Course Content
What is Prehistoric Art?
When we talk about Prehistoric, we can think of it as the "Old Stone Age," which is also known as "Prehistoric Times." Because this era is before the invention of writing, documentation, and civilisation, it's also known as "Prehistory" which is the more common choice of phrasing within art history (you will hear both variations throughout this course, but rest assured they both refer to the exact same thing). Google defines Prehistory as "Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins c. 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems." If you look up "art," Google says it's "the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power." So, when we think of what these people made, such as cave paintings and sculptures, as art, it is safe to call this the earliest form of art. Cave paintings are the most common form of art that people know about from the Paleolithic era. But few people know that they left behind more than just paintings. A lot of art that dates back to the Paleolithic era has sculptures in it, too.
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How do We Date Prehistoric Art?
Where did it All Begin?
Paleolithic Era
The Paleolithic period, which is also called the "Old Stone Age" lasted between two and a half to three million years. For art history, "Paleolithic Art" refers to the Late Upper Paleolithic period, which is when people lived. Approximately 40,000 years ago. Right through to the end of the last ice age, roughly 8,000 years ago. At which point marks the more dominant rise of Homo sapiens and the ability to create not only tools, but art as well.
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Paleolithic Sculptures Pt. 1
Paleolithic Sculptures Pt. 2
Paleolithic Cave Paintings Pt. 1
Paleolithic Cave Paintings Pt. 2
Paleolithic Cave Paintings Pt. 3
Paleolithic Hand Paintings
Mesolithic Era
The Mesolithic era was between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic period (this is when humans lived about 10,000 years ago to about 8,000 years ago). The Mesolithic is the time in the history of the Old World when people used tools. The term Epipaleolithic is often used to refer to the same time period outside of northern Europe. Mesolithic people used small stone tools that were polished and sometimes made with points. They attached them to antlers, bone, or wood to use as spears or arrows.
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Mesolithic Art
Neolithic Era
More people necessitated a shift away from hunting and gathering to the domestication of livestock and farming, sparking what is known as the Neolithic Revolution. The introduction of agriculture, which led to land ownership, and the formation of cities, is undeniably one of the most significant turning points in the history of human civilization. This is known also as the final division of the Stone Age period. A great many myths and folktales contain references to it. However, this happened over time and in different parts of the world at different times. Agriculture began in Palestine and western Iran in the middle of the eighth millennium, later in Egypt; in about the sixth millennium in Greece and the Balkans, early in the fifth millennium in China and also in Central America, but not for another one or two thousand years in northern Europe. To this day, some tribes in Australia and central South America have been able to sustain themselves through hunting and gathering without the need for agriculture. Consequently, the term "Neolithic" is sometimes misused by referring to both the time period and the culture. Even if homesteads were frequently relocated as soon as the land was exhausted by primitive farming methods, more permanent settlements followed the adoption of agriculture.
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Catal Huyuk Pt. 1
Catal Huyuk Pt. 2
Catal Huyuk Pt. 3
Catal Huyuk Pt. 4
Neolithic Architecture
All About Prehistoric Art
About Lesson

After about 8000 years of glacial retreat, the ice caps finally reached their present limit, and new water levels created many modern geographic divisions (such as that separating the British Isles from the rest of mainland Europe around 6000 BC).


Forest spread across the continent, limiting human mobility, and animals that Paleolithic hunters had hunted vanished or moved north for pasturage. In the Mesolithic era, dogs were domesticated, bows were developed for hunting, and canoes were used for transportation.


The arts underwent the most significant shifts in the Mediterranean region, where climate change had the least impact. Animal outlines can be seen on a Sicilian rock face that dates back to around 8000 BC or so. Naturalistic human figures, each between 10 and 15 inches (25 and 38 centimetres) in height and engraved with the same degree of realism as the animals accompanying them.

These bare bottoms are athletically lithe, with a clean outline that conveys both muscle definition and fluid movement. No earlier art has depicted human figures that are as anatomically correct or graceful as those found in the early historic period. It’s been suggested that the group of men standing in animal masks with two bound men at their feet is part of some sort of initiation rite or execution, but no one knows for sure what it represents.

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