More content available from the links below: More content available from the links below:


Chauvet Cave- Lions Hunting Bison
Ardéche Valley, France.
c. 25,000-17,000 B.C.E.
Image: Metropolitan Museum Web
Chauvet Cave website


Lascaux Cave, Dordogne, France
c 13,000 BCE
Third Chinese Horse
Photo© LaCour Slide Library
Living With Art Slide Set

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  • Key Dates
  • Upper Paleolithic
    (c. 50,000/45,000-c. 8,000 BCE)
  • Lower Perigordian  32,000-28,000 BCE
  • Aurignacian 32,000- 28,000 BCE
  • Upper Perigordian 22,000-18,000 BCE
  • Solutrean 18,000- 15,000 BCE
  • Magdalenian 16,000 - 9000 BCE
  • Mesolithic
    (c. 8000- 4000 BCE)
  • Neolithic
    (c. 8000 - 2300 BCE)
  • Bronze Age
    (c. 2300 - 1000 BCE)
  • Key Terms
  • General Terms
  • Naturalistic
  • Absolute dating
  • Radiometric (carbon-14) dating
  • Tectiforms
  • twisted perspective
  • Abstract
  • shading
  • realism
  • modeling
  • Architectural Terms
  • post and lintel
  • Cairn
  • Corbeling, corbeled vault
  • dolmen (DOHL-men)
  • Passage grave
  • henge
  • Monolith
  • Menhir
  • cromlech (CROM-lek)
  • alignments
  • Megalith
  • Core Course Thematic Links

Chapter 1: The Art of Prehistory
Reading

http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0073379239/student_view0/part1/chapter1/

Key Periods of Prehistoric Art

  • Cave men divided into several groups each named after characteristic site.
  • i.e. AURIGNACIANS and MAGDALENIANS were particularly noted for gifted artists and
    for important role of art in lives

Characteristics

  • Stone Age people become totally human
  • Development of characteristic HUMAN CAPABILITY of MAKING IMAGES
  • This use of SYMBOLS becomes the Invention of Representation
  • This ultimately leads to ABSTRACTION and Birth of ART and Science
  • Both = methods for control of human experience and mastery of environment
  • Most Art = Painting and Engraving

Paleolithic (Old Stone Age)

Sub periods:

  • Aurignacian 
    32,000  BCE to  28,000 BCE
  • Solutrean 
    20,000 BCE to 16,000  BCE
  • Magdalenian 
    16,000 BCE to  9,000  BCE

Mesolithic  (Middle Stone Age)

  • in the East Mediterranean:
    7000 BCE to  6000 BCE
  • in Spain and North Europe:  
    7000  BCE to  4000  BCE

Neolithic  period (New Stone Age)

  • in the East Mediterranean: 6000 BC to  3500  BC
  • in Spain and North Europe: 4000  BC to 1500 BC

Glossary

General Terms

  • naturalistic
  • absolute dating
  • radiometric (carbon-14) dating
  • tectiforms
  • twisted perspective
  • abstract
  • shading
  • realism
  • modeling

Architectural Terms:

  • post and lintel
  • Cairn
  • Corbeling, corbeled vault
  • dolmen  (DOHL-men)
  • Passage grave
  • henge
  • Monolith
  • Menhir
  • cromlech  (CROM-lek)
  • alignments
  • Megalith