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

The very beginning of artifactual history dates back to more than 2 million years ago, in east-central Africa (the most accepted area for the origin of the first humans).


It was here that Homo habilis (also known as ‘handy man’), enabled the use of manual processes where they were able to use pebbles to create tools, they did this by cutting off a piece of the surface so that they could work with it, and form it into one of the earliest forms of rudimentary tools.

Homo habilis

Homo habilis


One million years later, Homo erectus innovated a much more effective tool in which they discovered they could chip away the face of an opposite stone to give it a sharp edge.

A quarter of a million years later, we have found evidence that humans were making tools that could be used for many different things such as a hand axe. We also found that they shaped and smoothed stones into a shape that was more or less the same all over. This shows that they were aware of how things looked and how they worked together. (This is the first example of the awareness of form and shape within humans, hence allowing the ability to observe and create to be strengthened within our brains).

Homo erectus

Homo erectus


Moving to 125,000 years ago, Neanderthal man (Homo sapiens neanderthalensis) who roamed around in Europe & western Asia have been found to have coloured their bodies in red ochre. Although we do not fully understand the reasoning the behind this, it is safe to say that that this sub-species had a thought of life extending beyond our physical world, with graved being dug for the dead, and being buried with weapons, tools, and gifts including food (this was discovered in La Ferrassie (France)). We discovered a monument that was based around this period of time, in which a large stone had had cup like marking being pecked out of it. It is thought that these markings had a commemorative meaning to them, and so would prove the next stage towards the evolution of art, and creating.

Neanderthal man

Neanderthal man


Neanderthal man vanished with the last Ice Age in 40,000 BC, leaving Homo sapiens as the only human species to survive the Ice Age. They had carved out the earliest known objects into what we now call ‘art’ before the end of the Ice Age.

Unfortunately, the stone carvings that have survived from this period cannot be accurately dated, and thus cannot be fully claimed to be the ‘earliest known works of art,’ because the only piece that can be dated is from 5,000 years ago, and thus falls under the category of ‘history,’ rather than ‘prehistory.’ These sculptures have been discovered across a large area of Europe and Russia, and they are far more rare than tools or weapons from this time period.



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