Paleolithic

While the Paleolithic era refers to the "old stone age," the entire time period during which human beings were making tools of stone, art begins at approximately 35,000 BC a time at which human beings seem to have circled the globe. The time frame for "paleolithic art" can be described from 35,000 BC to aproximately 12,000 BC when people lived in hunter-gatherer nomadic tribes and prior to the development of agriculture. The time frame has been pushed back in recent years to reflect current discoveries that show earlier use of stone tools.The earliest putative artwork yet discovered comes from between 500,000 and 300,000 BCE, during the Middle Acheulean period. Discovered in Morocco, it is about 6 centimeters long and resembles a human figurine. Although this Moroccan artifact may have been created by natural geological processes, it appears to exhibit traces of human tool-work and bears evidence of having been painted; "a greasy substance" on the stone's surface has been shown to contain a mixture of iron and manganese termed Ochre, and indicates that it was decorated by someone and used as a figurine, regardless of how it may have been formed. The identity of the artifact as evidence of human artistic expression, however, remains disputed. A more or less comparable object from Israel, dated to roughly 250,000 BCE, has elicited similar controversy. It remains premature, then, to claim with any degree of confidence that art existed in such early times. Discoveries in Blombos cave, situated in South Africa, have totally changed the history of art. Stones were discovered that were decorated with complex red arrays, showing that early Homo Sapiens were capable of abstraction and production of art. These impressive works date back from 70,000 years ago i.e. more than 50,000 years compared to Lascaux in France. While the datings of the Blombos artifacts are correct, there is no indication that they are indeed actual representations of advanced cognitive behavior similar to the art later in Europe. Several archaeologists including Richard Klein of Stanford are hesitant to accept the Blombos caves as the first example of actual art. Venus of Willendorf The earliest known European art is from the Upper Palaeolithic period and includes both cave painting, such as the famous paintings at Chauvet, Altamira, Pech Merle, and Lascaux, and portable art, such as animal carvings and so-called Venus figurines like the Venus of Willendorf. There are some speculations that only Homo sapiens are capable of artistic expression. However, Homo erectus had long before produced seemingly aimless patterns on artifacts such as is those found at Bilzingsleben in Thuringia, and these might be understood as a precursor to art, as well as to reveal some intent of the artificer to decorate, to fashion beyond practical necessity. The symmetry and attention given to the shape of a tool has led authors to see Middle Palaeolithic hand axes and especially laurel points as artistic expressions as well. The Venus of Berekhat Ram (Israel) and its counterpart in Morocco, the Venus of Tan-Tan, from 800,000 and 220,000 BCE, may be the earliest attempts to recreate the human form. A recent find, the Mask of La Roche-Cotard in France, now suggests that Neanderthal humans may have developed a sophisticated and more complicated artistic tradition.