Epochs · Europe
Prehistoric Art
c. 40,000 BCE – 500 BCE
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The oldest surviving art was made by Ice Age hunter-gatherers: figurines carved from mammoth ivory, limestone and bone, and paintings deep inside caves. Small female figures such as the Venus of Willendorf exaggerate the body in ways still debated, as fertility charms, self-portraits or symbols. Much later, Bronze Age metalworkers cast ritual objects that tie art to the sun, the seasons and the gods.
Hallmarks
- Portable figures in ivory, stone and bone
- Exaggerated, symbolic bodies
- Animals and hybrids of human and beast
- Ritual objects tied to the sun and the seasons
Artists here
