AP History of Art
Unit One:
ART OF PREHISTORIC
AND ANCIENT CULTURES
Prepared by: D. Darracott
Plano West High School
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Unit ONE: Art of Prehistoric and Ancient Cultures
PREHISTORIC
PALEOLITHIC
Halls of the Bulls (Lascaux, France)
c. 15,000 - 13, 000 BCE
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art as a tool for survival
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art for use in rituals
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twisted perspective
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figure ground relationship
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naturalistic renderings
Venus of Willendorf (Austria)
c. 28,000 - 23,000 BCE, limestone
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cult of the fertility goddess
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lack of naturalistic rendering
NEOLITHIC
Human skull from Jericho c. 7000 -6000 BCE
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spirit trap
Çatal Hüyük (Turkey), c. 6000-5900 BCE
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Çatal Hüyük
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Anatolia
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no streets or doors
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shrines with bucrania and wall paintings
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possibly the first known landscape
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STUDENT NOTES
Unit ONE: Art of Prehistoric and Ancient Cultures
Stonehenge (Wiltshire, England) c. 2000 BCE
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megaliths
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cromlech
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post and lintel construction
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heelstone
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vesica pisces
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omphalos
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dolmen
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menhirs
ANCIENT NEAR EAST
SUMERIANS
White Temple and Ziggurat (Uruk)
c. 3200-3000 BCE
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use of mud brick
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desire for monumental architecture
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celestial orientation
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cella
Statuettes of Temple of Abu, Tell Asmar c. 2700-2600 BCE, gypsum
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stylization of physical types
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hypnotic gaze
Standard of Ur c. 2700 BCE
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contrast between war and peace
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use of registers to depict a narrative
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STUDENT NOTES
Unit ONE: Art of Prehistoric and Ancient Cultures
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discoveries made from royal Sumerian graves
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depiction of human figures
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lapis lazuli
AKKADIANS
Victory Stele of Naram-Sin (Susa) c.2200 BCE, pink sandstone
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use of a stele to commemorate a victory
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Sargon of Akkad and Naram Sin
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hierarchical proportion
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organization of figures
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incorporating landscape
Head of an Akkadian ruler (Ninevah)
c. 2200 BCE, bronze
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balance of naturalism and stylization
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introduction of bronze cast sculpture
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Akkadian concept of absolute power
NEO SUMERIAN
Seated State of Gudea, from Tellon,
c. 2100 BCE, diorite
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the ensi Gudea
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image of piety for the god Ningirsu
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use of diorite
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STUDENT NOTES
Unit ONE: Art of Prehistoric and Ancient Cultures
BABYLONIANS
Stele with law code of Hammurabi (Susa) c. 1780 BCE, basalt
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use of law to establish a central government (talion law)
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god (Shamash) and ruler linked together
HITTITES
Lion Gate (Boghazkoy, Turkey) c. 1400 BCE, limestone
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Hittites in Anatolia
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use of heavy stone instead of brick
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Kadesh treaty with the Egyptians
ASSYRIANS
Lamassu from the citadel of Sargon II (Khorsabad) c. 720 BCE
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reputation of the Assyrians
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royal citadel of Sargon II
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lamassu
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sculptor’s viewpoints
Ashurbanipal hunting lions (Ninevah)
c. 650 BCE, limestone
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depiction of a wild beast
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bas relief carving
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demonstration of the king’s power
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STUDENT NOTES
Unit ONE: Art of Prehistoric and Ancient Cultures
Ishtar Gate (Babylon) c. 575 BCE
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Neo-Babylonian period (612-538 BCE)
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King Nebuchadnezzar
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Ishtar and Tammuz
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bulls, lions, and the mu u u
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the “hanging gardens”
PERSIANS
Royal audience hall, palace of Darius I (Persepolis) c. 500 BCE
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Darius III and Alexander the Great
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elevation of platform
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apadana with bull capitals
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loose groupings of buildings
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satrapies
EGYPTIAN
PREDYNASTIC PERIOD
Palette of King Narmer c. 3100-3000 BCE, slate
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unification of Lower and Upper Egypt
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hierarchical proportion
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Horus (a human- armed falcon), Seth, Osiris, and Isis
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other representations of the king
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Hathor
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ceremonial use of a utilitarian object
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STUDENT NOTES
Unit ONE: Art of Prehistoric and Ancient Cultures
STUDENT NOTES
OLD KINGDOM
Imhotep. Stepped Pyramid of King Zoser (Saqqara) c. 2675-2625 BCE
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the ka and the ba
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mummification and canopic jars
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scarabs and other amulets
