Paleolithic Art
Humans make art. We do this for many reasons and with whatever technologies are available to
us. But what can we really know about their creators and what the images originally meant?
Left wall of the Hall of Bulls, Lascaux II: Replica of the original cave, which is closed to the
public. Original cave: c. 16,000-14,000 BCE
Humans make art. We do this for many reasons and with whatever technologies are available to
us. Extremely old, non-representational ornamentation has been found across Africa. The oldest
firmly-dated example is a collection of 82,000-year-old Nassarius snail shells found in Morocco
that are pierced and covered with red ochre. Wear patterns suggest that they may have been
strung beads. Nassarius shell beads found in Israel may be more than 100,000 years old and in
the Blombos cave in South Africa, pierced shells and small pieces of ochre (red Haematite)
etched with simple geometric patterns have been found in a 75,000-year-old layer of sediment.
The oldest known representational imagery comes from the Aurignacian culture of the
Upper Paleolithic period (Paleolithic means old stone age). Archaeological discoveries across a
broad swath of Europe (especially Southern France, Northern Spain, and Swabia, in Germany)
include over two hundred caves with spectacular Aurignacian paintings, drawings and sculptures
that are among the earliest undisputed examples of representational image-making. The oldest of
these is a 2.4-inch tall female figure carved out of mammoth ivory that was found in six
fragments in the Hohle Fels cave near Schelklingen in southern Germany. It dates to 35,000
BCE.
The caves at Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc, Lascaux, Pech Merle, and Altamira contain the best-known
examples of pre-historic painting and drawing. Here are remarkably evocative renderings of
animals and some humans that employ a complex mix of naturalism and abstraction.
Archaeologists that study Paleolithic-era humans believe that the paintings discovered in 1994,
in the cave at Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc in the Ardéche valley in France, are more than 30,000 years
old. The images found at Lascaux and Altamira are more recent, dating to approximately 15,000
BCE. The paintings at Pech Merle date to both 25,000 and 15,000 BCE.
What can we really know about the creators of these paintings and what the images originally
meant? These are questions that are difficult enough when we study art made only 500 years ago.
It is much more perilous to assert meaning for the art of people who shared our anatomy but had
not yet developed the cultures or linguistic structures that shaped who we have become. Do the
tools of art history even apply? Here is evidence of a visual language that collapses the more
than 1,000 generations that separate us, but we must be cautious. This is especially so if we want
to understand the people that made this art as a way to understand ourselves. The desire to
speculate based on what we see and the physical evidence of the caves is wildly seductive.
By the end of this module you will be able to:
Describe Paleolithic dwellings and shelters and the characteristics of the artifacts during
the Paleolithic era
Identify the types of images found in cave paintings in Europe dating from the Paleolithic
era
Discuss the aspects and characteristics of Paleolithic cave sculptures
The Paleolithic Age, or Old Stone Age, spanned from around 30,000 BCE until 10,000 BCE and
produced the first accomplishments in human creativity. Due to a lack of written records from
this time period, nearly all of our knowledge of Paleolithic human culture and way of life comes
from archaeologic and ethnographic comparisons to modern hunter-gatherer cultures. The
Paleolithic lasted until the retreat of the ice, when farming and the use of metals were adopted.
A typical Paleolithic society followed a hunter-gatherer economy. Humans hunted wild animals
for meat and gathered food, firewood, and materials for their tools, clothes, or shelters. The
adoption of both technologies—clothing and shelter—can not be dated exactly, but they were
key to humanity’s progress. As the Paleolithic era progressed, dwellings became more
sophisticated, more elaborate, and more house-like. At the end of the Paleolithic era, humans
began to produce works of art such as cave paintings, rock art, and jewelry, and began to engage
in religious behaviour such as burial and rituals.
Dwellings and Shelters
The oldest examples of Paleolithic dwellings are shelters in caves, followed by houses of wood,
straw, and rock. Early humans chose locations that could be defended against predators and
rivals and that were shielded from inclement weather. Many such locations could be found near
rivers, lakes, and streams, perhaps with low hilltops nearby that could serve as refuges. Since
water can erode and change landscapes quite drastically, many of these campsites have been
destroyed. Our understanding of Paleolithic dwellings is therefore limited.
