Transcript Prehistoric Art - Rosa Parks Elementary PTSA

4th Grade
Prehistoric art is defined as art produced in preliterate
cultures and continuing until the development of writing or
other methods of record-keeping
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Cave paintings are some of the great mysteries of the
world
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Many experts have been baffled as to their true
meanings but it is certain that, without language or writing,
they were the main way early man communicated
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Paints were made by crushing minerals into powder and
putting them on damp surfaces like rocks
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These early artists sometimes painted deep in caves
To provide light, they made lamps from hollow stones
filled with animal fat and moss or fur that was set on fire
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Cave paintings can be
found around the world
in many areas including:
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Europe
Africa
Asia
The Americas – even in
Washington State!
 Australia
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In 1940, four teenage
boys accidentally
discovered the most
famous cave art in
Europe. This art was
created 17,000 years
ago!
Africa has some of the
earliest paintings and rock
engravings to have been
securely dated
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Nearly 30,000 years old,
some were discovered in 1969
in a cave near Twyfelfontein,
Namibia
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Some of the earliest oil
paintings are found in the
Bamian caves outside of
Kabul, Afghanistan
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Cave paintings can be
found in the countries of
Columbia and Peru in South
America
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Many places in North
America have cave
paintings from Native
American tribes
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In prehistoric times, the
Wanapum Native Americans
inhabited the region in
Washington State along the
Columbia River and created
cave paintings there
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In 2003, more than
200 well-preserved
paintings were
discovered in a 4,000year-old Aboriginal
rock art site at Eagles
Reach, near Sydney,
Australia
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LINE:
The flat path of a dot through space to control the
viewer’s eye movement.
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A thin mark made by a pencil, pen or brush. Using
repetition of lines & shapes is a way of creating texture,
pattern & value.
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TEXTURE:
Drawing techniques to create texture & patterns
include: stippling, hatching, cross hatching, scribbling,
broken lines, repeating lines & shapes.
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ACTUAL Texture: how something feels when
touched.
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VISUAL Texture: how something appears to feel.
COLOR:
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Color has three properties: hue, value & intensity.
HUE: another name for color.
VALUE: the lightness & darkness of a line, shape or
form.
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INTENSITY: the brightness or dullness of a color.
Use brown craft paper crumpled up & then flattened
out.
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Students pick an animal or man for their design.
Experiment with tools & pigments to create the
picture.
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Matches work best when used last.
Remember that their were strange symbols in cave
art, but NO letters representing language.
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