Art before the Written Word: Prehistoric Art in Europe and North America

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Art before the Written Word Prehistoric Art in
Europe and North America
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Useful terms

• Paleolithic period (old stone) (c.
  40,000-10,000 BC)Mesolithic period (middle
  stone) (c. 10,000-8,000 BC)Neolithic period
  (new stone) (c. 8,000-2,000 BC)
• Lascaux
• Chavet
• Altamira
• Sculpture-in the-round
• Relief sculpture (high, low, incised or sunken)
• Mobiliary art
• Pigment (organic and inorganic)
• monumental

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• Megalithic
• Neolithic stone structures
• Menhirs (Celtic menstone, hirlong)
• Dolmens (Celtic menstone, doltable)
• Cromlech (Celtic cromcircle, lechplace)
• Post and lintel construction
• Stonehenge
• Bluestones
• Sarsen blocks

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WOMAN FROM BRASSEMPOUY
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Side view
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Map of Lascaux
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Woman (Venus) from Willendorf(sculpture in the
round)
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Venus of Laussel(relief sculpture)
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Mesolithic period
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Menhirs
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Dolmen
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Cromlech
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Seahenge
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Phase I

• The earliest portion of the complex dates to
  approximately 2950-2900 BCE (Middle Neolithic).
  It is comprised a circular bank, ditch, and
  counterscarp bank of about 330 feet (100 meters)
  in diameter. Just inside the earth bank is a
  circle of the 56 Aubrey holes that held wooden
  posts.

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Phase II (c. 2900-2400 BC)

• After 2900 BCE and for approximately the next 500
  years (until 2400 BCE), post holes indicate
  timber settings in the centre of the monument and
  at the north-eastern entrance. The Aubrey Holes
  no longer held posts but were partially filled,
  some with cremation deposits added to the fill.
  The numerous post holes indicate timber
  structures but no clear patterns or
  configurations are discernible that would suggest
  their shape, form, or function.

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Phase III (c. 2550-1600 BC)

• During Phase III the monument underwent a
  complicated sequence of settings of large stones.
  The first stone setting comprised a series of
  Bluestones placed in what are known as the Q and
  R Holes (sub-phase 3i). These were subsequently
  dismantled and a circle of Sarsens and a
  horseshoe-shaped arrangement of Trilithons
  erected (sub-phase 3ii).

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Stonehenge restorations('STONHING', 1575 (print
by "R.F.")
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Inigo Jones, 'Stonehenge Restored' (1655)
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Druidic Festival at Stonehenge (colored Italian
engraving, 1820)
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Carhenge (Alliance, Nebraska)