Key Learning Terms

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After successful completion of this module you will be able to:

Identify the major visual characteristics of Paleolithic and Neolithic art (formal, technical and expressive)
Interpret the possible meaning(s) of works of Paleolithic and Neolithic art based on examination and analysis of themes and subject matter.
Relate Paleolithic and Neolithic art to cultural contexts.
Refine art historical methods of investigation such as observation and comparison.
Select visual and textual evidence in various media to support an argument or an interpretation of Prehistoric art.

While you are reviewing the contents of this module, consider the following questions:

How does the lifestyle of the artist(s) affect the subject matter of the work of art?
How does the form (organization of visual elements) of the work reflect attitudes prevalent in the culture?
What does the chosen medium tell us about the world that these artists inhabited?
How do the structures that these people lived in reveal their lifestyle?

Key Terms: General consensus of scholarly opinion, Prehistory, Paleolithic, Representational, Composition, “Sympathetic” magic, Abstraction, Shaman, Sculpture in the round (freestanding), Relief sculpture, Modeling, Neolithic, “mud brick”, bucrania, terracotta, composite view, landscape, megalithic, alignments, henge, post-and-lintel construction, trilithons

Here are links to art history glossaries that will help you better understand the above key vocabulary terms.