1. Art in the Stone Age - Lecture notes 5 PDF

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Notes on Art in Stone Age...

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Paleolithic Period (Old Stone Age) c. 30,000-9,000 B.C. Architecture: None Climate: Periods of heavy rainfall to severe heat Society depended on the success in hunting - nomadic (moved around to find food and water) Painting: Found primarily in caves. Subjects: animals, abstract signs, hand prints, few human beings. Purpose assumed to be religious-magical Sculpture: animals & people. Considerable small art objects-bone engravings or carvings of animals, engraved disks, carved rods, or carved attachments to weapons Style Features: Naturalism, anatomical correctness, shading, approximate life-size, non-narrative

Animal facing left, from the Apollo 11 Cave, 5” X 4 1/4”

Animal facing left, from the Apollo 11 Cave, 5” X 4 1/4”

Prehistoric Europe and the Near East

Altamira, Spain

Notice how low the ceiling is for the paintings.

Top left image was used to illuminate the space within the cave. Animal fat was burned.

Wounded Bison, c. 15,000–10,000 BC. Each bison 5’ long.

Lascaux, France

Hall of the Bulls (left wall), c.15,000-13,000 BC, Largest bull 11’ 6” long

From the top left - mystical unicorn, horses, bull, deer, and largest bull on the right.

Fungus

Bandaged

Lascaux has been closed to the public due to a fungus that began growing on the paintings. Bandages, soaked with a special liquid, was placed on top of the fungus. Then, they were pick off one at a time.

Now tourist’s visit a replica of the cave paintings. The original paintings are closed to the public.

Hand dots, Brunel Chamber at Chauvet, Southern France

Palm and hand prints. Earliest known signature.

Aurochs - top left, horses - right, rhinoceros - bottom right

Aurochs, horses, and rhinoceroses, c. 35,000-22,000

Notice how close the paintings are to the ground.

Over time, this is how the paintings were added.

Using a sharp stone, a horse is incised (carved) into the cave wall.

Large Horse Panel, Engraving On Rock, c. 35,000 - 22,000

Anther example

Panel of the Owl, Engraving On Rock, c. 35,000 - 22,000

Paleolithic Carving Hybrid figure with a human body and feline head, ca 30,000– 28,000 BC. Mammoth ivory, 11 5/8” high.

Bison with turned head, fragmentary spear thrower, from La

A spatula was used to shape the bison. Incised lines create the mane. The cracks are from the drying process.

Two Bison, reliefs in cave at Le Tuc d’Audoubert, France, c. 13,000 BC. Clay, each 2’ long.

Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna

The museum that has the Venus of Willendorf.

All nude female sculptures were named Venus - goddess of love. Willendorf is the town where this sculpture was found.

Limestone, 4 1/4” high.

This is how Willendorf looks today.

In 1908 Willendorf was getting ready to add train tracks to its city. Joseph Szombathy left Vienna and travelled to Willendorf. He knew there was a possibility of artifacts being unearthed during the digging process.

As he walked around the area, he noticed a small sculpture. He picked it up and took it to the local bar. He went to the restroom and washed the small sculpture.

Joseph Szombathy holding the Venus of Willendorf.

A map of where some of the stone age sculptures have been found.

At the museum this sculpture is in a small, dark, house. The sculpture is placed in the center of the room. There is a light that changes colors - red to beige.

She is carved in the round - on all sides.

The belly button is the only natural mark on the stone. She might be a fertility figure. Women could hold this during childbirth.

Her arms rest on top of her breasts and she has carved fingers.

Neolithic Period (New Stone Age) c. 10,000 - 7,000 B.C. • Architecture: Near East: c. 8000-7000 B. C. o Dates are earlier probably due to climate & early emergence of agriculture o Built cities of mud-brick & rough-cut masonry w/heavy fortifications of walls & towers • Architecture: Northern Europe: c. 1500-4000 B.C. o Megalithic stone monuments • Painting: Wall paintings found in Near East sights only o Style more naturalistic o Some paintings imply religious significance • Sculpture: Near East: Realistic human skulls molded in plaster o Small earth goddess figures, reliefs of bulls, gods, & geometric & curvilinear designs were important

Jericho, Jordan

The lifelike appearance is from plaster soft mixture of lime with sand/water.