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mastaba and a serdab
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necropolis
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stepped pyramid
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first known instance of using columns in post and lintel construction
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first known artist of recorded history – Imhotep
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sed rituals and the priesthood
Great Pyramids of Gizeh
2600-2475 BCE
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ben-ben (compare with ziggurat)
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Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure
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Re
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celestial orientation
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theories on the construction
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tiny interior spaces
The Great Sphinx (Gizeh)
c. 2575-2525 BCE, sandstone
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image of absolute kingship
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eternal guardian (tutelary)
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association of nose with life force
Khafre (Gizeh) c. 2575-2525 BCE, diorite
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permanence of material
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intertwined lotus and papyrus
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Old Kingdom kilt
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canon of ideal proportions
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“block-like” characteristic
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Unit ONE: Art of Prehistoric and Ancient Cultures STUDENT NOTES
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subtractive method of carving
Seated Scribe (Saqqara) c. 2500-2400 BCE
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use of increased realism in subordinate figures
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accounts by Herodotus
Hesire (Saqqara) c. 2675-2625 BCE
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hieroglyphics and the Rosetta Stone
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Jean-Francois Champollion
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conceptual vs. optical approach
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twisting perspective and use of a grid
MIDDLE KINGDOM
Rock Cut Tombs (Beni Hasan) c. 2000 -1900 BCE
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constant threats to power
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greater focus of interior of tombs
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sarcophagi
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fluted columns and a portico
NEW KINGDOM
Senmut. Mortuary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut (Deir-el Bahri) c. 1473-1458 BCE
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invasion of the Hyksos
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Senmut
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Queen Hatshepsut
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mortuary temple’s relationship to its backdrop
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colonnades
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Thutmose III
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Unit ONE: Art of Prehistoric and Ancient Cultures STUDENT NOTES
Temple of Ramses II (Abu Simbel)
c. 1290-1224 BCE
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figures of king outside the temple
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figures of king inside the temple (atlantids)
and sunken reliefs
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façade
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corridor axis
Temples at Karnak and Luxor
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pylon
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hypostyle hall and clerestory windows
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Egyptian columns
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obelisk
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djed pillar
Senmut with Princess Nefrua (Thebes)
c. 1470-1460 BCE
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block statue
Fowling Scene from the tomb of
Nebamun (Thebes) c. 1400-1350 BCE
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concept of the life in the afterlife
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figures in proportion to rank
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function of boat in Egyptian life
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naturalistic depiction of birds
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dry fresco technique
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flat, linear style
Musicians and Dancers from the
tomb of Nebamun (Thebes)
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rare attempt at a frontal pose
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Unit ONE: Art of Prehistoric and Ancient Cultures STUDENT NOTES
Akhenaton (Karnak) c. 1353-1335 BCE
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Akhenaton and Nefertiti
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cult of Aton
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curvilinear lines and increased naturalistic rendering
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image of androgynous “spiritual beauty,” the Amarna atyle
Death mask of Tutankhamen (Thebes)
c. 1323 BCE
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Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter
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use of three coffins
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crook and flail
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soft, serene expression
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nemes
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uraeus
Last Judgment of Hu-Nefer (Thebes)
c. 1290-1280 BCE
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Book of the Dead
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Hall of Judgment
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papyrus scrolls
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Maat
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Anubis
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Ammit
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Thoth
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receiving the award of eternal life
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Unit ONE: Art of Prehistoric and Ancient Cultures STUDENT NOTES
AFRICAN ART
NOK CULTURE
Head from the Nok culture,
c. 500 BCE-200 CE, terracotta
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Nok Culture
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problems of preservation of African art
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stylization vs. naturalism
YORUBA AND BENIN CULTURES
Head of a King (Ife), c. 13th century CE, brass
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naturalistic sculpture in the city of Ife
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the Yoruba
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the “oni”
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scarification
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holes around the scalp
Head of an oba (Benin), c. 1700-1897 CE, brass
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Benin
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an “oba”
