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Lesson Plans
Art History ©1999
by Marilyn Stokstad
Focus Lesson 1
Chapter 1: "Prehistory and Prehistoric Art in Europe"
AP* Course Description
- Ancient Through Medieval
- Prehistory, the Ancient Near East, Egypt
Key Components
- Instructor's Resource Manual with Tests, Vol. I: pp. 7–10, 58, 80–86, 191–193
- Study Guide, Vol. I: pp. 4–7
Key Web Sites
Given the changing nature of the Internet, you may wish to preview these sites. Check the Online Companion Web site for updated information and links to other sites.
Key Words and Terms
- abstraction
- low relief
- modeling
- radiometric dating
- post-and-lintel construction
- menhirs
- henge
- potsherds
- sculpture in the round
- beveling
- relative dating
- corbeling
- dolmen
- cairn
- cromlechs
- ware
- niello
- relief sculpture
- incising
- absolute dating
- corbel vault
- capstones
- passage grave
- alignments
- kilns
Suggested Pacing
Given the intense time constraints placed on the AP* art history course, it will be necessary to move briskly through all chapters. One week at the most—either on a traditional bell schedule or a block schedule—is the recommended time allotment for the study of prehistoric art. The primary focus should be placed upon cave art, especially Lascaux and Altamira, and the introduction of key concepts as noted below.
Test Strategy
Students need to gain familiarity with the slide test format since one part of the free response section of the test requires students to write short essays based on slides. Students may be asked to identify images and to compare styles. To provide practice, have students compare the art of Lascaux and Altamira. Ask short answer or essay questions about the conflicting theories explaining the meaning of prehistoric cave paintings.
Key Concepts
- Realism and naturalism
It is important to introduce these commonly reoccurring art terms from the very beginning of the course. Students should understand why art historians use the term naturalism in place of realism. Although the importance of this distinction may not be fully realized until Chapter 27, "Realism to Impressionism," encourage your students to adopt the correct terminology in their written work and class discussions. - The notion of style
Style, and its change over time, will occupy much of the AP* art history course. Students can begin the discussion of how styles change over time by comparing cave paintings from different sites. Introduce the art of Chauvet, for instance, to demonstrate how these images, which are roughly 5,000 years older than those in Lascaux, are frequently more stylistically advanced. Students should also begin to develop a sense of connoisseurship, as they learn to distinguish between the art of Lascaux and Altamira. This will help them prepare for their first slide identification quiz or test. - Meaning of cave art
When it comes to interpreting the meaning of these beautiful images, no period of art history is as fascinating, or as frustrating, as Paleolithic cave painting. As students examine the works represented in the text, they should be introduced to the numerous theories (p. 46) about their meaning and use. There is no single theory that everyone accepts.
Summing Up Student Understanding
The debate over the meaning of prehistoric cave paintings (see box on page 46) has been raging since the discovery of Lascaux and Altamira over 100 years ago. For every theory explaining the purpose of these mysterious images there are contrary theories. Evidence supporting one theory may be abundant in one site but absent in another. Successful arguments can be made for a number of theories.
Ask students to choose a theory to support, and then have them gather evidence for it for a class debate. They may wish to use images from books other than their text, as well as slides from the instructor's collection and images downloaded from the Internet. In order to have all of the most popular theories represented, divide the class into groups and assign a theory to each group. Key theories in this debate include, but are not limited to:
Sympathetic hunting magic. Some evidence supports the idea that the images of animals pierced by spears or arrows were used as a voodoo-like magic practice to ensure a successful hunt. Some images show signs of actually having been struck by spears or stones.
Fertility rituals. The paintings may have been used as part of rituals intended to increase the fertility either of the herds hunted by the prehistoric people or of the hunters.
Initiation rites/social ceremony. Many experts have argued that these images were used in ceremonies that strengthened the bonds between clans, or perhaps were part of the initiation rites of young clan members upon reaching maturity. The overlaying of images through subsequent generations lends credence to these theories.
Literal representation. Perhaps the paintings hide no deeper meaning, and are merely accurate depictions of scenes witnessed by the artists. Close examinations of some recent finds seem to support this argument.
Regardless of the outcome of this debate, students should be left with the understanding that no definitive solution to this puzzle has emerged, nor is one likely to emerge.