Prior to the human age, earth was host to an extensive selection of dinosaurs, sea creatures, and early plant life and vegetation. From this time, scientists have excavated skeletal remains of the largest creatures every on earth. Some time around 66 million years ago, a catastrophic event such as an asteroid impact killed off 75 % of these creatures.
The earliest evidence of art made by humankind dates back to around 35 to 30,000 years ago. Stone age art includes art forms created during the first known period of human culture in Europe. Characterized by the use of stone implements, the period is divided roughly into three segments: Paleolithic (c. 35,000 – 8,000 BC); Mesolithic (c. 8,000 – 3,500 BC); Neolithic (c. 5,000 – 1,500 BC). By using radiocarbon dating, archeologists have been able to associate their findings with these distant time periods.
During the Paleolithic period (c. 35,000 – 8,000 BC), the art forms are directly associated with the stone and bone industries (such as perforated bone or tooth pendants). Cave paintings with animals and the so-called Venuses — statuettes of women, often pregnant — have been found suggesting the practice of hunting and fertility rituals.
As the Ice Age of the late Paleolithic gave way to a transition period, the Mesolithic, Europe became climatically, geographically and biologically much as it is today. In the Mesolithic Period, the art-forms shift to more stylized human figures in wall paintings and on engraved bone and antler. By the Neolithic or New Stone age, the advances in technology such as farming, weaving, the advent of pottery and the construction of monumental structures such as Stonehenge, indicate that humankind–once strictly nomadic–begin to settle and develop their land.
One of the most famous figurines ever found is the Venus of Willendorf. The Mother Goddess statuette was found by the researcher Szombathy on 8/7/1908. It is made out of limestone and still has some signs of red pigmentation; it fits in the palm of a hand. It is one of the most obese representations of the Paleolithic and continuation of life, the Mother Goddess, the universal female principle even if it is in its most primitive conception. Women were recognized as the life-givers and sustainers. They were revered as priestesses, Upper Paleolithic female figures, such as this one are found from the Pyrenees Mountains to Siberia, indicating that East and West were once united in honoring the Goddess. The vast majority (over 90%) of human images from 30,000 to 5,000 B.C. are female.
We offer for sale a selection of archaeology replicas from the prehistoric era. If you are looking for a particular item, please do let us know as we are always researching new products to offer.
