African tribes Quote by Pablo Picasso
“I don't think I'm wrong when I say that the most beautiful objects of the "stone age" were made of skin, fabric, and especially wood. The "stone age" ought to be called the "wood age." How many African statues are made of stone, bone, or ivory? Maybe one in a thousand! And prehistoric man had no more ivory at his disposal than African tribes. Maybe even less. He must have had thousands of wooden fetishes, all gone now.”
About This Quote
Source Interview: 1975 interview with The New York Times, 1975
The quote challenges the term "Stone Age" by emphasizing that many ancient artifacts were made from organic materials that have not survived, thus skewing our perception of prehistoric art.
In simple terms: Ancient art was often made of wood, fabric, and skin, not just stone.
Key Takeaway
Recognize the bias of surviving materials when studying history.
Themes
history
material culture
archaeology
perception
art history
Mood
reflective
inquisitive
Type
analytical
critical
When to use this quote
- museum curation
- academic research
- cultural heritage preservation
- education curricula
Key Concepts
organic materials
preservation bias
archaeological record
Questions to Reflect On
- How does the survival of certain materials shape our understanding of the past?
- What other materials might we be missing in the archaeological record?
A Different Perspective
The claim may overlook regional variations and the existence of stone artifacts that have survived.
![“The body was the slave of the vortex; but the slave has become the master; and we must free ourselves from that tyranny. It is this stuff [ indicating her body ], this flesh and blood and bone and all the rest of it, that is intolerable. Even prehistoric man dreamed of what he called an astral…” quote by George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/504/george-bernard-shaw-68_blood_the-body-was-the-slave-of-the-vortex-but_2612664.jpg)
![“...the student of prehistoric man...cannot reject [the Castenedolo skull] as false without doing injury to his sense of truth, and he cannot accept it as fact without shattering his accepted beliefs.” quote by Arthur Keith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/02c/arthur-keith-17817_evolution_the-student-of-prehistoric-man-cannot-re_943312.jpg)
