Prehistoric art Art created before writing systems, or records of history were created.

The Paleolithic era refers to the "old stone age," the entire time period during which human beings were making tools of stone. The time frame for "paleolithic art" can be described from 40,000 bce to approximately 12,000 bce, prior to the development of agriculture when people lived in hunter-gatherer nomadic tribes. The oldest undisputed works of art were found in the Schwbische Alb, BadenWrttemberg, Germany. The earliest of these, the figurine of a woman 2.4 inches tall made from mammoth ivory, known as the Venus of Hohle Fels, dates to some 40,000 years ago. . A lion headed figure, first called the lion man (German: Lwenmensch, literally "lion person"), then the lion lady (German: Lwenfrau), is an ivory sculpture that is the oldest known zoomorphic (animal-shaped) sculpture in the world and one of the oldest known sculptures in general. The sculpture has also been interpreted as anthropomorphic, giving human characteristics to an animal, although it may have represented a deity. The figurine was determined to be about 32,000 years old by carbon dating.

The Venus of Brassempouy is a fragmentary ivory figurine from the Upper Palaeolithic which was discovered at Brassempouy, France in 1892. About 25,000 years old, it is one of the earliest known realistic representations of a human face. Venus de Brassempouy Created 25,000 years ago

From the Upper Palaeolithic through the Mesolithic, cave paintings and portable art like figurines and beads predominated, with decorative figured workings also seen on some utilitarian objects. Man worked flint, wood, bone, horn and ivory to make the weapons he needed for his nomadic life.

Cave and wall paintings appeared at Lascaux and in the caves of the Vzre valley, as at Altamira (Spain) and its famous bison approximately 11,000 BC. Stylized outlines of animals and people were brought to life using pigments on the uneven surface of the rock walls. Les Combarelles and Font-de-Gaume at Eyzies-de-Tayac in Dordogne, offer fine examples of this sophisticated art which was to last until the Neolithic period.

Other, more recent discoveries, such as the Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc cave in Ardche (1994) have revealed extremely beautiful rock paintings. Unfortunately, because it is imperative that this veritable Sistine Chapel of prehistory be preserved, at this site as at many others, exhibitions and videos replace a visit.

"Neolithic" refers to the "new stone age," generally reflecting the use of stone tools with some use of metals, and with people settling into permanent communities, the development of agriculture, and animal husbandry. In the Neolithic evidence of early pottery appeared, as did sculpture and the construction of megaliths.

Neolithic pottery jar Yellow River, China Majiayao Culture, Circa 2500 BC ceramic 13.5 in. high

Stonehenge One of the most famous sites in the world, Stonehenge is composed of earthworks surrounding a circular setting of large standing stones and sits at the centre of the densest complex of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments in England, including several hundred burial mounds. wikipedia The Bronze Age of a culture is the period when the most advanced metalworking (at least in systematic and widespread use) in that culture utilized bronze. This could either have been based on the local smelting of copper and tin from ores, or trading for bronze from production areas elsewhere. Many, though not all, bronze age cultures flourished in prehistory. In Great Britain, the Bronze Age is considered to have been the period from around 2100 to 750 BC.

A two-handled bronze vessel Chinese Shang Dynasty (16001046 BC).

Drinking cup, gold Mycenaean Greek, around 1500 BC

The advent of metalworking in the Bronze Age brought another increase in mediums used for art, an increase in stylistic diversity, and the creation of objects that did not have any obvious function other than art. It also saw the development in some areas of artisans, a class of people specializing in the production of art, as well as the development of writing systems. By the Iron Age, civilizations with writing had arisen from Ancient Egypt to Ancient China.

Many indigenous peoples from around the world continued to produce artistic works distinctive to their geographic areas and cultures. Some cultures, notably the Maya civilization, independently developed writing during the time they flourished (3,000 bc 900 ad), which was then later lost when Spanish invaders destroyed their libraries (early 1500s). These cultures are generally considered prehistoric, especially if their writing systems have not been deciphered.
Wikipedia, Nov. 13, 2009

Maya glyphs in stucco at the Museo de sitio in Palenque, Mexico