What is the Paleolithic art period?

The Upper Paleolithic (Late Stone Age, c. 50,000 to c. 12,000 years ago) is the period in human prehistory when we see the emergence of art. Upper Paleolithic art is usually divided into two categories: rock/cave art and portable art such as animal and anthropomorphic figurines.

Did any paintings survive from the Paleolithic period?

Yes, there are surviving cave paintings from the Paleolithic period. The most famous ones include Altamira Cave in Spain, and Lascaux Cave and Chauvet Cave in France.

Paleolithic Art

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by Ibolya Horváth
published on 11 June 2024

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Magdalenian Horse Figurine

by Emma Groeneveld
published on 09 January 2018

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Magdalenian Horse Figurine — View Full-Size Image

Cast of a horse figurine carved out of mammoth ivory belonging to the Magdalenian industry of the Upper Paleolithic, which is associated with early modern humans (*Homo sapiens*) in southwestern France between c. 17,000 and c. 11,000 years ago. It was found in the Hautes-Pyrénées region in France. The original resides at the Musée d'Archéologie Nationale in Saint-Germain-en-Laye in France, while the cast belongs to the collection of the Field Museum in Chicago but was on loan at the Australian Museum in Sydney when this picture was taken in December 2017.

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Questions & Answers

What is the Paleolithic art period?: The Upper Paleolithic (Late Stone Age, c. 50,000 to c. 12,000 years ago) is the period in human prehistory when we see the emergence of art. Upper Paleolithic art is usually divided into two categories: rock/cave art and portable art such as animal and anthropomorphic figurines.
Did any paintings survive from the Paleolithic period?: Yes, there are surviving cave paintings from the Paleolithic period. The most famous ones include Altamira Cave in Spain, and Lascaux Cave and Chauvet Cave in France.

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Uploaded by Emma Groeneveld, published on 09 January 2018. The copyright holder has published this content under the following license: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon this content non-commercially, as long as they credit the author and license their new creations under the identical terms. When republishing on the web a hyperlink back to the original content source URL must be included. Please note that content linked from this page may have different licensing terms.