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benefits of trade
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coral-bead necklaces
Mounted King and Attendants (Benin),
c. 1550-1680, bronze
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high relief cast sculpture created for a door
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use of hierarchical proportion
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flanking figures used to create a symmetrical composition
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Unit ONE: Art of Prehistoric and Ancient Cultures
Abogunde of Ede. Shango shrine figure
holding a dance staff, Yoruba (Nigeria),
nineteenth century, wood and beads
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Yoruba
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orisha
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Shango
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oshe shango staff
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balancing a double axe
A figure of Eshu of the Yoruba (Nigeria),
twentieth century, wood and cowrie shells
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Eshu and Orunmila
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Long braids of cowrie shells
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Eshu’s head
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a whistle and the sucking of the thumb
OTHER AFRICAN CULTURES
Ancestral Couple (?) (Dogon, Mali), c. 19th century, wood
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Dogon
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reverence for ancestors
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a unified human couple with scarification
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a larger male
Reliquary guardian figure of the Kota (Gabon),
nineteenth and twentieth centuries, wood,
copper, iron, and brass
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the Kota of central Africa
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funerary figures (mbulu ugulu)
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STUDENT NOTES
Unit ONE: Art of Prehistoric and Ancient Cultures
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bwete
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use of metal to indicate importance
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convex and concave faces
Power figures of the Kongo culture (Zaire),
19th century, wood, nails, pins, blades, and other materials
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Kongo culture
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power figures (nkisi nkonde)
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bilongo
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part of a healing or oath-taking process
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concept of the community as an “artist”
Kente cloth of the Ashanti (Ghana),
20th century, silk
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Ashanti
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kente cloth
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restricted patterns
Female mask of the Mende
(Sierra Leone), wood
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masks from the Mende
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the Sande society of women
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a small, closed mouth and downcast eyes
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STUDENT NOTES
Unit ONE: Prehistoric through Aegean
STUDENT NOTES
Prehistoric Art
Possible Essay Topics:
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probable reasons why mankind began making art
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the relationship of sacred sites to geography in early cultures
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changes that occurred from Paleolithic to Neolithic times in how people lived
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the importance of the fertility goddess in prehistoric cultures
Ancient Near East
Possible Essay Topics
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why ancient civilizations began to build on a monumental scale
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what purpose a ziggurat served and how it was constructed
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how art was used to the ancient near East to convey power and authority
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contrasting ways in which cultures of the ancient near East created a narrative format in
art (look at the Standard of Ur and the Victory Stele of Naram Sin)
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how depictions of rulers differed in Sumerian (Gudea), Akkadian (Naram-Sin), Babylonian
(Hammurabi), and Assyrian (Ashurbanipal) cultures
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compare and contrast the depictions of lions in Assyrian bas-reliefs with the cave
paintings at Lascaux
Egyptian Art
Possible Essay Topics:
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the importance of the afterlife in Egyptian life and art
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how art was used by the ancient Egyptians to convey power and authority (Khafre,
Abu Simbel)
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compare and contrast the temple at Abu Simbel of Ramses II with the Chinese tomb
of Shi Huangdi to illustrate two different ways two leaders, each from a different
culture, have created an image suggesting power and authority
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how art and architecture changed throughout Egyptian history (from the Old
Kingdom to the New Kingdom)
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discuss the conventional treatment of the human form in Egyptian art and how and
why those conventions were altered during the reign of Akhenaton
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discuss the purpose, construction, and geographical orientation of Old Kingdom
pyramids and New Kingdom temples
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compare and contrast an Egyptian guardian figure (such as the Great Sphinx) with
that of another culture (such as the Assyrian lamassu or the Hittite lion gate)
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discuss the impact of geography on the art of Egypt (i.e. the annual flooding of the
Nile River)
African Art
Possible Essay Topics
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discuss the various functions of objects made by African tribes and how the methods and
materials used to create these objects reinforce those functions
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compare and contrast the treatment of the human figure found in African art with that of
the art of Egypt, the ancient near East, and prehistoric western Europe
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Unit ONE: Prehistoric
STUDY GUIDE
A Prehistoric Time Periods
1. During the Paleolithic period (the term “paleo” means “old” and the word “lithos” means “stone”), beginning around 30,000 BCE,
cave dwelling Cro-Magnon man appears to have the urge to create images. The oldest known cave paintings were discovered in 1994
in the Chauvet Cave near Vallon-Pont-d”Arc in France (Kleiner, Mamiya, and Tansey 11). Around 9,000 BCE, the glaciers receded
and a more temperate climate developed. This period is known as the Mesolithic period (12). The Neolithic period refers to the time
when man became herdsmen and farmers. This happened at different times in different parts of the world. “The transition to the
Neolithic occurred first in the ancient Near East.” (12).