As early as 380,000 BCE, humans were constructing temporary wood huts. Other types of
houses existed; these were more frequently campsites in caves or in the open air with little in the
way of formal structure. The oldest examples are shelters within caves, followed by houses of
wood, straw, and rock. A few examples exist of houses built out of bones.
Temp
orary wood hut: An artist’s rendering of a temporary wood house, based on evidence found at
Terra Amata (in Nice, France) and dated to the Lower Paleolithic era.
Caves
Caves are the most famous example of Paleolithic shelters, though the number of caves used by
Paleolithic people is drastically small relative to the number of hominids thought to have lived
on Earth at the time. Most hominids probably never entered a cave, much less lived in one.
Nonetheless, the remains of hominid settlements show interesting patterns. In one cave, a tribe of
Neanderthals kept a hearth fire burning for a thousand years, leaving behind an accumulation of
coals and ash. In another cave, post holes in the dirt floor reveal that the residents built some sort
of shelter or enclosure with a roof to protect themselves from water dripping on them from the
cave ceiling. They often used the rear portions of the cave as middens, depositing their garbage
there. In the Upper Paleolithic (the latest part of the Paleolithic), caves ceased to act as houses.
Instead, they likely became places for early people to gather for ritual and religious purposes.
Tents and Huts
Modern archaeologists know of few types of shelter used by ancient peoples other than caves.
Some examples do exist, but they are quite rare. In Siberia, a group of Russian scientists
uncovered a house or tent with a frame constructed of mammoth bones. The great tusks
supported the roof, while the skulls and thighbones formed the walls of the tent. Several families
could live inside, where three small hearths, little more than rings of stones, kept people warm
during the winter. Around 50,000 years ago, a group of Paleolithic humans camped on a
lakeshore in southern France. At Terra Amata, these hunter-gatherers built a long and narrow
house. The foundation was a ring of stones, with a flat threshold stone for a door at either end.
Vertical posts down the middle of the house supported roofs and walls of sticks and twigs,
probably covered over with a layer of straw. A hearth outside served as the kitchen, while a
smaller hearth inside kept people warm. Their residents could easily abandon both dwellings.
This is why they are not considered true houses, which were a development of
the Neolithic period rather than the Paleolithic period.
Paleolithic Artifacts
The Paleolithic or Old Stone Age originated around 30,000 BCE, lasting until 10,000 BCE, and
is separated into three periods: the Lower Paleolithic (the earliest subdivision), Middle
Paleolithic, and Upper Paleolithic. The Paleolithic era is characterized by the use of stone tools,
although at the time humans also used wood and bone tools. Other organic commodities were
adapted for use as tools, including leather and vegetable fibres; however, due to their nature,
these have not been preserved to any great degree. Surviving artifacts of the Paleolithic era are
known as paleoliths. The Paleolithic era has a number of artifacts that range from stone, bone,
and wood tools to stone sculptures.
Acheulenche
ulean hand-axes from Kent: The types shown are (clockwise from top) cordate, ficron, and
ovate. Evidence shows these early hominids intentionally selected raw materials with good
flaking qualities and chose appropriate sized stones for their needs to produce sharp-edged tools
for cutting.
The earliest undisputed art originated in the Upper Paleolithic. However, there is some evidence
that a preference for aesthetics emerged in the Middle Paleolithic due to the symmetry inherent
in discovered artifacts and evidence of attention to detail in such things as tool shape, which has
led some archaeologists to interpret these artifacts as early examples of artistic expression. There
has been much dispute among scholars over the terming of early prehistoric artifacts as “art.”
Generally speaking, artifacts dating from the Lower and Middle Paleolithic remain disputed as
objects of artistic expression, while the Upper Paleolithic provides the first conclusive examples
of art-making.
