List of Stone Age art


This is a descriptive list of Stone Age art, the period of prehistory characterised by the widespread use of stone tools. This article contains, by sheer volume of the artwork discovered, a very incomplete list of the works of the painters, sculptors, and other artists who created what is now called prehistoric art. For fuller lists see Art of the Upper Paleolithic, Art of the Middle Paleolithic, and :Category:Prehistoric art and its many sub-categories.

Upper Paleolithic

Aurignacian

The oldest undisputed figurative art appears with the Aurignacian, about 40,000 years ago, which is associated with the earliest presence of Cro-Magnon artists in Europe. Figurines with date estimates of 40,000 years are the so-called Lion-man and Venus of Hohle Fels, both found in the Southern Germany caves of the Swabian Jura.

Gravettian

The Gravettian spans the Last Glacial Maximum, ca. 33-21 kya. The Solutrean may or may not be included as the final phase of the Gravettian.

Epigravettian, Magdalenian

Australasia

Australia and parts of Southeast Asia remained in the Paleolithic stage until European contact.
The oldest firmly dated rock-art painting in Australia is a charcoal drawing on a rock fragment found during the excavation of the Nawarla Gabarnmang rock shelter in south western Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. Dated at 28,000 years, it is one of the oldest known pieces of rock art on Earth with a confirmed date.
  • Gwion Gwion rock paintingsAboriginal artists painted well over a million paintings in this site in the Kimberley, many of human figures ornamented with accessories such as bags, tassels and headdresses. These artworks are well over 20,000 years old.
  • Gabarnmung – this rock-art site in the Northern Territory features the oldest artwork in Australia at over 28,000 years. Aboriginal artists painted fish, crocodiles, people, and spiritual figures, mostly on the site's ceilings. The site also includes panels of recent paintings, radiocarbon dated to between AD 1433-1631 and AD 1658-1952, consistent with the reports that the cave was still visited within living memory.
  • Sydney rock engravings – Contains around 1,500 pieces of Aboriginal rock art, which date from 5,000 to 7,000 years old.

Mesolithic

;Mesolithic Europe
;Epipalaeolithic Near East
; Mesolithic Asia
;North African Mesolithic
; Americas

Neolithic

;Near East and North Africa
;Neolithic Europe
;Neolithic China