Chapter 1: Prehistoric Art in Europe (Part II)

-Because the glaciers retreated gradually about 11,000 to 8,000 years ago, the dates for the transition from Paleolithic to Neolithic vary with geography

-However, to ensure consistent style throughout the book, which reflects the usage of art historians, which we will use BCE before the common era, and CE is common era to mark time

-Much is yet to be discovered in prehistoric art

-In Australia, some of the world's very oldest images have been dated to between 50-40 thousand years ago

-Africa as well is home to ancient rock art in both its northern and southern regions

-In all cases, archeologists associate the arrival of homo sapiens

-Researchers found that human beings made tools long before they made what today we call "art"

-Art, or image making, is the hallmark of the Upper Paleolithic period

-Before that time, as far back as 2 million years ago, during the Lower Paleolithic period in Africa, early humans made tools by flaking and chipping (knapping) flint pebbles into blades and scrapers wit sharp edges

-Evolutionary changes took place over time and by 100,000 years ago, during the late Middle Paleolithic period, a well-developed type of homo sapiens called Neanderthal inhabited Europe

-Cro-Magnons, fully developed humans like us, overlapped and probably interbred with the Neanderthals and eventually replaced them, probably between 40-50 thousand years ago.

-Called "Cro-Magnon" after the French site where their bones were first discovered, these modern humans made many different kinds of tools out of reindeer antler and bone, as well as very fine chipper-stone implements

-Cro-magnon were a social org and had rituals and beliefs that led them to create art.