A one-page visual summary of Global Prehistory — every required work, key term, date, and theme you need for the exam, organized for quick review.
What it covers: Art made before writing — from approximately 30,000 BCE to 500 BCE — across all inhabited continents.
Exam weight: About 4% of the AP Art History exam.
The big question: Why did humans make art before they had cities, writing, or government — and what can these objects tell us about the societies that made them?
Key skill: Contextual humility — acknowledging what we cannot know about prehistoric intent, while still making evidence-based interpretations from formal and material evidence.
| Work | Date | Location | Medium | Key Feature |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apollo 11 Stones | c. 25,500–25,300 BCE | Namibia | Charcoal on stone | Earliest African figurative art; hybrid human-animal |
| Anthropomorphic Stele | Fourth millennium BCE | Arabian Peninsula | Sandstone | Low-relief figure with belt and dagger; early Arabian art |
| Lascaux — Great Hall of Bulls | c. 15,000–13,000 BCE | France | Pigment on limestone | Composite view; naturalistic animals; ritual/shamanic |
| Camelid Sacrum | c. 14,000–7000 BCE | Mexico | Modified bone | Earliest Americas art; found object transformed |
| Running Horned Woman | c. 6000–4000 BCE | Algeria | Pigment on rock | Saharan rock art; female ritual figure; horned costume |
| Bushel with Ibex Motifs | c. 4200–3500 BCE | Iran (Susa) | Painted terracotta | Geometric abstraction of animals on pottery |
| Terra Cotta Fragment (Lapita) | c. 1000 BCE | Solomon Islands | Terra cotta (incised) | Dentate-stamped geometric bands; stylized face |
| Stonehenge | c. 2500–1600 BCE | England | Sandstone / bluestone | Megalithic; solar alignment; communal labor |
| Jade Cong | c. 3300–2200 BCE | China (Liangzhu) | Carved jade | Square/round symbolism (Earth/Heaven); elite burial |
| Ambum Stone | c. 1500 BCE | Papua New Guinea | Greywacke | Oldest Pacific artwork; zoomorphic; ritual object |
| Tlatilco Female Figurine | c. 1200–900 BCE | Mexico | Ceramic | Dual-faced; shamanic; exaggerated hips |
An artistic convention showing different parts of a figure from their most recognizable angle. At Lascaux, bulls have heads in profile but horns seen frontally. This is not a mistake — it reflects a desire to show the "truth" of each part simultaneously.
Small female statuettes with exaggerated breasts, hips, and bellies. The name is a 19th-century misnomer. Theories include fertility symbols, mother goddesses, or self-representation. The Woman of Willendorf is the most famous example.
Structures built from large stones, requiring massive communal effort. Stonehenge's construction over ~900 years implies sustained social organization across generations. Its solar alignment suggests ritual, calendrical, or ceremonial function.
Prehistoric art was not made to be "beautiful" in the modern sense — it served ritual, spiritual, communicative, or social functions. Always connect formal observations to function. We cannot know intent with certainty; acknowledge that in your analysis.
The material of a work often carries meaning. Jade (Liangzhu cong) required great skill and was believed to have spiritual properties. Sandstone (Anthropomorphic Stele), charcoal, and ochre were locally available — their use tells us about prehistoric technology and trade.
Isolated cultures on different continents independently developed similar visual conventions: stylized human figures (Arabian Peninsula, Mexico), cave painting (France, Algeria), ritual stonework (England, China). This suggests universal human impulses, not cultural contact.