Mask of la Roche-Cotard
Also known as the Mousterian Protofigurine, the Mask of la Roche-Cotard is an artifact from the
Paleolithic period that was discovered in the entrance of the La Roche-Cotard cave, situated on
the banks of the Loire River in France. Constructed using flint and bone, the stone is believed to
represent the upper part of a face, while the bone has been interpreted as eyes. While some
archaeologists question whether this artifact does indeed represent a rendered face, it has been
occasionally regarded as an example of Paleolithic figurative artistic expression.
Bilzingsleben
Bilzingsleben is a site of early Paleolithic human remains discovered in Thuringia, Germany.
The area was also the site of discovery for many stone and bone tools such as hoes, scrapers,
points, and gougers. One bone fragment, an elephant tibia, has two groups of incised parallel
lines which some have interpreted as an early example of art-making. The regular spacing of the
incisions, their sub-equal lengths, and V-like cross-sections suggest that they were created at the
same time, with a single stone; however, no conclusive agreement has been made.
Blombos Cave
Engraved ochre from the
Blombos Cave: Engraved ochre from the Blombos Cave has led some historians to believe that
early Homo sapiens were capable of symbolic art.
Discoveries of engraved stones and beads in the Blombos Cave of South Africa has led some
archaeologists to believe that early Homo sapiens were capable of abstraction and the production
of symbolic art. Made from ochre, the stones are engraved with abstract patterns, while the beads
are made from Nassarius shells. While they are simpler than prehistoric cave paintings found in
Europe, some scholars believe these engraved stones represent the earliest known artworks,
dating from 75,000 years ago.
Nassarius
shell beads from the Blombos Cave: Discoveries of engraved stones and beads in the Blombos
Cave of South Africa has led some archaeologists to believe that early Homo sapiens were
capable of abstraction.
Parietal vs. Pocket
Two main types of Upper Paleolithic art have survived. The first type we can classify as
permanently located works found on the walls within caves. Mostly unknown prior to the final
decades of the nineteenth century, many such sites have now been discovered throughout much
of southern Europe and have provided historians and archaeologists new insights into humankind
millennia prior to the creation of writing. The subjects of these works vary: we may observe a
variety of geometric motifs, many types of flora and fauna, and the occasional human figure.
They also fluctuate in size; ranging from several inches to large-scale compositions that span
many feet in length.
The second category of Paleolithic art may be called portable since these works are generally of
a small-scale—a logical size given the nomadic nature of Paleolithic peoples. Despite their often
diminutive size, the creation of these portable objects signifies a remarkable allocation of time
and effort. As such, these figurines were significant enough to take along during the nomadic
wanderings of their Paleolithic creators.
Paleolithic Cave Paintings (Parietal)
The Paleolithic, or Old Stone Age, ranges from 30,000 BCE to 10,000 BCE and produced the
first accomplishments in human creativity, preceding the invention of writing. Archeological
discoveries across a broad swath of Europe (especially southern France and northern Spain)
include over two hundred caves with spectacular paintings, drawings, and sculptures that are
among the earliest undisputed examples of representational image-making. Paintings and
engravings along the caves’ walls and ceilings fall under the category of parietal art.
Paleolithic cave paintings demonstrate early humans’ capacity to give meaning to their
surroundings and communicate with others.
Themes and Materials
The most common themes in cave paintings are large wild animals, such as bison, horses,
aurochs, and deer. The species found most often were suitable for hunting by humans but were
not necessarily the typical prey found in associated bone deposits. For example, the painters of
Lascaux, France left mainly reindeer bones, but this species does not appear at all in the cave
paintings; equine species are the most common. Drawings of humans were rare and were usually
schematic in nature as opposed to the detailed and naturalistic images of animals. Tracings of
human hands and hand stencils were very popular, however, as well as abstract patterns called
finger flutings.
The pigments used appear to be red and yellow ochre, manganese or carbon for black, and china
clay for white. Some of the colours may have been mixed with fat. The paint was applied by
finger, chewed sticks, or fur for brushes. Sometimes the silhouette of the animal was incised in
the rock first, and in some caves many of the images were only engraved in this fashion, taking
them out of a strict definition of “cave painting.”
