The art of the Upper Paleolithic is amongst the oldest art known (sometimes called prehistoric art). Older possible examples include the incised ochre from Blombos Cave. Upper Paleolithic art is found in Aurignacian Europe and the Levant some 40,000 years ago, and on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia at a similar date, suggesting a much older origin perhaps in Africa. Cave art in Europe continued to the Mesolithic (at the beginnings of the Holocene) about 12,000 years ago. As this corresponds to the final phase of the last glacial period, Upper Paleolithic art is also known as “Ice Age art”.
As a notable aspect of what some call the “Upper Paleolithic Revolution”, and evidence for behavioral modernity, the appearance of art in part helps us define the Upper Paleolithic itself. Art helps define what makes us human – it is part of what we are or can be (e.g. Steven Mithen, and The Mind in the Cave by David Lewis-Williams). Paleolithic art includes rock and cave painting, jewelry, drawing, carving, engraving and sculpture in: clay, bone, antler, stone and ivory, such as the Venus figurines, and musical instruments such as flutes.
Decoration was also made on functional tools, such as spear throwers, perforated batons and lamps.
Common subject matters include the animals that were hunted (e.g. reindeer, horses, bison, birds and mammoth) and predators and other animals that were not (e.g. lions, other big cats, bears and the woolly rhinoceros); the human form was often expressed – especially female shapes (they often look either: young, old, or pregnant). Men are also depicted, such as the ‘Pin Hole man’.
Genesis
In the Qafzeh -Höhle in Israel existed before 92,000 years, a non-purposeful use of shells of a then popular on the coast dog cockle (Glycymeris Insubrica) as well as the mineral dye ocher. Pierced snail shells (Nassarius gibbosulus) with dating of 82,000 years there from the Grotte des Pigeons (Region Oujda, Morocco) as well – about 40,000 years old – from the Üçağızlı Cave in Turkey.
The largest concentration of early art expressions of Homo sapiens comes from sites of the Middle Stone Age in South Africa. The associated tooling cultures are referred to as Pre-Still Bay, Still Bay, and Howieson’s Poort Industries, and date from approximately 75,000 to 50,000 years ago. The art works are also mostly jewelry made of pierced marine snails or mussels, but here in connection with a geometrically decorated objects. A large number of pierced and colored with red chick snail shells comes from the Blombos Cave(South Africa). These are up to 75,000 years old, are up to 100,000 years old while the oldest pieces of ocher in the lower cave layers. ocher colors were in the Middle Stone Age apparently already produced in large quantities as 58,000 years old layers Abri Sibudu (province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa) show. In addition, various Rötelstücke (red are Blombos Cave ocher) was found with geometric scorings, which are at least 75,000 years old. Convincing evidence geometrically ornamented objects were also old with up to 60,000 years engravedOstrich egg shells from Diepkloof Cave (Western Cape Province, South Africa) published. The ornate ostrich eggs were probably used as water containers.
The development from simple ornamented objects in Africa to figural miniature works of the European Aurignacian, which are not documented here until about 40,000 years ago, is most likely a continuous process in the sense of a tradition. In Europe, the time horizon of the transition from the Middle Palaeolithic to the Upper Palaeolithic a number ornamented objects that both innovations later Neanderthals may be (Châtelperronian), as well as interactions with the immigrant Homo sapiens could be attributed. Incised ornaments playing pieces of artCro-Magnon people a great role, where they decorate the ivory cabaret (see Venus of the hollow rock) or were applied as petroglyphs on rock walls.
The use of jewelry and decorative ornaments was until recently attributed exclusively to Homo sapiens and considered part of “modern behavior”. In 2010, painted with ocher shells from the Spanish limestone caves about 50,000 years old, pierced and Cueva de los Aviones and Cueva Antón known which are older than the earliest evidence of the Cro-Magnons and therefore considered to be jewelry made by Neanderthals.
A figural Altpaläolithische cabaret is, however, not yet proven. Two alleged figurines from the ancient Palaeolithic context, the Venus of Berekhat Ram (Israel) and the Venus of Tan-Tan (Morocco), are not accepted by the scientific community and considered natural games.
