02/19 02. Origins of Image-Making and Early Architecture Free Online FlashCards

What is prehistory?

Prehistory is the period before written documentation, but its dates vary by region rather than forming one worldwide period.

How do pictographs differ from petroglyphs?

Pictographs are painted or drawn images; petroglyphs are carved, pecked, incised, or abraded into rock.

What are cupules?

Cupules are small, deliberately made hollows pecked into stone.

What defines portable art?

Portable art consists of small movable objects such as figurines, engraved plaques, beads, decorated bones, and carved tools.

What is parietal art?

Parietal art is art attached to a fixed surface, especially a cave or rock-shelter wall.

What evidence supports interpretations of prehistoric images?

Interpretations should use location, technique, subject matter, associated tools or food remains, traces of use, repeated patterns, and landscape relationships.

How does Coliboaia Cave illustrate the use of rock surfaces?

At Coliboaia Cave, animal figures use natural wall contours and lineations to evoke bodies and forms.

What can Algerian rock engravings reveal besides artistic practice?

Algerian engravings depict animals associated with a formerly wetter environment, including elephants, rhinoceroses, hippopotamuses, fish, giraffes, antelopes, and gazelles.

Which period is associated with Chauvet Cave’s early figurative drawings?

Chauvet Cave’s early figurative drawings are associated with the Aurignacian period, approximately 32,000–30,000 years ago.

How did cave settings affect the experience of images?

Darkness, acoustics, restricted access, and shifting lamplight shaped how viewers encountered and experienced cave images.

What does the chronology of Bhimbetka’s paintings demonstrate?

The Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka contain paintings dating from the Mesolithic period through historical times.

When were Göbekli Tepe’s monumental structures built?

Göbekli Tepe’s monumental structures were built approximately 9600–8200 BCE by Pre-Pottery Neolithic communities.