Prehistoric Art is art created in the Prehistoric Era, which is usually taken to be; from around 3.3 million years ago to around 2,000 BCE. This time period may be divided into the three eras of the Stone Age: Paleolithic Era (3.3M to 10,000 BCE), Mesolithic Era (10,000 to 8,000 BCE) and Neolithic Era (8,000 to 2,000 BCE). A wide variety of art was created during this long period with some being so sophisticated that it is difficult to believe that it was created so long ago. Here are 10 famous examples of Prehistoric Art. Click on the Tile of Artworks for details and sources.
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The Key Questions
Prehistory is the period of human history before the invention of writing. This makes it problematic to define prehistoric art as writing developed in different regions at different times. Moreover, oral traditions do not suggest in any way that a culture is not developed. In keeping with convention, prehistoric art may be defined as art made in the distant past, roughly corresponding with the stone age which lasted from 3.3 million years ago to around 2,000 BCE.
Prehistoric art is divided into two main categories: rock art, or the art created on rock surface; and portable art, which includes sculptures, beads, pendants, manuports etc. While animal representations dominate the Rock Art of the Old Stone Age, depictions of humans started to become common in the Middle and New Stone Ages. Prehistoric sculptures usually depict pregnant females with males being a rarity.
Paleolithic Era
#1 Lion Man of Hohlenstein Stadel
Estimated Age: | At least 40,000 years |
Found At: | Stadelhole, Hohlenstein, Germany |
Discovered By: | Joachim Hahn |
Discovered In: | 1939 |
The Lion Man represents a mysterious figure which is half human and half feline. The figurine stands upright, perhaps on tiptoes. Details of its face suggest that it is attentive. It is crafted out of mammoth ivory. The lower half probably depicts a female. The appearance of male sexual anatomy is an illusion created by poor preservation of this part of the statue. With an age of around 40,000, Lion Man is the oldest representation of a being that does not exist in physical form but symbolizes ideas about the supernatural.
#2 Venus of Willendorf
Estimated Age: | 30,000 – 25,000 years |
Found At: | Willendorf, Austria |
Discovered By: | Josef Szombathy |
Discovered In: | 1908 |
Constructed from oolitic limestone, Venus of Willendorf is a miniature statue with a height of exactly 110 mm. It shows a faceless female with exaggerated genitalia, pronounced hips, a belly which is jutting out and heavy breasts. There is much debate on the purpose of the statue with numerous theories put forward including it being a fertility goddess, a representative of pro-creativity and a self portrait of a woman. Venus of Willendorf is perhaps the most famous Paleolithic sculpture discovered till date.
#3 Panel of Spotted Horses
Estimated Age: | 25,000 – 24,000 years |
Found At: | Pech Merle Cave, France |
Discovered By: | A. David, H. Dutertre & M. David |
Discovered In: | 1922 |
The Panel of Spotted Horses depicts two calm and dreamlike horses who are covered in black dots. The dots have been created by blowing pigment at the wall. Much time would have been devoted to the visual qualities of the painting including the use of stencils to create clear, crisp lines. The artist has also carefully placed the dots so that they don’t overlap the outlines of the animals. Pech Merle in France remains one of the few Prehistoric sites with cave art that is open to the general public and thus this famous panel may be viewed in its original state.
#4 Altamira Bison
Estimated Age: | Around 11,000 years |
Found At: | Altamira Cave, Spain |
Discovered By: | Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola |
Discovered In: | 1878 |
Altamira cave paintings were discovered in 1878 though they were declared to be authentic only in 1902. The paintings of bison are perhaps the most famous artworks from the cave. The various paintings show the bison as they behave in the wild: standing at rest, bellowing or rolling on the ground. Subtle shading has been used to express the volume of the bison’s belly. Moreover, the forward contour of their far leg is often rendered with a lighter hue to suggest distance.
Mesolithic Era
#5 Ain Sakhri Lovers
Estimated Age: | Around 11,000 years |
Found At: | Bethlehem, Palestine |
Discovered By: | René Neuville |
Discovered In: | 1933 |
The Ain Sakhri Lovers is made on a calcite cobble. It has a height of 102 mm, a width of 63 mm and weighs 343 grams. It shows a couple having sex and is also phallic in profile as well as when viewed from above or below. The depicted couple may be locked in a passionate kiss as well but lack of facial features makes this open to interpretation. The Ain Sakhri Lovers is renowned for being the first known depiction of sexual intercourse.
#6 Zoo Rock At Bhimbetka
Estimated Age: | Around 10,000 years |
Found At: | Bhimbetka, Madhya Pradesh, India |
Discovered By: | Vishnu Wakankar |
Discovered In: | 1972 |
The Bhimbetka rock shelters are located in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. The shelters were discovered by accident in 1957. They were were inhabited for a period of more than 100,000 years ago and the art discovered there span the Paleolithic, Mesolithic and historic periods. Zoo Rock, the most famous artwork in the shelters, contains hundreds of depictions of up to 250 distinct species of animals. These include sambar deer, elephant, leopard, buffalo, rhinoceros, jackal, bear and boar.
#7 Panel of Hand Stencils
Estimated Age: | Around 7,000 years |
Found At: | Cueva de las Manos, Santa Cruz, Argentina |
Discovered By: | Alberto Maria de Agostini |
Discovered In: | 1941 |
The Panel of Hand Stencil is one of the most incredible paintings at Cueva de las Manos. It has more than 800 of colorful hand-prints stenciled on the walls of the cave. The cave dwellers probably used bone-made pipes to create the silhouettes. Most of the prints are of left hands which suggest that they held the spraying pipes in their right hands. The size of most hand-prints resemble that of a 13-year-old boy.
Neolithic Era
#8 Great God of Sefar
Estimated Age: | Around 10,000 years |
Found At: | Sefar, Tassili n’Ajjer, Algeria |
Discovered By: | Charles Brenans |
Discovered In: | 1930s |
Great God of Sefar has bands at his arms, wrist, waist and legs. Two large bulges at his elbows are clearly noticeable. Their meaning is debated. It also has a mysterious large oval between his legs. The Masa population living near Lake Chad believe in a God named Matna, whose main characteristic is his huge scrotum affected by elephantiasis. As the oval between the legs of the figure looks like his genital organs have swollen, the proposition the Great God of Sefar depicts Matna has been suggested.
#9 Adam of Macedonia
Estimated Age: | Around 7,000 years |
Found At: | Govrlevo, Macedonia |
Discovered By: | Milos Bilbija |
Discovered In: | 2000 |
Adam of Macedonia has been created in a realistic manner, unlike most other Neolithic finds. It depicts a male torso in a seated position with a stressed spine and deeply indented abdomen. It has surprising anatomical details for the time it was created. It has well defined muscles, ribs, navel and a broken phallus. Because of its age and refinement of workmanship, Adam of Macedonia has been acclaimed as one of the ten most important archaeological discoveries in the world.
#10 Thinker of Cernavodă
Estimated Age: | Around 7,000 years |
Found At: | Cernavodă, Romania |
Discovered In: | 1956 |
Thinker of Cernavodă depicts a man in deep thought with his hands on his head and his elbows on his knees. Unlike most prehistoric statues, the face depicted is expressive. A slit is used to represent his mouth, his nose is in relief and his eyes are formed with triangular impressions. The figurine is remarkable for being one of the first known representations of a person in the act of contemplation. It was thus named after a famous sculpture by Auguste Rodin called The Thinker.