Genres of Upper Paleolithic cabaret
Figurative cabaret in Europe begins with the Aurignacian. Among the oldest works are ivory miniature works of the Swabian Alb, such as the Venus from Hohlefels and the lion man from Hohlenstein. Overall, for the Upper Paleolithic form Engravings, often at the hole rods from reindeer antler, bone, stone or jet quantitatively the largest group of mobile cabaret; here are exclusively representations of animals, v. a. of deer, ibex and wild horses. Engraved signs and symbols can be found on bullets, harpoons, the “baguettes demi-rondes” or on smaller perforated sticks.
Also worth mentioning is the group of sculpted spear- throwing hook-ends, which are mostly wild-horse heads, musk-oxen and stylized fish. Pendants and amulets were made from animal teeth, small bones, ivory, fossil snails, u. a. created. The small, strongly abstracted “dancing” female statuettes are a special feature of the Magdalenian; for an older period – the Gravettien – are lush, often faceless female representations (” Venusfigurinen “) typical, such. The Venus of Willendorf and the Venus of Macomer, From some sites, z. B. Gönnersdorf, come extensive series of fugitive engravings on slate, on which also animals and dancing women are also shown.
For Switzerland, only the last phase of the Upper Palaeolithic – the Magdalénien (about 18,000 to 12,000 BC) – for sure, since a repopulation of the low mountain ranges was possible only in the late glacial with the reheating and the resulting disintegration of the Würmeiszeitlichen ice, Of the 30 known sites in Switzerland, only finds from the younger Magdalene are known and belong within the after André Leroi-Gourhan outlined styles to Art Nouveau IV, the scribe drawings on slate, bones and antlers, figurative small sculpture and amulet and trailer shapes. The sites are distributed irregularly along the southern Jura slope and the southern area of the Swabian Alb.
Europe and the Levant (Ice Age art)
The vast majority of Ice Age art will not have survived; apart from work in wood, leather and other very perishable materials, the antler and bone which are very commonly used would normally decay if not buried in dry caves and shelters. There is evidence for some craft specialization, and the transport over considerable distances of materials such as stone and, above all marine shells, much used for jewellery and probably decorating clothes. Shells from Mediterranean species have been found at Gönnersdorf, over 1,000 kilometres from the Mediterranean coast. The higher sea levels today mean that the level and nature of coastal settlements in the Upper Paleolithic are unable to be explored and remain largely mysterious.
Engravings on flat pieces of stones are found in considerable numbers (up to 5,000 at one Spanish site) at sites with the appropriate geology, with the marks sometimes so shallow and faint that the technique involved is closer to drawing – many of these were not spotted by the earliest excavators, and found by later teams in spoil heaps. Painted plaques are less common. It is possible that they were used in rituals, or alternatively heated on a fire and wrapped as personal warmers. Either type of use may account for the many broken examples, often with the fragments dispersed over some distance (up to 30 metres apart at Gönnersdorf). Many sites have large quantities of flat stones apparently used as flooring, with only a minority decorated.
Ice Age art can be naturalistic and figurative; it can also be geometric and non-representational. Some of the oldest works of art were found in the Schwäbische Alb, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The Venus figurine known as the Venus of Hohle Fels, dates to some 40,000 years ago. Other fine examples of art from the Upper Palaeolithic (broadly 40,000 to 10,000 years ago) includes: cave painting (such as at Chauvet, Lascaux, Altamira, Cosquer, and Pech Merle), incised / engraved cave art such as at Creswell Crags, portable art (such as animal carvings and sculptures like the Venus of Willendorf), and open-air art (such as the rock art of the Côa Valley and Mazouco (it) in Portugal; Domingo García and Siega Verde in Spain; and Fornols-Haut (fr) in France). There are numerous carved or engraved pieces of bone and ivory, such as the Swimming Reindeer found in France from the Magdalenian period. These include spear throwers, including one shaped like a mammoth, and many of the type of objects called a bâton de commandement. One of the most famous pieces of portable art from Britain is the Robin Hood Cave Horse from Derbyshire. Other examples include the Kendrick’s Cave Decorated Horse Jaw.
Many of the finest examples were featured in the Ice Age Art: Arrival of the Modern Mind exhibition at the British Museum in 7 February – 26 May 2013.
