The First Artists: In Search of the World's Oldest Art

by Paul G. Bahn, Michel Lorblanchet, Pierre Soulages (Foreword)

Where is the world’s very first art located? When, and why, did people begin experimenting with different materials, forms, and colors? Prehistorians have long been asking these questions, but only recently have they been able to piece together the first chapter in the story of art.

Overturning the traditional Eurocentric vision of our artistic origins, Paul Bahn and Michel Lorblanchet seek out the earliest art across the whole world. There are clues that even three million years ago distant human ancestors were drawn to natural curiosities that appeared representational, such as the face-like “Makapansgat cobble" from South Africa, not carved but naturally weathered to resemble a human face. In the last hundred thousand years people all over the world began to create art: the oldest known paint palettes in South Africa’s Blombos Cave, the famous Venus figures across Europe all the way to Siberia, and magnificent murals on cave walls in every continent except Antarctica.

This book is the first to assess the discovery, history, and significance of these varied forms of art: the artistic impulse developed in the human mind wherever it traveled.

Genres: Art, Archaeology, History, Prehistory, Anthropology, Nonfiction, Ancient History

240 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2017

About the author

Paul G. Bahn is a British archaeologist, translator, writer and broadcaster who has published extensively on a range of archaeological topics, with particular attention to prehistoric art. He is a contributing editor to Archaeology magazine.

Reviews

[William Greer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating

This is not the first book I've read on this topic, but it's one of the most informative; I learned a lot. It's well written and thoroughly illustrated. It's also been well adapted to ebook format.

[Siri Olsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book surprised me in a very positive manner. I thought it would be yet another exploration of Upper Palaeolithic cave art, a subject I enjoy reading about but also find very limiting in terms of interpretation. Most books on the origins of art emphasise art as a distinct feature of our own species, which means that most books barely discuss any evidence of pre-Homo sapiens art or symbolism, preferring to focus almost entirely on "The Creative Revolution" (although I believe that term has died in recent years). The First Artists takes a step back and examines evidence, good and bad, for the existence of artistic vision and symbolic thought dating back to the very early stages of human evolution. As such, the book is a breath of fresh air, bringing something new to the field rather than simply presenting old ideas in a new way. For that reason, The First Artists comes highly recommended to anyone interested in human evolution, especially cognitive and biocultural evolution.

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not the most accessible text, which is clearly just an argument for me to brush up on my layman's paleolithic archeology and art knowledge. Yet, this is a good overview of the development of art culture in prehistory with particularly interesting chapters on studies comparing it to art made by other primates and children as well as the Eurocentrism of much of the discipline.

[Christopher Nicholas · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book made me painfully aware of my own shortcomings and lack of knowledge on this subject matter. its worth getting through just be prepared to do some research on the side

[Álvaro Velásquez Narváez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Es una gran obra que permite actualizar el debate acerca de los orígenes del arte, tomando en consideración los aportes de las teorías biológicas, socioeconómicas, utilitaristas y simbólicas. El paso del Homo Aestheticus al homo religiosus, está marcado por cambios de profundo alcance y por una trayectoria que no es en absoluto lineal. Es tan importante el desarrollo del arte en la humanidad, como lo es el de la capacidad de sentir y expresar profundamente, y trasciende a esos fines estéticos con los que pensamos el arte hoy.
“Artworks are defined here as ‘marks of the mind on nature that express a concern with aesthetics, theoretically linked to symbolic or playful behaviour, even though one cannot always differentiate or demonstrate these aspects”
Entrega insumos para comprender el debate de las últimas décadas acerca de los origenes del arte, de forma crítica, sin asumir postura de forma apresurada y dejando mucho más espacio a una sana distancia de dichas teorías y aceptando la falta de certezas y de respuestas concluyentes.

