Art of the Ancient World: Paleolithic to Neolithic

By Aidan Dilosa
  • 40,000 BCE

    Venus of Holhe Fels

    Artist: Unknown; Title: Venus of Hohle Fels; Media: Mammoth ivory; Dimensions: ~6 cm height; Repository: Prehistoric Art Museum (Ulmer Museum), Germany.
    Significance: Oldest known depiction of a human figure; shows exaggerated female sexual features possibly linked to fertility symbolism. It typifies the Paleolithic emphasis on small-scale portable figurines, abstraction of body parts, use of durable materials (ivory) and symbolic subject matter.
  • Period: 40,000 BCE to 10,000 BCE

    Paleolithic Period

    Characteristics:
    Portable art (small figurines, tools)
    Cave paintings (deep in caves)
    Naturalistic animals
    Use of natural pigments (ochre, charcoal)
    Ritual or magical purposes (possibly hunting magic)
  • 25,000 BCE

    Venus of Laussel

    Artist: Unknown; Title: Venus of Laussel; Media: Limestone bas-relief, painted with red ochre; Dimensions: ~46 cm height; Repository: Musée d’Aquitaine, Bordeaux, France.
    Significance: One of the few bas‑reliefs (rock shelter relief) as opposed to free‑standing statuettes; shows naturalistic details of female figure and symbolic object (horn) possibly relating to fertility, animal symbolism, and seasonal cycles. Also shows use of red pigment and relief carving.
  • Period: 10,000 BCE to 2000 BCE

    Neolithic Period

    Characteristics:
    Monumental architecture (megaliths)
    Pottery with decorative patterns
    Abstract human forms
    Art becomes more functional (e.g., decorated tools)
    Community-centered artworks
  • 6000 BCE

    Dabous Giraffes

    Artist: Unknown; Title: Dabous Giraffes; Date: ~6000–8000 BCE (Neolithic period in that region, during African Humid Period); Media: Rock engraving (petroglyph) on sandstone outcrop; Dimensions: each giraffe ~6 m tall; Repository / location: Dabous Rock, Aïr Mountains, Niger.
    Significance: Shows that Neolithic art in Africa included large‑scale animal imagery, not just abstract motifs or architecture and demonstrates the diversity in Neolithic art globally.
  • 3200 BCE

    Newgrange Passage Tomb

    Artist: Unknown; Title: Newgrange; Media materials: Earth, stone (megalthic construction), carved kerbstones entrance stones with incised stone art; Dimensions: mound ~85 m diameter, ~13 m high; passage ~19 m long; Repository (site): Brú na Bóinne, County Meath, Ireland.
    Significance: Newgrange is one of the major Neolithic monuments in Europe It illustrates Neolithic art’s concern with cosmology communal ritual, death and ancestry, and the importance of geometry and abstraction.