Q. 2. 'The art of India begins way back in the Paleolithic culture of the Stone Age. Discuss.
Answers
Explanation:
Stone Age art illustrates early human creativity through small portable objects, cave paintings, and early sculpture and architecture.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Create a timeline of the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic Periods of the Stone Age, giving a brief description of the art from each period
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Key Points
The Stone Age lasted from 30,000 BCE to about 3,000 BCE and is named after the main technological tool developed at that time: stone. It ended with the advent of the Bronze Age and Iron Age .
The Stone Age is divided in three distinct periods: the Paleolithic Period or Old Stone Age (30,000 BCE–10,000 BCE), the Mesolithic Period or Middle Stone Age (10,000 BCE–8,000 BCE), and the Neolithic Period or New Stone Age (8,000 BCE–3,000 BCE).
The art of the Stone Age represents the first accomplishments in human creativity, preceding the invention of writing.
Key Terms
Parietal Art:Paintings, murals, drawings, etchings, carvings, and pecked artwork on the interior of rock shelters and caves; also known as cave art.
prehistory:The span of time before recorded history; all the time preceding human existence and the invention of writing.
Nomad:A member of a community of people who move from one place to another, rather than settling permanently in one location.
The Stone Age
The Stone Age is the first of the three-age system of archaeology, which divides human technological prehistory into three periods: the Stone Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age. The Stone Age lasted roughly 3.4 million years, from 30,000 BCE to about 3,000 BCE, and ended with the advent of metalworking.
The Stone Age has been divided into three distinct periods:
Paleolithic Period or Old Stone Age (30,000 BCE–10,000 BCE)
Mesolithic Period or Middle Stone Age (10,000 BCE–8,000 BCE)
Neolithic Period or New Stone Age (8,000 BCE–3,000 BCE)
The art of the Stone Age represents the first accomplishments in human creativity, preceding the invention of writing. While numerous artifacts still exist today, the lack of writing systems from this era greatly limits our understanding of prehistoric art and culture .
The Art of the Stone Age: Paleolithic
The Paleolithic era is characterized by the emergence of basic stone tools and stone art in the archaeological record. For the first time, humans began to create durable products of self expression that served no function for survival. The diagnostic art of this period appears in two main forms: small sculptures and large paintings and engravings on cave walls. There are also various examples of carved bone and ivory flutes in the Paleolithic era, indicating another art form utilized by prehistoric humans.
Paleolithic small sculptures are made of clay, bone, ivory, or stone and consist of simple figurines depicting animals and humans. In particular, Venus figurines are the most indicative of this era. They are highly stylized depictions of women with exaggerated female parts representing fertility and sexuality. They typically date to the Gravettian period (26,000–21,000 years ago), but the earliest known Venus figurine (Venus of Hohle Fels) dates to at least 35,000 years ago, and the most recent (Venus of Monruz) dates to roughly 11,000 years ago. They are most common in the Mediterranean region, but there are examples from as far as Siberia. Archaeologists can only speculate on their meaning, but their ubiquitous nature indicates a universal human attraction to art and possibly religion.
Photo featuring photo and side views of figurine of a woman sculpted from a woolly mammoth tusk.
Venus of Hohle Fels: Oldest known Venus figurine. Also the oldest known, undisputed depiction of a human being in prehistoric art. Made of mammoth tusk and found in Germany.