France
Lascaux (circa 15,000 BCE), in southwestern France, is an interconnected series of caves with
one of the most impressive examples of artistic creations by Paleolithic humans. Discovered in
1940, the cave contains nearly two thousand figures, which can be grouped into three main
categories—animals, human figures, and abstract signs. Over nine hundred images depict
animals from the surrounding areas, such as horses, stags, aurochs, bison, lions, bears, and birds
—species that would have been hunted and eaten, and those identified as predators. The
paintings contain no images of the surrounding landscape or the vegetation of the time.
Cave
paintings in Lascaux, France: The most famous section of the cave is “The Great Hall of the
Bulls,” where bulls, equines, and stags are depicted.
The Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc Cave (circa 30,000 BCE) in the Ardèche department of southern France
contains some of the earliest known paintings, as well as other evidence of Upper Paleolithic life.
The Chauvet Cave is uncharacteristically large, and the quality, quantity, and condition of the
artwork found on its walls have been called spectacular. Hundreds of animal paintings have been
catalogued, depicting at least thirteen different species—not only the familiar herbivores that
predominate Paleolithic cave art, but also many predatory animals, such as cave lions, panthers,
bears, and cave hyenas.
Drawings of horses from the
Chauvet Cave in France: The Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc Cave in the Ardèche department of southern
France is a cave that contains some of the earliest known cave paintings.
As is typical of most cave art, there are no paintings of complete human figures in Chauvet.
There are a few panels of red ochre hand prints and hand stencils made by spitting pigment over
hands pressed against the cave surface. Abstract markings—lines and dots—are found
throughout the cave.
The artists who produced these unique paintings used techniques rarely found in other cave art.
Many of the paintings appear to have been made after the walls were scraped clear of debris and
concretions, leaving a smoother and noticeably lighter area upon which the artists worked.
Similarly, a three-dimensional quality and the suggestion of movement are achieved by incising
or etching around the outlines of certain figures. The art also includes scenes that were complex
for its time—animals interacting with each other. For instance, a pair of woolly rhinoceroses are
seen butting horns in an apparent contest for territory or mating rights.
Spain
Altamira (circa 18,000 BCE) is a cave in northern Spain famous for its Upper Paleolithic cave
paintings featuring drawings and polychrome rock paintings of wild mammals and human hands.
The cave has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
Paint
ing of a bison in the Great Hall of Policromes, Altamira, Spain: Altamira’s famous Upper
Paleolithic cave paintings feature drawings and polychrome rock paintings of wild mammals
and human hands.
The long cave consists of a series of twisting passages and chambers. Human occupation was
limited to the cave mouth, although paintings were created throughout the length of the cave.
The artists used polychromy—charcoal and ochre or haematite—to create the images, often
diluting these pigments to produce variations in intensity, creating an impression of chiaroscuro.
They also exploited the natural contours in the cave walls to give their subjects a three-
dimensional effect.
Interpretations
Like all prehistoric art, the purpose of these paintings remains obscure. In recent years, new
research has suggested that the Lascaux paintings may incorporate prehistoric star charts. Some
anthropologists and art historians also theorize that the paintings could be an account of past
hunting success, or they could represent a mystical ritual to improve future hunting endeavours.
An alternative theory, broadly based on ethnographic studies of contemporary hunter-gatherer
societies, is that the paintings pertained to shamanism.
Paleolithic Sculpture (Pocket)
Paleolithic sculptures found in caves are some of the earliest examples of representational art.
The Paleolithic or Old Stone Age existed from approximately 30,000 BCE until 10,000 BCE and
produced the first accomplishments in human creativity. Archeological discoveries across
Europe and Asia include over two hundred caves with spectacular paintings, drawings, and
sculptures that are among the earliest undisputed examples of representational art-making.
Sculptural work from the Paleolithic consists mainly of figurines, beads, and some decorative
utilitarian objects constructed with stone, bone, ivory, clay, and wood. During prehistoric times,
caves were places of dwelling as well as possible spaces for ritual and communal gathering.
Unsurprisingly, caves were the locations of many archeological discoveries owing to their
secluded locations and protection from the elements.
