The Ancient World: The Neolithic age

The most important change of this period is the transition from the appropriating economy to the producing economy. It completely changed people’s life. People could build better houses, make food reserves, have more stuff that could be bigger and more beautiful. In that time, cities were beginning to be built. It means that people could improve their own abilities and their cities. The cities started to develop. So, the Neolithic age initiated the formation of ancient civilizations.

The food reserves made possible to start the trade. People didn’t have to get or cultivate all food they needed. It was enough to have something that you can change for food. As a result, there was the appearance of people who didn’t get or cultivate food at all; they could make something that might be necessary for other people. For example, they could make clothes, utensils, jewelry, decorations for houses, and anything else. People could develop in their own specializations.

Sedentary lifestyle led to the fact that people didn’t need mobile sculptures anymore. There was a possibility to have bigger sculptures because they didn’t need to transfer them from one place to another. But these new sculptures were different. There was an idea that you don’t have to depict every detail; it was enough to depict only one more significant detail to understand what it is. For a bird image, it was enough to depict a beak, and for human image – a face.

Petroglyphs were widely distributed. Artist chose open, steep rocky ledges for their works. They depicted animals and humans, but the images were different from the cave images. They were more truthful, expressive and in motion.