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Prehistoric art

Humans make art. We do this for many reasons and with whatever technologies are available to us. Prehistoric art refers artifacts made before there was a written record. Long before the oldest written languages were developed, people had become expert at creating forms that were both practical and beautiful. The earliest art comes from the Paleolithic era (the Old Stone Age), but it was in the Neolithic era that we see the most important developments in human history. The way we live today—settled in cities, protected by laws, eating food from farms—all this dates back approximately 10,000 years ago to the Neolithic era.

bannerstone grid — Between 6000 and 1000 B.C.E., thousands of nomadic Native Americans travelled and lived along the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, making enigmatic, carefully carved stones known today as bannerstones.

Bannerstones, North America

by Dr. Anna Blume

Clovis culture — The first clear evidence of human activity in North America are spearheads used to hunt large game.

Clovis culture, North America

by The British Museum

Kakadu — The cave paintings, rock carvings and archaeological sites record the skills and way of life of the region’s inhabitants, from the hunter-gatherers of prehistoric times to the Aboriginal people still living there.

Carvings and paintings, Kakadu

by UNESCO

Chimiachas — The late prehistoric rock-art sites of the Mediterranean seaboard of the Iberian peninsula form an exceptionally large group.

Rock art on the Iberian coast

by UNESCO

tanum — These prehistoric carvings reveal the life and beliefs of people in Europe during the Bronze Age and are remarkable for their large numbers and outstanding quality.

Rock carvings in Tanum

by UNESCO

orkney — The monuments at Orkney constitute a major prehistoric cultural landscape which gives a graphic depiction of life in this remote archipelago in the far north of Scotland some 5,000 years ago.

Orkney

by UNESCO

newgrange — This is Europe's largest and most important concentration of prehistoric megalithic art.

Brú na Bóinne

by UNESCO

valcamonica — Valcamonica, situated in the Lombardy plain, has one of the world's greatest collections of prehistoric petroglyphs

Rock drawings in Valcamonica

by UNESCO

altamira grid — Seventeen decorated caves of the Paleolithic age were inscribed as an extension to the Altamira Cave

Cave of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art ...

by UNESCO

borneo animal cave — These enigmatic artworks are among the world’s oldest examples of figurative depiction.

Figurative cave art in Borneo

by Smarthistory

A team of Griffith University archaeologists has shared in the discovery of what may be the world’s oldest known cave painting, dating back to at least 45,500 years ago.

Oldest cave art found in Sulawesi, Indonesia

by Smarthistory

Rock art is one of the best records of the life of past peoples who lived across the Sahara.

Rock Art in the Green Sahara (Neolithic)

by The British Museum

Stonehenge — In the most important development in human history, Neolithic people took the first step toward civilization.

The Neolithic revolution

by Dr. Senta German

Laxcaux — One of the defining traits of humans is our drive to make art, and this desire to create is as old as our species.

Paleolithic art, an introduction

by Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker

Handaxe, Paleolithic — Fire, clothing, or the wheel: was this humble hand axe the earliest human technology?

Our earliest technology?

by The British Museum

Apollo 11 caves stones — All evidence points to Africa as the origin of our species … is Africa also the birthplace of art?

Apollo 11 Cave Stones

by Nathalie Hager

Jericho Skull — Is the plaster face on this skull modeled after a real person? Is it one of the world’s oldest portraits?

The Jericho Skull

by The British Museum

Lion Man — The cave lion was the fiercest animal of the ice age, and this mammoth ivory carving combines human with lion.

Lion Man

by The British Museum

Nuragic architecture, Sardinia — The Nuragic civilization of the island of Sardinia presents a mystery—what were their huge stone towers?

Nuragic architecture at Su Nuraxi Barumini, Sardinia

by Dr. Jeffrey A. Becker

Running Horned Woman — In an ancient North African “rock city,” modern explorers wetted a wall with water—revealing this graceful image.

Running Horned Woman, Tassili n’Ajjer, Algeria

by Nathalie Hager

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