Editing Portable art (section)

{{Refimprove|date=August 2009}}

'''Portable art''' (sometimes called '''mobiliary art''') refers to the small examples of [[Prehistoric art]] that could be carried from place to place, which is especially characteristic of the [[Art of the Upper Palaeolithic]] and [[Mesolithic]] eras. Often made of ivory, bone, antlers or stone, these pieces have been found in [[South Africa]] all the way up to [[Eurasia]]. It is one of the two main categories of Prehistoric art, the other being the immobile [[Parietal art]],<ref>{{cite book|last=Bahn|first=Paul|title=The Cambridge Illustrated History of Prehistoric Art|year=1998|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=0-521-45473-5|pages=xxiv|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/cambridgeillustr00bahn_0}}</ref> effectively synonymous with [[rock art]].

Though the game hunted for food was a recurring subject within portable art, the over 10,000 pieces that have been discovered exhibit a great diversity in terms of scale, subject, use, date of creation, and media.  Originally seen as less important than the [[cave paintings]] (see [[Lascaux]], [[Chauvet Cave|Chauvet]], or Nawarla [[Gabarnmung|Gabarnmang]]) that also marked prehistoric art, portable art was thought to be merely preceding sketches or plans to be developed in later, larger parietal, or permanent, art. Over the years, however, the study of portable art has come into its own as archaeologists realize much information about prehistoric culture, livelihood, and societal structure can be gathered from these works or art.