Disputed Art(ifacts): Early Venuses
The Venus of Tan-Tan is an alleged artifact found in Morocco that is believed by some to be the
earliest representation of the human form. The Venus, a 2.3-inch long piece of quartzite rock
dated between 300,000 and 500,000 years ago during the Middle Paleolithic, was discovered in
1999 in a river terrace deposit on the north bank of the Draa River, just south of the Moroccan
village of Tan-Tan. There is controversy among archaeologists as to its nature and origin. Some
archaeologists believe it was created by a combination of geological forces as well as tool-based
carving. Visible smudge stains have been interpreted by some as remnants of red ochre pigments.
For others, the rock’s shape is simply the result of natural weathering and erosion, and any
human shape is a mere coincidence.
Drawing of the Venus of Tan-Tan: The Venus of Tan-Tan is
an alleged artifact found in Morocco that is believed by some to be the earliest representation of
the human form.
The Venus of Berekhat Ram is a contemporary of the Venus of Tan-Tan, found at Berekhat Ram
on the Golan Heights in 1981. Some believe it to be a representation of a female human figure,
dating from the early Middle Paleolithic; however, the claim is highly contested. The object is a
red tufic pebble, about 1.4 inches long, which has at least three grooves, possibly incised with a
sharp-edged stone tool. The grooves have been interpreted as marking the neck and arms of the
figure by some, while others believe these to be purely naturally-occurring lines.
Venus Figurines
“Venus figurines” is an umbrella term for a number of prehistoric statuettes of women that have
been found mostly in Europe, but also in Asia and Siberia, dating from the Upper Paleolithic.
These figures are all quite small, between 4 and 25 cm tall, and carved mainly in steatite,
limestone, bone, or ivory. These sculptures are collectively described as “Venus” figurines in
reference to the Roman goddess of beauty, as early historians assumed they represented an ideal
of beauty from the time.
The Venus figurines have sometimes been interpreted as representing a mother goddess; the
abundance of such female imagery has led some to believe that Upper Paleolithic (and later
Neolithic) societies had a female-centred religion and a female-dominated society. Various other
explanations for the purpose of the figurines have been proposed, such as the hypothesis that the
figurines were created as self-portraits of actual women.
Stylistic Features
Venus figures are characterized by shared stylistic features, such as an oval shape, large belly,
wide-set thighs, large breasts, and the typical absence of arms and feet. Hundreds of these
sculptures have been found both in open-air settlements and caves. The Venus of Hohle Fels, a 6
cm figure of a woman carved from a mammoth‘s tusk, was discovered in Germany’s Hohle Fels
cave in 2008 and represents one of the earliest found sculptures of this type.
The Venus of Hohle
Fels: A 6 cm female figure carved from a mammoth’s tusk, discovered in Germany’s Hohle
Fels cave in 2008. This represents one of the earliest found sculptures of this type.
Additionally, the Venus of Willendorf is a particularly famous example of the Venus figure.
While initially thought to be symbols of fertility, or of a fertility goddess, the true significance of
the Venus figure remains obscure, as does much of prehistoric art.
The Venus of Willendorf: The Venus of Willendorf is a particularly famous example of the Venus figure.
Summary
Weather, water, and time have destroyed the majority of campsites; our understanding of
Paleolithic dwellings is therefore limited.
Caves are the most famous example of Paleolithic shelters.
Artifacts dating from the Lower and Middle Paleolithic remain disputed as objects of
artistic expression.
There is some evidence that a preference for aesthetic emerged in the Middle Paleolithic
due to the symmetry inherent to discovered artifacts.
The Paleolithic is characterized by the use of stone tools, although at the time humans
also used wood and bone tools.
Cave paintings can be grouped into three main categories: animals, human figures, and
abstract signs.
The most spectacular examples of cave paintings are in southern France and northern
Spain.
Sculptural work from the Paleolithic consists mainly of figurines, beads, and some
decorative utilitarian objects constructed with stone, bone, ivory, clay, and wood.
“Venus figurine” is an umbrella term for a number of prehistoric statuettes of women that
have been found mostly in Europe, but also in Eurasia and Siberia and are characterized
by shared stylistic features, such as an oval shape, large belly, wide-set thighs, large
breasts, and the typical absence of arms and feet.
