ART 1A - Art of the Stone Age: Paleolithic and Neolithic Periods

Question	Answer
Paleo translates to:	"old" in Greek
Lithos translates to:	"stone" in Greek
What is happening at this time in the Stone Age?	This is during the Ice Age, nomadic humans (they are moving place to place; based on season and food sources). They tend to keep revisiting certain sites; i.e. like caves. Where they carve or paint (more often paint), there is evidence of these Paleolithic people all over Europe. There are some 200 hundred sites in all; created over a huge extensive time period (thousands of things added over the years). They range in sizes, they are using burning animal fat or laterns to light the cave. It is still a mystery as to the significance of these multitude of cave paintings and sites.
Paleolithic “artists” employes several key artistic conventions:	1. Dominance of animals in art versus humans. 2. The “twisted view” (or combined view) 3. Selective exaggeration
Caves at Lascaux, Paleolithic France, ca. 16,000-14,000 bce Image: Left Wall Of The Hall Of The Bulls (image/jpeg)	They created walkways (they don’t let people in now), the main show is on the cave walls and ceilings of these particular sites. These are all protected sites, cave galleries, organic pigments, ground minerals. Visiting the same sites over and over again.
“Hall of Bulls,” Cave at Lascaux, France, ca. 16,000-14,000 bce
Rhinoceros, wounded man, and disemboweled bison, painting in the well, Lascaux, France, ca. 15,000-13,000 bce.

Resource summary

	Created by Catherine Ross about 5 years ago