Reply To: Prehistoric Abstraction

[Rachel Nelson]

I think the prehistoric imagery is abstract in the sense that it is more a portrayal of an idea than an actual, individual subject. In the case of the Woman of Wildendorf, her lack of identifying marker seem to indicated she is not representing a woman, but women in general.It is also quite possible, however, that tools and knowledge sufficient to create art with fine details wasn’t yet obtainable this early in human history. Perhaps what we might consider abstract I the most detailed work they were able to achieve with the technology available to them.