East Asia
Cave paintings from the Indonesian island of Sulawesi were in 2014 found to be 40,000 years old, a similar date to the oldest European cave art, which suggests a much older origin for this type of art, perhaps in Africa.
A cave at Turobong in South Korea containing human remains has been found to contain carved deer bones and depictions of deer that may be as much as 40,000 years old. Petroglyphs of deer or reindeer found at Sokchang-ri may also date to the Upper Paleolithic. Potsherds in a style reminiscent of early Japanese work have been found at Kosan-ri on Jeju island, which, due to lower sea levels at the time, would have been accessible from Japan.
Africa
The oldest African petroglyphs are dated to approximately the Mesolithic and late Upper Paleolithic boundary, about 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. Zimbabwe’s oldest art finds date to at least 10,000 years (dated to sediment layers containing painted rock fragments). The earliest undisputed African rock art dates back about 10,000 years, apparently originating in the Nile Valley and spread as far west as Mali.
From the Apollo 11 Cave complex in Namibia, seven stone plaquettes painted with figures of animals have been recovered from a horizon dated to between 22,500 and 27,500 years ago.
The Blombos cave in South Africa yielded hatched patterns incised on pieces of ochre dated to as early as 70,000 years ago, which has been classified as “art” in some publications.
Australia
The Bradshaws are a unique form of rock art found in Western Australia. They are predominantly human figures drawn in fine detail with accurate anatomical proportioning. They have been dated at over 17,000 years old.
Gabarnmung, or Nawarla Gabarnmung, is an Aboriginal archaeological and rock art site in south-western Arnhem Land, in the Top End of Australia’s Northern Territory. The rock shelter features prehistoric paintings of fish, including the barramundi, wallabies, crocodiles, people and spiritual figures. Most of the paintings are located on the shelter’s ceiling, but many are found on the walls and pillars of the site. A slab of painted rock which fell to the floor had ash adhering which was radiocarbon dated at 27,631 ±717 years Cal BP which indicates that the ceiling must have been painted before 28,000 years ago.
Radiocarbon dating of charcoal excavated from the base of the lowest stratigraphic layer of the floor returned a mean age of 45,189 ±1089 years Cal BP suggesting the oldest date for the earliest human habitation. Faceted and use-striated hematite crayons have been recovered from nearby locations (Malakunanja II and Nauwalabila 1) in strata dated from 45,000 to 60,000 years old which suggests that the Gabarnmung shelter may have been decorated from its inception.
Americas
Peru, including an area of the central Andes stretching from Ecuador to northern Chile, shows evidence of human habitation dating to roughly 10,000 BCE. Early art from the area includes rock paintings in the Toquepala Caves that date to 9500 BCE. Burial sites in Peru, such as the one at Telarmachay, as old as 8600-7200 BCE, contained evidence of ritual burial, with deposits of red ocher and bead necklaces marking the site.
Important references
France
Laugerie-Haute, Aquitaine
La Madeleine, Aquitaine
Brassempouy (the Venus of Brassempouy from the «Grotte du Pape»)
Switzerland
The cave Kesslerloch in the canton of Schaffhausen
The Rislisberg cave near Oensingen
The Abri Schweizers picture in the canton of Schaffhausen
Free-range stations such as the Moosbühl in the canton of Bern
Champréveyres and Monruz in the canton of Neuchâtel
Germany
Vogelherd cave near Niederstotzingen in the Lonetal on the Swabian Alb, Baden-Wuerttemberg
Hohlenstein-Stadel near Asselfingen in the Lonetal (Swabian Alb), Baden-Württemberg
Hollow rock near Schelklingen im Achtal (Swabian Alb), Baden-Wuerttemberg
Geißenklösterle at Blaubeuren im Achtal (Swabian Alb), Baden-Württemberg
Petersfels near Engen im Brudertal (Hegau), Baden-Wuerttemberg
Klausen Cave near Essing in the Altmühltal (Franconian Alb), Bavaria
Gönnersdorf near Neuwied, Rhineland-Palatinate
Andernach on the Rhine, Rhineland-Palatinate
Source from Wikipedia