Editing Paleolithic (section)

== Sculpture and painting ==
[[File:Wien NHM Venus von Willendorf.jpg|thumb|The [[Venus of Willendorf]] is one of the most famous Venus figurines.]]

Early examples of artistic expression, such as the [[Venus of Tan-Tan]] and the patterns found on [[elephant]] bones from [[Bilzingsleben (Paleolithic site)|Bilzingsleben]] in [[Thuringia]], may have been produced by Acheulean tool users such as ''[[Homo erectus]]'' prior to the start of the [[Middle Paleolithic]] period. However, the earliest undisputed evidence of art during the Paleolithic comes from [[Middle Paleolithic]]/[[Middle Stone Age]] sites such as [[Blombos Cave]]–South Africa–in the form of [[bracelet]]s,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3629559.stm |title=Cave yields 'earliest jewellery'|work=BBC News |author=Jonathan Amos|access-date=2008-03-12 | date=2004-04-15}}</ref> [[bead]]s,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/04/0415_040415_oldestjewelry.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040416062817/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/04/0415_040415_oldestjewelry.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 16, 2004 |title=Oldest Jewelry? "Beads" Discovered in African Cave |work=National Geographic News |author=Hillary Mayell |access-date=2008-03-03}}</ref> [[rock art]],<ref name=Henahan/> and [[ochre]] used as body paint and perhaps in ritual.<ref name="Miller2006"/><ref name=Henahan/> Undisputed evidence of art only becomes common in the Upper Paleolithic.<ref>[http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761566394_13/Human_Evolution.html "Human Evolution," Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2007] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091031235302/http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761566394_13/Human_Evolution.html |date=2009-10-31 }} Contributed by Richard B. Potts, B.A., Ph.D.</ref>

Lower Paleolithic [[Acheulean]] tool users, according to Robert G. Bednarik, began to engage in symbolic behavior such as art around 850,000&nbsp;BP. They decorated themselves with beads and collected exotic stones for aesthetic, rather than utilitarian qualities.<ref name=Bednarik>{{cite web |url=http://www.semioticon.com/frontline/bednarik.htm |title=Beads and the origins of symbolism |author=Robert G. Bednarik |access-date=2008-04-05 |archive-date=2018-10-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181026143154/https://semioticon.com/frontline/bednarik.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> According to him, traces of the pigment ochre from late Lower Paleolithic Acheulean archaeological sites suggests that Acheulean societies, like later Upper Paleolithic societies, collected and used ochre to create rock art.<ref name=Bednarik/> Nevertheless, it is also possible that the ochre traces found at Lower Paleolithic sites is naturally occurring.<ref>{{cite book|first=Richard G. |last=Klein |title=The Dawn of Human Culture |date=22 March 2002 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=0-471-25252-2}}</ref>

[[Upper Paleolithic]] humans produced works of art such as cave paintings, Venus figurines, animal carvings, and rock paintings.<ref name="ReferenceA-3">{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761578676/Paleolithic_Art.html |title=Paleolithic Art |encyclopedia=Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia |date=2007 |access-date=20 March 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080314202447/http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761578676/paleolithic_art.html |archive-date=14 March 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Upper Paleolithic art can be divided into two broad categories: figurative art such as cave paintings that clearly depicts animals (or more rarely humans); and nonfigurative, which consists of shapes and symbols.<ref name="ReferenceA-3"/> Cave paintings have been interpreted in a number of ways by modern archaeologists. The earliest explanation, by the prehistorian [[Abbe Breuil]], interpreted the paintings as a form of magic designed to ensure a successful hunt.<ref name=Clottes>{{cite web |url=http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/clottes/page7.php |title=Shamanism in Prehistory |first=Jean |last=Clottes |access-date=11 March 2008 |work=Bradshaw foundation |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080430093540/http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/clottes/page7.php |archive-date=30 April 2008 }}</ref> However, this hypothesis fails to explain the existence of animals such as [[saber-toothed cat]]s and [[lion]]s, which were not hunted for food, and the existence of half-human, half-animal beings in cave paintings. The anthropologist [[David Lewis-Williams]] has suggested that Paleolithic cave paintings were indications of [[shaman]]istic practices, because the paintings of half-human, half-animal figures and the remoteness of the caves are reminiscent of modern hunter-gatherer shamanistic practices.<ref name=Clottes/> Symbol-like images are more common in Paleolithic cave paintings than are depictions of animals or humans, and unique symbolic patterns might have been trademarks that represent different [[Upper Paleolithic]] ethnic groups.<ref name="ReferenceA-3" /> [[Venus figurines]] have evoked similar controversy. Archaeologists and anthropologists have described the figurines as representations of [[goddess]]es, [[pornography|pornographic]] imagery, apotropaic amulets used for sympathetic magic, and even as self-portraits of women themselves.<ref name="Miller2006"/><ref name=McDeroy>{{cite journal |last1=McDermott |first1=LeRoy |year=1996 |title=Self-Representation in Upper Paleolithic Female Figurines |journal=[[Current Anthropology]] |volume=37 |issue=2 |pages=227–275 |jstor=2744349 |doi=10.1086/204491 |s2cid=144914396}}</ref>

R. Dale Guthrie<ref name="Guthrie">R. Dale Guthrie, ''The Nature of Paleolithic Art''. University of Chicago Press, 2006. {{ISBN|978-0-226-31126-5}}. [http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/311260.html Preface].</ref> has studied not only the most artistic and publicized paintings, but also a variety of lower-quality art and figurines, and he identifies a wide range of skill and ages among the artists. He also points out that the main themes in the paintings and other artifacts (powerful beasts, risky hunting scenes and the over-sexual representation of women) are to be expected in the fantasies of adolescent males during the Upper Paleolithic.
[[File:Bradshaw rock paintings.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|[[Gwion Gwion rock paintings]] found in the north-west [[Kimberley region of Western Australia]].]]
The "Venus" figurines have been theorized, not universally, as representing a [[mother goddess]]; the abundance of such female imagery has inspired the theory that religion and society in Paleolithic (and later Neolithic) cultures were primarily interested in, and may have been directed by, women. Adherents of the theory include archaeologist [[Marija Gimbutas]] and [[feminist]] scholar [[Merlin Stone]], the author of the 1976 book ''[[When God Was a Woman]]''.<ref name=Merlinstone>{{cite book |title=When God Was a Woman |first=Merlin |last=Stone |year=1978 |publisher=Harcourt Brace Jovanovich |isbn=978-0-15-696158-5 |page=265 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l44AAAAACAAJ&q=When+God+Was+a+Woman}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Marija |last=Gimbutas |date=1991 |title=The Civilization of the Goddess |publisher=HarperSanFrancisco |isbn=978-0062508041}}</ref> Other explanations for the purpose of the figurines have been proposed, such as Catherine McCoid and LeRoy McDermott's hypothesis that they were self-portraits of woman artists<ref name="McDeroy"/> and R.Dale Gutrie's hypothesis that served as "stone age [[pornography]]".