Art (Pre)History: Ritual, Narrative and Visual Culture in Neolithic and Bronze Age Europe

A significant shift in visual culture is identified across Neolithic, Bronze Age, and Iron Age Europe, marked by a transition from heavily encoded, iconic art to more narrative-driven representations. This change includes the increasing depiction of identifiable people, animals, and objects, as well as a shift from accumulative motifs to more contextualized scenes. Additionally, there is evidence of evolving practices in how rock and cave art was used, moving from hidden ritual spaces to more accessible public settings. The study employs comparative analysis across multiple sites, challenging traditional disciplinary assumptions that focus on isolated art bodies. This approach reveals broad regional patterns and contextualizes these changes within social and historical frameworks, offering new insights into prehistoric perceptions and cultural practices.

Robb, J. (2020). Art (Pre)History: Ritual, Narrative and Visual Culture in Neolithic and Bronze Age Europe. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 27(3), 454–480. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-020-09471-w