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Venus of Willendorf.
Austria.
25,000 BCE. (Paleolithic)
Statuette. (material?)
-As in much Paleolithic art showing people, a woman is depicted.
-Most likely a fertility figure
-Emphasizes reproductive attributes of woman.
-Almost no facial features, arms & hands not often represented; no feet because
usually standing.

Woman with Bison Horn.

Laussel, France.
25,000 BCE. (Paleolithic)
Relief carved on boulder.
-Set in the front of a settlement like a door.
-The horn is important: it introduces the element of sound & also because animal
horns were used as repositories for medicines--magical properties (?).
-Perhaps a leader or medicine woman.
-Hands but reproductive the reproductive organs again emphasized
-Hand laid over belly

Reclining Woman.
La Madeleine, France
25,000 BCE. (Paleolithic)
Relief carved on cave wall
-Representative of Paleolithic art in that it is carved on a pre-existing surface
Bison with turned head.
La Madeleine, France
12,000 BCE. (Paleolithic)
Relief carved on antler horn
-Animal showed grooming--representative of Paleolithic art in that it shows a
salient characteristic of the animal to make it more recognizable
-Missing part of leg which it was licking
-Male because of markings, large beard

Altamira cave paintings.

Santander, Spain
Around 12,000-11,000 BCE. (Paleolithic)
Cave paintings
-Not painted at eye level
-Connected with underwater channels

Lascaux cave paintings

France
Various dates
Cave paintings
-Also connected with underground water channels
-Light provided by tallow candles with stone holders
-Used scaffolding or ladders to paint the above eyelevel paintings
-Paintings include cattle, deers, stags, leaping cow, male deer with antlers, bison
during winter.
-Images often repainted
-Pigments made from ground minerals (e.g., ochre,) mixed with fat
-Outlines drawn with mineral chunks
-Paint applied with fingers
-Brushes were sticks with frayed animal hair at the ends
-For large areas of color, the painter spit through a reed and mixed the saliva with
pigment
-Natural protrusions in the rock often used for background, etc.
-Interpretation of paintings is very uncertain. Some archeologists and art
historians have speculated that they had a religious or magical purpose. Maybe
created as religious objects/offerings before the yearly hunt, which was very
dangerous
-Some paintings feature a negative hand print, perhaps a “signature” of the
painter
Rhinoceros, wounded man, and bison
Lascaux Caves, France
15,000 - 13,000 BCE (Paleolithic)
-Important because it features visual narrative
-Male figure in profile. A rare Paleolithic example of representation of males.
-Face like a bird--wearing some kind of ritual mask, maybe
-Bison wounded-intestines coming out. Wounded either by the warrior (who
seems to be being trampled) or by the rhinoceros
-Some kind of bird symbol staked to the ground?
-Rhinoceros a successful representation. The rhinoceros’s obvious features, the
buttocks and horns, make us realize what kind of animal it is

Marching warriors
Spain
Around 7,000 BCE. (Neolithic)
(Materials?)
-Beards worn
-Some clothes and headdresses depicted
-They are recognizably men because of their muscular thighs
-Representative of Neolithic period because during that period people are more
frequently depicted than they were during the Paleolithic period
-Bows and arrows
-Hunt ibexes
Jericho
Israel
Begins around 8,000 BCE (Neolithic)
-Considered earliest urban settlement
-A population of 2,000 people
-Covered around 10 acres
-Fortified, with trenches dug around walls
-A tower around 28 feet long and 38 feet wide. Has door with stairs. Used as
lookout post

Decorated human skull

Jericho, Israel
(date?)
Human skull with plaster (moustache) and eyes inlaid with glass, shells, etc.
-This sort of thing only made for elite
-Funerary portrait/ritual usage?

Catal Hoyuk
Anatolia
6,000 BCE
-Early urban settlement
-City had no streets; roof access
-The houses touched each other and formed a wall (though the town was not
otherwise fortified)
-Had around 3,000 shrines, which were more decorated than houses
-Shrines included bull shrine (associated with masculine properties)--murals with
bulls and a bench made from horns with a tray placed on it; Vulture shrine, from
5900s BCE.

Seated Goddess
Catal Hoyuk, Anatolia
5,900s BCE
(Materials?)
13’’ tall
-Throne marks it as a goddess
-Around this time, when people started cultivating the land in a sedentary way,
the earth was often represented as a goddess-farming associated with fertility
-The goddess is giving birth
-Emphasis on reproductive features
-Lion on the throne (lions represent feminine properties)

Landscape with erupting volcano

Catal Hoyuk, Anatolia
5,900 BCE
(Materials?)
-“Bird’s Eye” View--Roofs prominent
-The volcano is called “Hasan Dag”; it had two peaks and was important for the
inhabitants of Catal Hoyuk because it provided the obsidian which created their
wealth
-Thanksgiving image?
-Smokes-active volcano
-“Abstract” rather than naturalistic
Stone henge
Salisbury Plain, England
2700s-1300s BCE
-Grave markers called dolmens
-A grave sight with large megaliths on top (?)
-Started out as a cemetery within a large community (?)
-It functions also as a calendar
-An altar
-Circles of stones called “cromlech”
-Post and lintel construction
-Situated to create effects at solstices