2. “Tool-making represents the beginning of culture, which, in its most basic sense, proceeds from the manipulation of nature. The
making of tools- humankind’s earliest technology- constitutes the primary act of extending control over nature and the most
fundamental example of problem-solving behavior” (Fiero, First Civilizations 1). “In various parts of Africa and East Asia, huntergatherers known as Homo erectus (‘upright human’) made tools that were more varied and efficient than those used by earlier
humans. These tools included hand-axes, cleavers, chisels, and a wide variety of choppers… Fire, too, became an important part of
the early culture of humankind, providing safety, warmth, and a means of cooking food” (1). “Some 100,000 years ago, a group of
human ancestors with anatomical features and brain size similar to our own appeared in the Neander Valley near Dusseldorf,
Germany. The burial of human dead (their bodies dyed with red ocher) among Neanderthals and the practice of including tools,
weapons, and flowers in Neanderthal graves are evidence of self-conscious, symbol-making known as Homo sapiens” (1).
3. “The development of the primate brain in both size and complexity was integral to the evolution of Homo sapiens: Over millions of
years, the average brain size of the human being grew to roughly three times the size of the gorilla’s brain. Equally critical was the
growth of more complex motor capacities. Gradually, verbal methods of communication complemented the nonverbal ones shared by
animals and protohumans. We do not know at what point speech replaced more primitive sound codes, but, over time, our
prehistoric ancestors came to use spoken language as a medium for transmitting information and patterns of culture.
Communication by means of language distinguished Homo sapiens from other primates” (1). “Paleolithic culture evolved during a
period of climatic fluctuation called the Ice Age. Between roughly three million and 10,000 years ago, at least four large glacial
advances covered the area north of the equator. As hunters and gatherers, Paleolithic people were forced either to migrate or adapt to
changing climatic conditions. It is likely that more than fifteen species of humans coexisted with one another, and all but Homo
sapiens became extinct. Ultimately, the ingenuity and imagination of Homo sapiens were responsible for the fact that they fared
better than many other creatures” (1).
4. “During the transitional (or Mesolithic) phase that occurred shortly after 10,000 BCE, our ancient ancestors discovered that the
seeds of wild grains and fruits might be planted to grow food, and wild animals might be domesticated. The rock art paintings
discovered at Tassili in Africa’s Sahara Desert- once fertile grasslands- tell the story of a transition from hunting to herding and the
domestication of cattle and camels. Gradually, over a period of centuries, as hunters, gatherers, and herdsmen became farmers and
food producers, a dynamic new culture emerged: the Neolithic. Food production freed people from a nomadic way of life. They
gradually settled permanent farm communities, raising high-protein crops such as wheat and barley in Asia, rice in China, and maize
in the Americas. They raised goats, pigs, cattle, and sheep that provided regular sources of food and valuable by-products such as
wool and leather” (4).
B Hall of the Bulls (Lascaux), c. 15,000-13,000 BCE
art as a tool for survival/ art for use in rituals/ twisted perspective/ figure ground relationship/
naturalistic renderings
1. At Lascaux, France, as at Chauvet, France, (a recently discovered site where we meet the
earliest paintings known to us), “bison, deer, horses, and cattle race across walls and ceiling.
Some of them are outlined in black, others filled in with bright earth colors, but all show the
same uncanny sense of life… The pictures never appear near the mouth of the cave, where they
would be open too easy view and destruction. They are found only in dark recesses, as far from
the entrance as possible. Some can be reached only by crawling on hands and knees” (Janson
33-34). “Since many Lascaux animals are superimposed, they have been read as examples of
image-magic. According to this theory, the act of making the images was an end in itself,
possibly a symbolic capture of the animal by fixing its likeness on the cave wall” (Adams, Art
Across Time 33).
2. “The Lascaux artists created their figures by first drawing an outline and then filling it in with pigment. The pigment itself was
stored in hollow bones plugged at one end, which may also have been used to blow the pigment onto the walls. Some of these bone
tubes, still bearing traces of pigment, have been found in the caves” (33). The caves at Lascaux “have been dated to about 15,000 –
13,000 BCE. The Lascaux artists also used the contours of the rock as part of their compositions. They painted cows, bulls, horses,
and deer along natural ledges, where the smooth, white limestone of the ceiling and the upper wall meets a rougher surface below.
