Art
Beauty Embedded In History
Prehistoric
7000 B.C. - 2000 B. C.
Produced By: Alex Mo
Ideal Beauty
Human beings have been creating art for thousands of years. It is one of the earliest and most universal forms of expression of our species, and has been present since well before historical records of human activity. Art has traditionally been used to express things that people see in everyday life, how they perceive these things, and in some cases has been used to make historical records. Perhaps no type of art is more important to understanding the state of human existence at its time than Ancient Art, in the Prehistoric Period. While art from the time of ancient Rome and Greece, moving into the Middle Ages, the Renaissance period, and modern times is more elaborate than prehistoric art, prehistoric art is more important to understanding how people lived at that time because this was before a writing system was created. The anthropology from that time period was recorded by the people themselves in art form, rather than written historical records. We will examine the history of prehistoric art including some early examples, the methodologies used to create this prehistoric art, and why prehistoric art is significant from a historical perspective.
Rhetoric
Faith and daily life for the prehistoric race revolved around their tribe. They used totems as an emblem and pictorial legends explained unknown phenomenon. They did not have a written language so drew pictures to tell their stories. Their faith, displayed in their art, was very important to them, for example thunderbirds, which illustrated protection by a god. Archeologist found samples of early art in murals in the caves of southern France that showed the importance of hunting.
Technology
Prehistoric humans used natural resource to draw pictures. Initially, they used fresh animal blood to draw pictures but the blood did not keep for very long. Iron ore soon became the better choice for drawing pictures including different kinds of ore to create new colors. They also used juices from plants and flowers to create special colors. Mud was used to make three-dimensional works. Their tools were made from stone. Archaeologists have found many beautiful stone tools and decorations around world.
History
Prehistoric art is found in most of the world’s regions, as it seems that different groups of early humans created prehistoric art independent of one another. Prehistoric art began with pieces of art that served practical purposes, such as jewelry or beads that could be traded. Prehistoric art soon evolved into more abstract objects such as carvings of people or animals, usually made from ivory or stone. Finally, prehistoric art developed into what is most closely associated with prehistoric humans, for example paintings on cave walls that depicted animals and other things that prehistoric humans encountered in their everyday lives. This evolution took place over thousands of years, and represented a change in the way that societies at the time lived. Some examples include societies that created beads and other such types of art tended to be more nomadic, whereas the societies that created cave paintings that are more identifiable with prehistoric art tended to settle in a certain area for a relatively long period of time.