Prehistoric art is a time in mankind’s artistic development with an artistic purpose. It incorporates sculpture and painting. Workmanship led to the development of artisans specializing in the production of art, writing. Civilization and writing also developed. Prehistoric art has a wide range of purposes ( Lorblanchet and Bahn, 2018). This includes religion whereby images were created for the purpose of worship such as the "mother goddess". They also expressed their experiences during hunting and gathering through painting and making carvings on caves. Art had a decorative purpose and people made beads for beautifying themselves.
Paleolithic is drawn from two words, paleo which means old and lithic which means stone. This period is also known as the Old Stone Age and is dated between 2.6 million to 1000 years ago. Tools were developed from wood, stone and animal bones. They comprised of harpoons, axes, arrows, and choppers. This art development encompassed cave paintings, decorated and fashioned bones, polished stone, figurines, beads and places of worship. These were made using stone and wood which was sharpened at the edge to form a tool in order to make carvings and hunting. The tools made were also used in hunting wild animals which were food to them. Wooden weapons were also made which were used by hunters as protection from attacks by wild animals. The stone tools were also used to skin wild animals in order to use as clothing. The Paleolithic beings resided in small nomadic groups. Their way of life was basically dependent on the environment and weather as they were hunters and gatherers. They lived in huts and caves in small groups of about 20 to 30 people.
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Neolithic comes from two words, Neo meaning new and lithic which means stone. Neolithic also known as the new stone age and is dated between 10000 BC and ended in 4500BC. Art development comprised the creation of objects. Tools were made out of stones, bones, and metal such as a stone ax for farming. These tools were used for pottery, sculpture, clearing the forest, tilling land and bead making (Robb, 2015). Neolithic humans discovered agriculture and animal husbandry. This made them reside in one area, unlike the Paleolithic who were nomads. The humans stayed in mud houses which were supported by curved timber. For agriculture to take place, they sharpened wood and stone to use as farming tools. They grew beans and wheat.
References
Lorblanchet, M., & Bahn, P. (2018). Discerning Marks. American Scientist , 106 (2), 123-124.
Robb, J. (2015). Prehistoric art in Europe: a deep-time social history. American Antiquity , 80 (4), 635-654.
