Art of the Ancient World: Paleolithic to Neolithic

Venus of Holhe Fels

40,000 BCE

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.

Paleolithic Period

Period: 40,000 BCE to 10,000 BCE

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)

Venus of Laussel

25,000 BCE

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.

Neolithic Period

Period: 10,000 BCE to 2000 BCE

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

Dabous Giraffes

6000 BCE

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.

Newgrange Passage Tomb

3200 BCE

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.