Prehistory

To sum prehistory into one easy sentence, it is the time before writing was invented. However, many people think that prehistory is the time of dinosaurs, it is actually the time of cave people. The cave people from these times are the starting line of photography. Prehistory is split into three different 'ages'. The stone age, bronze age and iron age, due to the material of the tools they used.
The cave people soon discovered fire, which meant that they could live longer. It most likely that the cave people told stories around their fire, such as how they hunted the bison that day or something similar. After telling stories around the fire, which is a source of media, the cave people soon discovered another way of telling stories, in a more permanent way, through art! The video below is  from the BBC television show Horrible Histories. It is an extract that shows a brief timeline of the stone age.

Prehistoric Art

When these two words are heard, read or spoken the immediate image in someone's mind it most likely to be the cave paintings.Cave paintings are found all around the world, so at different times, from Europe to Africa to Australia. There have been nearly 350 caves found with cave paintings, and that is just France and Spain. It is also theorized that the oldest cave painting is in Cantabria, Spain and it is approximately 40,000 years old. The most common drawing in the cave people's art was animals. Animals such as bison, horses and deer, and these animals were normally 'coloured in' with very earthy colours, as the cave people could only used natural sources. It is also speculated that the paintings were made using branches or fingers to outline things, and to make the well known hand print, was to blow paint through a tube (such as a hollowed out bone) or directly from their mouths. Some of the actual paintings were also carved into the wall. It is also theorized that the hand print was a way to sign a painting.

Panther from the cave in Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc, France

Stonehenge

Stonehenge is possible one of the biggest mysteries of the Stone Age. It is located in Wiltshire, England and is dated to between 3000 BC and 2000 BC. the purpose of Stonehenge is it's biggest mystery. Many ideas have been put forward such as:

• Burial grounds,
• Religious site,
• Astronomical observatory,
• Unify the British Isles,
• Ritual purposes (supported through the presence of a sacrifice stone),
• Funerary monument,
• Place of healing.

Though none of these ideas can be proved, they are deemed the most likely to be correct. Below are some images ofStonehenge as it is in the modern world and Stonehenge as it might have been.

Stonehenge - Modern day

Stonehenge - As it might have been

Sources:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prehistory
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_painting
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonehenge
• http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/chauvet/en/index.html
• http://history.howstuffworks.com/historical-figures/cave-dweller2.htm
• http://earlyhumans.mrdonn.org/powerpoints/caveart.html
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdTk5OvtvM4