Ice Age Art Game Teacher's Guide

by Carol Schlenk

Introduction

During the Pleistocene Epoch (earth's most recent ice age), some 35,000-12,000 years ago, the world was a cold and busy place. Many scientists believe that during this time period Eurasian peoples crossed the Bering "land bridge" into North America, following herds of giant mammoth, bison, and other large land animals. During this same period, humans in Europe were creating Ice Age art by painting and carving representations of animals, humans and mysterious patterns that we have yet to fully understand.

Lesson Focus

Before playing the Ice Age Art game, have students view the exhibit, Ice Age Art. The student's first challenge in the game will be to solve a picture puzzle in a given amount of time. Once the puzzle is solved, the player is allowed to enter the game's virtual "cave." Once inside the cave, players use a helmet camera to reveal the cave's six works of art. Each correct answer allows the player to see another piece of cave art. As questions are answered, the player's score will be recorded. The game may be replayed with different questions in subsequent attempts.

Although this game was designed for high school students, it can be modified for middle, elementary, and special education students. The game questions and correct answers (in bold type) are given at the end of this teacher’s guide for those who want to modify by giving students the questions as an exhibit viewing aid.

Vocabulary

petroglyph - a design chiseled or chipped out of a rock surface

pictograph - a design painted on a rock surface

rock art panel - a group of pictograph and/or pictograph figures

nomadic - having no fixed home and wanders from place to place in search of food

ritual - set form or way of conducting a ceremony

prehistoric - before written history

murals - picture painted on a wall

excavations - holes made by digging or hollowing out

polychrome - decorated in a variety of colors

incised - carved or engraved

hominid - member of a family of two-footed, erect mammals, of which modern man is the only survivor

Homo sapiens - scientific name for modern humans

Paleolithic - period of early human culture in which chipped or flaked stone tools were made and used

Pleistocene - most recent ice age

Neanderthal - extinct species of prehistoric man who lived in caves in Europe, North Africa, and western and central Asia

Extension Activities

· Create a Prehistoric Cave Art Documentary

Pretend you're interviewing one of the prehistoric artists who created some of the Lascaux cave art. Create a script for you and the artist. Discuss choice of subjects, materials used, problems faced, etc.

· Create a Cave Art Gallery of Prehistoric Animals

In the Ice Age Art exhibit, you saw cave artistic renderings of bison, ibex, elephants, and bulls. To create your own gallery, follow these steps:

** Research and create simple line drawings of these other animals which existed during the last Ice Age. Do your drawings on flat rocks or crumpled brown paper bags, using artist's charcoal or a burned stick.

Mastodon

Glptodon - giant armadillo

Megatherium - giant sloth

Dire Wolf

Saber-toothed cats

Camelops - giant camel

** Create a primitive paintbrush by shredding the end of a soft stick.

** Make your own paint, using soft rocks, burned wood (never use charcoal briquettes for backyard grills, as they are toxic), broken bricks or dried clay as pigment. Use a hard flat or concave rock as a mortar and pestle. Mash a small amount of pigment, then grind it to powder, using a circular motion. Mix your ground pigment with a small amount of water, vegetable oil or egg yolk to create your paints. Remember, the colors used in Ice Age Art were red, black, yellow, orange, and white.

** After painting your rock art, dry it in the sun. When dry, hang it in your classroom.

· Think of an important event in your own life and create a mural of pictographs to commemorate it.

· Design a T-shirt with your favorite pictograph using clothing paint.

This learning activity fits within the following National Voluntary Curriculum Standards:

Social Studies

· Culture

· Time, Continuity, and Change

· People, Places, and Environment

· Power, Authority, and Governance

· Global Connections

English, Language Arts

· Read for Information

· Use Technological and Informational Resources

Fine Arts

· Develop and present basic analyses of works of art

· Have an informed acquaintance with exemplary works of art from a variety of cultures and historical periods

This activity also meets the following standards from the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for high school World History, World Geography, English Language Arts and Fine Arts:

World History

· History 20 A,B; 25 D; 26A; 27A,B

World Geography

· 22C ; 23 C,D;

English, Language Arts

· Reading 6 A, B, E, 7 A, B, C, J, 8 B, C, A

· Historical-Cultural Heritage 3 B

· Response-Evaluation 4 A, B

Fine Arts

· Historical Culture and Heritage 3 B

· Response-Evaluation 4 A, B

This activity meets these International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) standards for computer literacy:

a. Basic operations and concepts

b. Social, ethical, and human issues

c. Technology productivity tools

d. Technology research tools

e. Technology problem-solving and decision-making tools

Ice Age Art Game Questions & Answers (Correct answers in bold)

1. The evolution of humankind from early hominid forms to Homo Sapiens covered

a. 4-5 million years

b. 80,000-90,000 years

c. roughly 500,000 years

2. Common Ice Age tools were made from

a. horn & iron

b. volcanic glass & copper

c. flint & bone

3. The people who produce Ice Age art lived

a. 2 million – 1 million years ago

b. 35,000 – 12,000 years ago

c. 9,000 – 3,000 years ago

4. Our greatest treasury of Paleolithic art is the cave of

a. Altamira

b. Venus

c. Lascaux

5. The art at Lascaux was threatened by

a. carbon monoxide

b. mold

c. vandalism

6. Ice Age people obtained their food by

a. hunting and gathering

b. growing crops during the summer

c. trading with others