History of Art - Prehistory

Prehistory

Human arts might have origins in early human evolutionary prehistory. According to a recent suggestion, several forms of audio and visual arts (rhythmic singing and drumming on external objects, dancing, body and face painting) were developed very early in hominid evolution by the forces of natural selection in order to reach an altered state of consciousness. In this state, which Jordania calls battle trance, hominids and early human were losing their individuality, and were acquiring a new collective identity, where they were not feeling fear or pain, and were religiously dedicated to the group interests, in total disregards of their individual safety and life. This state was needed to defend early hominids from predators, and also to help to obtain food by aggressive scavenging. Ritualistic actions involving heavy rhythmic music, rhythmic drill, coupled sometimes with dance and body painting had been universally used in traditional cultures before the hunting or military sessions in order to put them in a specific altered state of consciousness and raise the morale of participants

The first tangible artifacts of human art are found from the Stone Age (Upper Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic), periods when the first demonstrations that can be considered art by humans, appear. During the Paleolithic (25 000-8000 BC), man practiced hunting and lived in caves, where cave painting was developed. After a transitional period (Mesolithic, 8000-6000 BC), in the Neolithic period (6000-3000 BC), when man became sedentary and engaged in agriculture, with societies becoming increasingly complex and religion gaining importance, the production of handicrafts commenced. Finally, in the Bronze Age (c. 3000-1000 BC), the first protohistoric civilizations arise.