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THE ART OF PREHISTORY

Paleolithic PeriodLower (beginning 1,500,000 BC )

Middle (100,000-200,000 BCE )

Upper (50,000 BC☻– 8,000 BC)

Mesolithic (8,000- 5,000 BC)

Neolithic (5,000-2,000 BC)

☻earliest art dates to c. 30,000 BCE

Sculpture

Architecturefaçadeplanpost and linteltombtemplemonolithmegalith/megalithmenhirdolmencromlechburial mound trilobe

Cave paintingCosquer, FranceChauvet, FrancePech-Merle, FranceTrois-Frères cave, FranceLascaux, FranceAltamira cave, Spain

shamanpigmentSculpture

two dimensional (2-D) vs. three dimensional (3-D)monumentalrelief, high, low, basfreestanding in-the-round incisionmodeledcarved fertility figure/fetishpigment

corbelled vaultpigmentsuperimposition

Stonehenge (c. 2800-1500 BC) Salisbury Plain, Englandcromlechtrilithonmortice and tenonAubrey holesheel stonesarcen stonebluestonealtar stone

A.D. or C.E.B.C. or B.C.E

c. = circa = approximately

Chronology

☻earliest art dates to c. 30,000 BCE

0 100 200100 BCE200 BCE

2nd Century BCE 2nd Century

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Venus of Willendorf

Willendorf, Austria

c. 25, 000 - 21,000 BCE

Limestone

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Venus of Laussel

Laussel, Dordogne, France

c. 25,000 – 23,000 BCE

Limestone

Venus Figure

Italy

c. 25,000 – BCE

stone

Bison with a turned head

La Madeleine, Tarn, France

c. 11, 000 – 9000 BCE

Reindeer horn

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Bison

Tuc d’Audoubert cave, Ariege, Dordogne, France

c. 13,000 – 8000 BCE

Unbaked clay

“Lion Panel”

Chauvet cave, Ardeche Valley, France

c. 25,000 – 17, 000 BCE

Black pigment on limestone wall

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Handprints

Pech-Merle, Dordogne, France

c. 16, 000 BC

Pigment on limestone

Shaman

Trois-Freres cave,

Ariege, Dordogne, France

c. 13,000 – 11, 000 BC

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Hall of Running Bulls

Lascaux, Dordogne, France

c. 15,000 – 13,000 BCE

Pigment on limestone rock

“Chinese Horse”

Lascaux, Dordogne, France

c. 15,000 – 13,000 BCE

Pigment on limestone rock

Detail with geometric symbols

Lascaux, Dordogne, France

c. 15,000 – 13,000 BCE

Pigment on limestone rock

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“Well Scene”

Lascaux, Dordogne, France

c. 15,000 – 13,000 BCE

Pigment on limestone rock

Bison Mural

Altamira cave, Spain

c. 12,000 BC

Black manganese, red ochre

Standing Bison

Altamira Cave, Spain

c. 12,000 BCE

Black manganese and red ochre on limestone

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Saharan rock painting

Tassili, Algeria

Cattle or Pastoralist period

5th-4th millennium BCE

Temple at Ggantija, Gozo, Malta

Before 3000 BCE

“Mother Goddess”

Tarxien, Malta

Before 2500 BC

Stone fragment

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Alignment of menhirs

Carnac, Brittany, France

c. 4000 BC

Stone

TRILITHON

Post-and-Lintel Construction

Lintel

Post Post

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Dolmen

Carnac, Brittany, France

c. 4000 BCE

Stonehenge

Salisbury Plain, England

c. 2800-1500 BCE

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Stonehenge

Trilithon with post and lintel construction