Prehistoric Art
Homo sapiens sapiens
120,000 years ago
Between 120,000 and 35,000
Vast migration from Africa to Asia to Europe to Australia and America
Stone Age is divided into Paleolithic and Neolithic
Paleolithic = Old Stone
77,000 year old carved red ochre block in South Africa, Blombos Cave
(the Creative Explosion 35,000 years ago)
Lion-Human Holhenstein-Stadel, made out of Ivory, Germany 30,000 to 26,000 B.C.E
Layers of excavation:
Lower
Middle
Upper: Women from Willendorf 24,000 B.C.E., made out of limestone, found in Austria
Women from Dolni Vestonice 23,000 B.C.E., made out of heated clay, found in Czech Republic
Women from Brassempouy 30,000 B.C.E., made out of ivory, found in France
Neolithic = New Stone
Cave Paintings: First discovered in 1879, in Altamira, Spain. Not authenticated until 1902.
Chauvet (Southeastern France) 32,410 years old.
Lascaux, Southern France 15,000 BCE
Altamira (Spain) 12,500 BCE
The NEOLITHIC Period (“new” + “Stone”)
-Stone Hedge: used for death ceremonies begun in 3000 BCE
- Ceramics: mud, clay, fire
-Figures of a Woman and a Man: 4500 BCE made of ceramic
-Bronze is stronger than copper and made with tin + copper.
Greece, Europe, Egypt
PREHISTORIC ARCHITECTURE METHODS
-Post and Lintel
-Post and lintel underground burial chamber
-Corbeled underground burial chamber
-Wood-post framing of prehistoric structure
-Dolmen and Capstone
Sumerians (present day Iraq)
-White Temple Uruk (ziggurat – square pyramid, made of uniform sized mud brick, homes of the
rulers and priests)
-Square Temple: the 12 votive figures, made of alabaster limestone and shells. (large eyes
represented prayer meditation and “awe” of spirituality.
ANCIENT WRITINGS and how it developed
-Pictograph: more related to what it represents
-Cuneiform: abstract, used a stylist to carve
Akkadians
- Head of a Man, Akkadian Ruler: Pouring Bronze into a cast made of wax. Eyes may have been
taken out because they were made of precious stone that were stolen. The sculpture symbolized power
so when the Akkadian Ruler lost his power its eyes and ears where taken out so that it represented his
loss of sight and hearing.
-Cylinder Seal: roll the cylinder on wet clay to create a decorative stamp.
-Disk of Enheduanna: the tallest person signifies importance and is a woman named
Enheduanna.
-The Great Lyre with Bulls Head: musical instrument (sound box)
Assyrians
-The Iron Age/ Bronze Age AKA metallurgy
- Bronze = Copper + Tin
- The Stole of Hammurabi – Inscribed with the laws and punishments for every crime
committed. Hammurabi ruled with justice and compassion. (You were innocent until proven guilty)
Babylonians
-Babylon Hanging Gardens
Art of South and Southeast Asia (before 1200)
Geography
Broad range of diverse ethnic communities, political units, language graphs, and
cultural traditions.
Historical importance of trade routes and exposure to Hinduism, Buddhism and
Islam.
Himalayas
Art of South
Asia
Indus River Valley- earliest Civilization. (2600-1900 BCE)
Flourished during the same period as=
Old Kingdom – Egypt
Minoan Civilization – Aegean
Ur and Babylon – Mesopotamia
Major Urban
Areas of Indus
Mohenjo – Daro- Elevated citadel area includes a water-tight WATER TANK
Buildings were made of with fired brick
Seal
Impressions
Carved from steatite stone (related to trade) merchant or market seal?
Link with present-day, yoga, Goddesses and a kneeling worshipper. India Gods.
Terra- Cotta stone and bronze statues, feature “sensuous naturalism”
Torso of Priest
King
Male Torso
Low forehead, broad nose, thick lips, long slit eyes are seen throughout Mohenjo
Daro figures. Trefoil- 3 lobed motif (filed with red pigment and eyes were inlaid)
Red-sandstone, naturalistic style. Found in Harappa. (2600-1900 BCE)
Indus Demise
Between 200 and 1750 gradual breakdown of architectural regularity.
(Climate Change and shifting of local rivers)
Vedic Period
Around 2000 BCE, nomadic herdsmen, the Aryans entered India from Central Asia
and Russian Steppers
Introduced the horse and chariot, Sanskrit, hierarchical societal order, religion of
Gods and fire sacrifice.
Fire Sacrifice: overseen by powerful priesthood AKA Brahmins
Upanishads
Around 800 BCE – texts that promoted the unity between the individual and the
divine. The material is an illusion but Brahma is real and eternal.
India’s Epic
Literature
The Jains and
Buddhism
Ashoka Maurya
The Ashokan
Pillar
Axis Mundi
Female Figure
Holding a FlyWhisk
The STUPA
Mandala
The Great
Stupa at Sanchi
The Art of
Southeast Asia
Early Southeast
Asia
Funan
Hinduism and
Buddhism
The Art of
China & Korea
before 1200 ce
Confucianism
The Middle
Kingdom
Geography
400 BCE- The Mahabharata
The Ramayana
6th century – Recognize non-violence as central
5th century – Monks and nuns rejected
Fire-sacrifice and hereditary class structure
Thirteen Rock Edict – describes a weary battle worn Ashoka who experiences a
profound change of heart and begins to support Buddhism.
Sandstone, 50+ feet in height. 10’ of stone for foundation. Inscriptions carved and
relate to the rules of dharma (moral law, kept the universe in balance)
Joining of earth and the cosmos.
Yakshi – spirit associated with the female figure and fertility. Shows strength but
also tenderness.
Solid mound built around/above a relic, somehow connected to Buddha himself.
Stupas are open to all for private worship.
A diagram of the cosmos, their symbolic meanings remain the same.
Features a large dome that covers a relic of Buddha. Two walkways, one at ground
level and the other halfway up the side of the stupa are surrounded by a stone
fence. Two entrance Doorways were added layer and are carved out of stone.
High mountainous interior, dense vegetation. Earliest human settled along rivers
and coastline which facilitated both food production and trade. Rich mineral
deposits allowed for metallurgy. Bronze casting developed as old as 1500 BCE
In NE Thailand they have uncovered a wide range of bronze tools and jewelry, and
ceramics. Similar bronze work has been found in Vietnam, short range ocean trade
(600 BCE)
Collection of states/kingdoms that all traded with each-other 100 BCE, this network
of city trading continued to expand into china and the West
With all of this trading going on, ideas were being disseminated, including religious
beliefs that originated in the Indus Civilization.
In China, which is measured by dynasties, there have been discoveries of elaborate
bronze, ceramic, porcelain, and jade/jewelry. Archaeology is a relatively new field.
China influenced, Korea, which then influenced Japan.
Standards of conduct that underlie social order.
AKA China (Qin, pronounced “Chin”)
Three Rivers, Yellow (HuangeHe), Yangze, and Xi. Qinling Mountains divide China,
and we see different cultures and climate. To the north, an arid steppe and desert,
known as Mongolia is home to nomadic peoples and the Mongols.
Persians
China:
-Shang
-Zhou
-Qin
-Huan
-Sui
-Tang
-Song
-Yuan
-Ming
-Qin republic
-Mao Zedong
-Xia ping