Paleolithic & Neolithic Art

For the first section of study for this course, you are going to be introduced to the beginnings of art and you will begin to tackle some of the bigger questions about why human beings make art and how we perceive those images. 

The first era of art we will be studying is called the Paleolithic Era (literally "New Stone Age") . In this era from around 40,000 BCE to around 12,000 BCE, humans are mostly nomadic hunters and gathers living in the last stages of an ice age. While lives are short and difficult, during this period humans begin to create images of the world around them. Humans now have the ability to make visual copies and interpretations of their surroundings. This seismic change in the way we view our world will forever be altered.

Around 9,000  BCE, the worse effects of the ice age began to lessen, which led to a warming that raised sea levels and caused the extinction or migration of the main food source animals that kept Paleolithic people alive in Europe.

During this next phase, the Neolithic (literally "New Stone Age") humans began to settle into organized communities and domesticate plants and animals. Nomadic tribes gave way to Neolithic farming and herding. Permanent communities began to spring up in Anatolia (modern Turkey) and Mesopotamia (modern Iraq). This ability to produce food while remaining settled in one area was a revolution in the history of humanity. It allowed for the proliferation of complex societies with organized governments, religions, and economies. This then led to the eventual creation of large scale structures, sculptures and images on a scale never before seen.

One of the first cities to appear during the Neolithic period was Jericho along the Jordan river near modern day Jerusalem. The first settlers to the area began building structures around 9000 BCE. The city was already thousands of years old by the time it is mentioned in the Bible. Along with a wall surrounding the city for protection, the inhabitants of Jericho created the first "portraits" of human beings by adding layers of clay to human skulls.

VOCABULARY LIST

This is a list of important vocabulary words for. The definition of many of these words can be found in the glossary of your textbook, Gardner's Art through the Ages. Make sure you are familiar with the meaning of all these words by the end of the chapter.

Paleolithic
Neolithic
Perceptual Image
Conceptual Image
Representational Image
Post and Lintel
Megalith
Ochre
Bas relief
Incised
Henge
Megalith
Post and Lintel
Corbelling
Wattle and Daub
Cantilevered

[mizmizeri]

thank you proffesor neal for teaching me everything i know and helping me pass all my art history exams! 😊 greetings from europe 💫💫💫

[willeigo]

Can't wait to get back to the Pyrenees and Massif in France and Spain. I will visit these sites and associated museums.

[blue_dArtist]

Thank you very match 🌟 Your courses and your way of teaching are really helpful for studying for the exam 😄.

[zeropointconsciousness]

I found a macehead I think it is in my local river in Scotland.
Pity I can't post a picture of it here because it is very esthetically pleasing to the eye.
A work of art for sure.

[artworld]

Just amazing! So great work! Regards dear💕💕

[usergiodmsilvaPT]

11:53 wow, these are amazing, had never seen these ones before!

[ThePaleolithicDigger]

GREAT presentation... There is one thought you spoke that I can not wrap my mind around . I say thought as it is what has been taught, someones thought on the subject. Paleolithic people were not just Wander, Hunter, Gathers, Nomads. I live and learn on a community/ tribe home site of paleolithic people that was generations upon generations upon (ect.) of people. I do believe small groups would go out from time to time to follow migrating herds . But in reality lets look at animals that would be harvested because not all animals are migrating animals . We have animals like deer, squirrel, rabbit, grouse, turkey, fish ( non migrating ) . Along with other types of food they knew about . ( Nuts, fruits, grasses and weeds ect.) Im speaking of North America . Which people were here long before weve been taught. If you'd like to see some artifacts, tools / effigies of North America Paleolithic come join me on my channel. Thank you for this video...

[happybergner]

How do we know that the horn in the relief sculpture, is not a Shofar? Well, she is holding it the wrong way....

[Creating.with.Mohsen]

thank you so much for this lecture series! its truly amazing!
is it possible that i find the book youre using online?

[nikitaiv]

Wow! Thank you so much for such an incredible lecture!

[samuelpope]

love the video. I am fascinated by the Venus figures. I am aware of the relatively recent interpretation that posits women as the creators of these. I think that is rather unlikely. I have also heard that they were simply porn. The erotic nature of the figures is offered as "evidence" for that. I would be surprised if the men (assuming male artists) didn't enjoy the figures for their eroticism but that by no means precludes another purpose. They might have been images of what a young bachelor wanted to possess, and by creating an image of same might affect his destiny in the same way the images of the animals influenced the hunt.

[Monedgar]

What about an interpretation that at least some images or sculptures were made for fun?