[Maddy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was really looking forward to this book and it, for the most part, delivered. There are unfortunately few modern authors that even attempt to review this topic and Bahn does a good job at both depth and breadth. Although it is a low bar, I also appreciated the regular inclusion of evidence from sites outside of Western Europe, especially those in Australia. One aspect that I struggled with was the theoretical framing - perhaps this was intentional, but it felt very piecemeal up until the very end where Bahn more concretely summarizes how art progressed in successive leaps and the relationship to cosmology/religion. Similarly, an overall difficulty I had while reading was to follow the structure and ordering of information, as it seemed haphazard and too non-linear for my taste. However, if you can get past this and read between the lines to summarize the information for yourself, which Bahn's writing allows for, then it is a worthwhile read. However, some prior knowledge of prehistoric art is likely required for most - I wouldn't recommend this as a first read on the topic.

[Martin Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

This journey through the history of ancient art is not straight forward. Very little of the art remains, researchers make mistakes and disagree with each other, and the development of art seems to ebb and flow, appearing, disappearing before returning again. Also I found it a little difficult to orientate myself amongst references to dating, sometimes using numbers of years ago, mostly using names of historical periods - early, middle, late Palaeolithic, Neolithic, Mousterian, Aurignacian, and so on - lots of looking things up there.

But reading on, a feeling did emerge of people first noticing interesting details about their world, curious shapes in rocks, or scratch marks on cave walls, and then working to tweak them. For example, some enterprising early artist noticed a patch of bear scratch marks on a wall, and then inscribed the outline of a mammoth around them, the scratches becoming the mammoth’s shaggy coat.

And in creating stone tools, their makers seemed to look at the stone they were using, and wonder if some modifications could be made in the interests of beauty. They’d make tools out of rock that was attractive but perhaps more difficult to work than plain, ordinary rock. They would either buy in, or travel to find exotic material. Or maybe they’d make a tool from a rock featuring a fossil. So art began to emerge from pre-existing natural forms, and from the practical business of living.

The first widely used paint was derived from an iron rich clay called ochre. When heated, powdered and combined with water, the resulting red pigment, was used to create images, probably as body paint, and as a nutritional supplement, being rich in iron. Or you might think of it as a very early form of ink, and the pictures created with it as an ancient writing.

This quote from researcher Leroi-Gourhan:

‘At its start, figurative art was directly linked to language, and much closer to writing in the broadest sense than to a work of art; it is a symbolic transposition and not a copy of reality.

So not only is this book about early art, it’s also about the earliest stages of the writing you are reading now.

The First Artists is an interesting book, a bit confusing maybe, which is an expression of the complicated story it tells as much as anything else. Overall, however, I gained a feeling of art not as something that people did in their spare time when more basic needs were met, but as an activity firmly rooted in nature and practicality.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit dry and overly academic across the entire book, which made for a slow read. However this is a really interesting subject, something of which I am researching recently. Very informative and curious, encouraging readers to have critical thinking with the authors as they discuss evidence made for and against potential art made by early humans. Is it a bone pendant or was it a pack of carnivores perfurating a bone? Is it human made or is it because of environmental change? Was the creation utalitarian or symbolic for expression beyond survival? Why did early humans seek out specific caves as canvases for rock art and for accoustics? Is there a ritual componant to the process or just for performance and story telling?

Very intriguing concepts as we discuss who were the first artists and can we define when did art making begin? Why did early humans start making art? And the biggest question of them all: What is interpreted as art?

[Laura Koerber · Rating 5 out of 5]

A bit dry, but the topic is fascinating. I don't know why there's any debate about the capacity for ancient hunter/gatherers to be artistic and spiritual; of course they were. The art didn't appear by accident. People worked at producing art that they couldn't carry around and art that provided no benefit in terms of providing food, shelter, or other necessities of life, so obviously the art was an expression of their minds and fed their spiritual needs. I do wish there were more illustrations. I'd love to have a big hardcopy book of high quality illustrations of cave art.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great overview of the current state of understanding of the earliest arts that have survived handled with a nuance that rejects simple dichotomies highlighting the sophistication of these early artists and their curiosity about the world around them

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

More a history of the study of Paleolithic art than a history of Paleolithic art, but deeply interesting nevertheless.

[Moo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely fascinating but hard to read at times because it's so academic, probably a me problem!