Art 101 : Ancient Art Part 1 – The Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages

The first instalment of the Art 101 series

The first post of this week will look at Ancient Art – focusing briefly on each of the following: Stone Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age art.

“Ancient” denotes a time long in the past, before the rise of what we call “modern” civilisation. When we talk about art, we tend to start with the Greeks and the Romans, who were known for their stunning classical statues, sculptures, mosaics, and paintings – though very few of the latter survive.

However, humans have been creating art since the beginning of, well, humans! If we go further back to the first civilisations, focusing on the Stone Age, Iron Age and Bronze Age periods, we will find an abundance of art and art objects hailing from these eras.

Stone Age Art

In this period, spanning roughly from 30,000 BC to about 3,000 BC, humans made tools using stone. The Stone Age is split into three different periods: the Paleolithic Period or Old Stone Age (30,000 BCE–10,000 BCE), the Mesolithic Period or Middle Stone Age (10,000 BCE–8,000 BCE), and the Neolithic Period or New Stone Age (8,000 BCE–3,000 BCE).

A lot of the artwork we have hailing from this period is quite mysterious. The Stone Age is classed as prehistory – this means that during this period, there were no written records about life which survive to this day, so historians and art historians largely rely on speculation and logical educated guesses to understand the works of art which remain.

Some of the most complete examples of Stone Age art can be found in the form of cave paintings, and also stone carving.

Cave Paintings

Cave paintings, such as this example of a 30,000-year-old hyena painting found in the Chauvet Cave, France, show animals and humans, often hunting or being hunted. In this way we can glean information on hunting and gathering at the time.

Hyena from Chauvet Cave, France

Some cave paintings also give us direct and interesting insights into people and communities, such as these fun hand stencilled paintings hailing from caves in the Maros-Pangkep karst (Indonesia). This almost brings to mind tracing around your hands while in primary school – a simple artistic endeavour that seems so relatable that it is hard to imagine what we are viewing is between 35,000 to 40,000 years old.

Hand stencils estimated between 35,000–40,000 years old

The purpose of images such as these above (and there are hundreds of surviving examples of a similar type) is heavily debated. We cannot be sure whether these images were intended to be didactic, a show of power, an aesthetic pursuit or if they existed for some unknown ritualistic purpose. While this cannot be ascertained exactly, paintings like this still give us a unique insight into aspects of prehistoric life.

Stone Carvings

Another popular form of decoration in the Stone Age can be found in stone carvings. These remaining decorative stones often show geometric patterns, and is often linked to areas of spiritual importance, such as burial grounds.

Particularly interesting examples of this can be found in insular settlements, such as at Newgrange, a famous Stone Age burial ground in Ireland. A carving of note is Kerbstone 52, pictured below.

Kerbstone K52, Newgrange, Ireland

The kerbstone consists of three main sections. The bottom left has a diamond or lozenge pattern, the far right shows concentric carved circles, and the top left shows a spiral pattern. These spiral patterns are a common motif in ancient Irish art, appearing in many forms over the years. Often these appear in the form of a triskele, a series of three interlinked spirals to create one continuous form.

5,000 year old triskele at Newgrange

Again, the exact meaning of these carvings is debated, whether they are just for aesthetic effect or whether they have some spiritual meaning which has now been lost, which seems likely due to their inclusion at a burial site. They have also been speculated to be depictions of the elements – air, wind, fire, or earth.

Bronze Age and Iron Age Art

The Bronze Age (approximately 3300 BC to 1200 BC) and Iron Age (approximately 1200 BC and 600 BC) were mainly denoted by the discovery and use of metals, and the practice of mixing stronger combinations of metals which produced superior weapons and tools.

In this period, we have a lot of surviving ancient art objects – from decorative weapons and tools, instruments and sculptures to copious amounts of jewellery.

Within metalworking at the time, there was a huge focus on decoration, similar to stone carving, favouring geometric forms.

Bronze Age

In the Bronze Age, we can find many incredibly intricate forms of ancient decorated art. These can include highly decorative jewellery, such as the necklaces, rings, pins, brooches and bracelets below.

A Bronze Age Hoard from Vejle, Denmark

However, in the Bronze Age, we can also find surviving examples of highly decorative sculpture and ceramics, both in Europe and further afield.

Minoan Vase (1700-1425 BC), from Bronze Age Crete

Dancing Girl (c. 2500 BC), from Mohenjodaro in the Indus Valley, South Asia

Iron Age

Similarly, in the Iron Age, we see some incredibly skilled metalworking, both in everyday tools and weapons, and also in the more decorative, perhaps purely ceremonial, examples below.

These axe-heads are thought to belong to an Iron Age warrior-priest, probably a ruling prince in the region. From the Villanovan settlers in Italy , c. 1100 BC to 700 BC.

The Wandsworth shield, Iron Age, now in the British Museum

At this time, art objects served primarily a necessary function – while these works were beautiful and intricate, we tend to see objects for human use – shields, weapons, jewellery and pots, with the main forms of potentially purely aesthetic art existing solely in cave or wall painting.

However, without necessary documentation to prove that these works were not merely an aesthetic delight, it is not fair to say that these beautiful works should be relegated merely to objects – each are beautiful, displaying a huge level of skill and artistic intent, and must be treated as such.  The art from this period is every bit as worthy and impressive of the paintings and sculpture we associate with mainstream art over the modern period.

The practice of art for decoration of walls and rooms, while being born of this period, is more prominent in the surviving artistic output of the Ancient Egyptians, Romans and Greeks.

Join us in our next installment to hear more about these cultures and their art!