Paleolithic art

The art of the Upper Paleolithic is amongst the oldest art known (sometimes called prehistoric art). Older possible examples include the incised ochre from Blombos Cave. Upper Paleolithic art is found in Aurignacian Europe and the Levant some 40,000 years ago, and on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia at a similar date, suggesting a much older origin perhaps in Africa. Cave art in Europe continued to the Mesolithic (at the beginnings of the Holocene) about 12,000 years ago. As this corresponds to the final phase of the last glacial period, Upper Paleolithic art is also known as "Ice Age art".

As a notable aspect of what some call the "Upper Paleolithic Revolution", and evidence for behavioral modernity, the appearance of art in part helps us define the Upper Paleolithic itself. Art helps define what makes us human – it is part of what we are or can be (e.g. Steven Mithen, and The Mind in the Cave by David Lewis-Williams). Paleolithic art includes rock and cave painting, jewelry, drawing, carving, engraving and sculpture in: clay, bone, antler, stone and ivory, such as the Venus figurines, and musical instruments such as flutes.

Decoration was also made on functional tools, such as spear throwers, perforated batons and lamps.

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