Neolithic plastered skull, from Jericho, Jordan. c. 7000 BC

Ariel view

Great stone tower built into the settlement wall,

Catal Höyük

Excavation Site

Catal Höyük

Each section is numbered and documented.

Top left is a shrine inside of a house.

Çatal Höyük, Turkey, c. 7500 BC

Entrance was through the roof. There were no windows and people traveled by roof top.

Shrine Room - animal heads with horns attached.

Burial Storage room

Storage

Main Room

Hearth Stairs

Shrine

Female Fertility Figure, Terra-cotta, 7.9” high, c. 6000 BC

Deer Hunt - an action scene with human figures.

Deer hunt, detail of a wall painting from Level III, Çatal Höyük, Turkey, c. 5750 BC

Aurochs, horses, and rhinoceroses, France, c. 35,000-22,000

The figures are dressed too.

Shows the houses in Catal Höyük.

Landscape with volcanic eruption (?), watercolor copy from Level VII, Çatal Höyük, Turkey, c. 6150 BC.

Newgrange, County Meath, Ireland, 3200 BC, Neolithic Early Tomb Mounds"

The mound can be seen as a reminder of where their ancestors are buried.

Thatched housing

Hearth - stones inside for cooking

All parts of the animal were used - horns, bones for digging and weapons

Animal skin wrapped around tree branches - boat.

Animal skin fur to store gain

Grind grain

pottery and weapons

animal skin clothing

Water source for Newgrange

Boyne River

Boyne river

Newgrange, County Meath, Ireland, 3200 BC, Neolithic"

Large graywacke stones line the bottom of the mound

The front has quartz (white) and granite (circles) stones.

Stacked on top of each other.

There is no cement or grout

Entrance

Enrance

As you walk inside, there is a slight incline.

Vertical stones - post. Notice the smaller stones stacked on top of the posts.

The inside chamber is in the shape of a cross, but it has nothing to do with Christianity.

This is an example of corbel vaulting. Each row sticks out a little further than the one below until the stones meet at the center. This mound is waterproof. It is also 20’ high and 3’ wide.

In the center and on the left there are basins. This is where the ashes and bones of the deceased were placed.

Ashes and bones of the deceased.

There are also spirals - possibly means birth, death and rebirth.

When people died their bodies were taken to a mortuary house. They were left here for months while the animals fed on their bodies. What was left was burned. Then the ashes and bones were taken into Newgrange.

It took about 15 years to build Newgrange. About 80 men hauled enormous blocks of stone to the site.

The blocks of stone were moved by rolling it across tree trunks.

Michael O’Kelly George Eogan

There are the men that were responsible for restoring Newgrange. They are looking down the passageway.

A roofbox is above the entranceway.

Each year, during the winter solstice, the sun shines through the roof box and lights up the passageway.

Although scholars cannot agree how many stages it took to build Stonehenge, I am presenting it in 2 stages. This is how it was explained to me during my visit to Stonehenge.

Stonehenge, Salisbury Plain, England, c. 3000-1000 BC Providing Sites for Sacred Ceremonies

Stage 1 - dig a pit and bring the stones to the site. The pit is the circular indention that goes around Stonehenge. The first that was removed was used to build the slight hill that the stones sit on. In addition, man began shaping the stones.

A reconstructed view

Mortice

Stage 2 - put the stones in place by using mortice and tenon. Mortice is the hole carved into the top stone - lintel.

Tenon

The tenon is the posts - vertical piece.

Mortice and tenon fit together and hold the stones in place.

The stones were dragged to the site by 200 - 280 men.

The stones on the left are about 24’ high. The center stones are about 28’ high.

Each year the summer and winter solstice is celebrated. There are 600 tickets sold and it is a popular event. The sun shines directly through the henge.

early attempts at restoration.

Before and after

More recently, steel was inserted into the stone and the ground. Then it is covered with cement.

Paleolithic - c. 30,000 - 9,000 BC Human beings began to paint & carve images Reason - unknown Animals, not humans, dominate art Neolithic - c. 8000 - 2300 BC Formation of the first settled communities Birth of monumental stone architecture Paintings - coherent narratives & human representation...