Paleolithic art began in the Stone Age and ended in the Metal Age. This period is part of prehistory, a stage of humanity of which there are no written testimonies because writing did not yet exist. By then we humans were already homo sapiens and we knew how to carve stone with skill, handle tools in a rudimentary way and create artistic forms.
The scholars of this period have called the first artistic manifestations as rock art, since the stone was the main element on which the different artistic manifestations were made.
Furniture art
During the Palaeolithic period, men already made some utensils for ornamentation, such as batons or small figures made from bones. These creations are known as furniture art and have one characteristic in common: they were part of everyday life and men could carry these decorative utensils with themselves. Paleolithic furniture art does not refer to tools used as practical utensils (for example, carved stones for hunting) but to elements that had a symbolic function.
From the point of view of art history, the creations of furniture art are considered the first plastic representations. Regarding their meaning, historians consider that in most cases these figures symbolized some idea (female fertility, protection against the dangers of nature or the desire for a successful hunting day).
Parietal art
Just as Movable art refers to sculpture, parietal art is related to painting. Palaeolithic man already drew and painted on various surfaces (pieces of wood, skins or stones). However, the only remains of his paintings that have remained are the paintings that were made in the caves and these creations are known as Parietal art.
To make their drawings, they used their own fingers as brushes and the colors were made from the combination of fats and blood of animals mixed with resins obtained from the bark of trees. The main theme of the artists was the world of hunting and their works depict episodes of stylized hunters who face wild boars, bison or other dangerous animals.
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