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Prehistoric Human Art

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  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science

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Synonyms

Cave art; Cave painting; Petroglyphs

Definition

Ancient products of human creative expression.

Introduction

Evidence for artistic expression is a relatively recent phenomenon in the evolution of humans. Prior to the Late Paleolithic, most human activity was centered on subsistence with precious little time left for other pursuits. The oldest artwork currently recognized is a series of petroglyphs at the site of Bhimbetka, India, that have been dated to at least 290,000 years ago and could be somewhat older.

Prehistoric Human Art

Prehistoric art is generally placed into one of three categories: petroglyphs (carving or scratching into a stone surface), parietal art (cave paintings), or mobiliary art (small, portable items like figurines or other sculpture). Many of these forms can be quite difficult to obtain dates for, so the temporal context for many works of prehistoric art is highly subject to revision as new dating techniques are developed and existing techniques are...

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References

  • Jaubert, J., et al. (2016). Early Neanderthal constructions deep in Bruniquel Cave in southwestern France. Nature, 534, 111–114.

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  • Radovčić, D., Srsen, A. O., Radovčić, J., & Frayer, D. W. (2015). Evidence for Neandertal jewelry: Modified white-tailed eagle claws at Krapina. PLoS One. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0119802.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, USA

    Arthur C. Durband

Authors
  1. Arthur C. Durband
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Arthur C. Durband .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland Univ Dept of Psycholgy, Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Viviana Weekes-Shackelford

  2. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

  3. Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Viviana A. Weekes-Shackelford

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing AG

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Durband, A.C. (2016). Prehistoric Human Art. In: Weekes-Shackelford, V., Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1839-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1839-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

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