRE-HISTORICAL ART Paleolithic = Old stone age
Mesolithic = Middle stone age (Ice age in Europe)
Neolithic = New Stone Age
What changed between the Old and New Stone ages that effected the manner of art making and the type of art created?
Agriculture – farming
Resulting from animal extinctions (no big game to hunt)
Animal domestication (herding)
Stationary villages

3. CAVE PAINTING Lascaux, France
Pigments: Materials used to create color – most often metal oxides and charcoal
Binder: Material to make the pigment stick to a surface – spit or fat.
Foundation: also called a support, the material that is painted or drawn on

4. CAVE PAINTING Lascaux, France
Themes: Animals, Human representation, and signs
Anthropomorphic (human) images are rare as are signs or geometric symbols
Dating the paintings is done using pigment fragments (must be charcoal) or drawing/painting tools.

5. CAVE PAINTING Pech-merle, France Notice the Hand Prints and dots.
Dots may have been for accounting or to capture the animals’ spirit.
Picture of a wounded man may have memorialized a battle.

6. CAVE PAINTING Altamira, Spain, France
This bison is represented in a naturalistic manner with significant detail recalled from memory.
Abstraction is a reduction of shapes and appearances that do not represent the object naturalistically

7. Cave Painting – Algeria, Australia
Tassili, Algeria: Painting depict herding and clear domestication of animals as well as warfare.
Austalian: Painting depicts spiritual images and unique “X-ray” figures

8. SCULPTURE
Relief sculpture is carved or engraved onto a background – meant to be viewed from the front.
Two Bison modeled, unfired clay, Tuc d'Audoubert, Ariege.
Carved Bison (Licking an Insect Bite) Carved and engraved on a fragment of a spear-thrower made of reindeer antler La Madeleine, France, 20, ,000 B.C.

9. SCULPTURE
Relief sculpture is carved or engraved onto a background – meant to be viewed from the front.
Venus of Laussel, 17.5 inches, limestone 27,000-22,000 BCE

10. SCULPTURE
Sculpture in the round is carved or modeled on all sides and is meant to be viewed from any angle.
Venus of Willendorf c. 24,000-22,000 BCE Oolitic limestone 43/8 inches (11.1 cm) high
Fertility Idol: A good-luck charm used to ensure fertility or safe birth
Composite Figure: A combination of multiple animal and human features.
Lion-Human from Hohlenstein-Stadel, Germany. c. 30, ,000 BCE. Mammoth ivory, height 11 5/8".

11. ARCHITECTURE
Menhir – upright carved stone placed purposely in rows or circles.
Reminiscent of a grave marker.
Carnac in the Brittany area of France has nearly 3000 menhirs arranged in rows of 13,000ft long

12. ARCHITECTURE Dolmen – A menhir with a capstone intentionally arranged
Capstone – the top of a dolman.
Post and Lintel – two uprights supporting a top.
Megalith – architecture made with massive stone construction

13. ARCHITECTURE
Cromlechs – A series of dolmens arranged in a circle or semi-circle
Stonehenge in Britain is the largest but not the only cromlech.

14. ARCHITECTURE Courses – A row of masonry or stone
Corbelling – Rows of masonry or stone that are slightly offset to form an arch or dome.
Passage grave – a hallway leading to an interior chamber – made of dolmens or corbelled courses
Cairn – A mound of earth over a passage grave and dolmen structure

15. ARCHITECTURE Malta is home to many Neolithic temples.
The shape may have been oval to resemble a womb.
There was also a “City of the Dead” or necropolis where upwards of 7000 human skeletons were found.

16. Architecture and Sculpture
Mother Goddess: This statue was massive – but many smaller female nudes were also found at the same location.