The animals appear singly, in rows, face to face, tail to tail, and even painted on top of one another. As in other caves, their most
characteristic features have been emphasized. Horns, eyes, and hooves are shown as seen from the front, yet heads and bodies are
rendered in profile. Even when their poses are exaggerated or distorted, the animals are full of life and energy, and the accuracy of
the drawing of their silhouettes, or outlines, still astonishes us” (Stokstad, Art History 43).
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Unit ONE: Prehistoric
STUDY GUIDE
Hall of the Bulls (Lascaux), c. 15,000-13,000 BCE (CONTINUED)
3. “The basic colors of cave painting are red and black, sometimes enriched with yellow, maroon, and violet. All of these were made
by combining ground minerals with fat. Red was made from iron oxide, yellow and brown- used for lights and shadows- from ocher.
Chalk was sometimes added to lighten the color. Black was derived from manganese” (Govignon 120-121). “Man of these images
clearly relate to the hunt. Perhaps they were intended to bring good luck and conquer fear. Or perhaps these caves were sanctuaries
reserved for the celebration of a myth, a fertility ritual, or magical rites” (121). “Human figures are more unusual… At Lascaux, a
very rare scene represents a wounded man falling in front of a charging bison” (120).
4. “Over one hundred limestone cave dwellings in southwestern France and still others discovered as recently as 1996 in
southeastern France contain images of animals (bears, bison, elk, lions, and zebras, among others), birds, fish, and other signs and
symbols, all of which reveal a high degree of artistic and technical sophistication. Executed between 10,000 and 30,000 years ago,
these wall-paintings provide a visual record of such long-extinct animals as the hairy mammoth and the woolly rhinoceros. Equally
important, they document the culture of a hunting people. Painted with polychrome mineral pigments and shaded with bitumen
and burnt coal, realistically depicted bison, horses, reindeer, and a host of other creatures are shown standing, running often
wounded by spears and lances. What were the purpose and function of these vivid images? Located in the most inaccessible regions
of the caves, and frequently drawn one over another, with no apparent regard for clarity of composition, it is unlikely that they were
intended as decorations or even as records of the hunt. It seems possible that, much like tools and weapons, cave art functioned as
part of a hunting ritual” (Fiero, First Civilizations 1-2).
5. “Faith in the power to alter destiny by way of prayer and the manipulation of proper symbols has characterized religious ceremony
throughout the history of humankind, but it was especially important to a culture in which control over nature was crucial to
physical survival. A motif commonly found on cave walls is the image of the human hand, created in negative relief by blowing or
splattering color around the actual hand of the hunter, shaman, or priest who interceded between the human realm and the spirit
world. Since the hand was the hunter’s most powerful ally in making and wielding a weapon, it is fitting that it appears enshrined in
the sacred precinct amid the quarry of the hunt. The precise meaning of many of the markings on prehistoric cave walls remains a
matter of speculation. In that some cave paintings depict beasts and sea-creatures that humans did not hunt, it may be that these
images were cult-related. Some scholars hold that certain prehistoric markings were lunar calendars—notational devices used to
predict the seasonal migration of animals. The cave, symbol of the cosmic underworld and the procreative womb, served as a
ceremonial chamber, a shrine, and perhaps a council room. No matter how one interprets so-called ‘cave art’, it is surely an
expression of our early ancestors’ efforts to control their environment and thus ensure their survival” (3).
C Venus of Willendorf (Austria), c. 28,000- 23,000 BCE, limestone
cult of the fertility goddess/ lack of naturalistic rendering
1. “We have only to turn to one of the earliest surviving representations of the human form to discover that the
body was a source of fascination even to Paleolithic, prehistoric cultures. The tiny limestone carving known as the
Willendorf Woman discovered in Willendorf, Austria, is thought to be between 25,000 and 30,000 years old.
Anthropologists and art historians have drawn attention to the tactile nature of its bulbous contours, the
pendulous breasts and swollen belly, leading them to speculate on the figure’s possible talismanic function as a
hand-held fertility symbol. More recently, the theory has been put forward that such Paleolithic carvings might be
the first attempts by women to represent themselves while pregnant. Thus the exaggerated breasts and midriff
might have served some gynecological function, plotting the changing forms of the female body in pregnancy.
Although such theories can only be treated as conjuncture, they do effectively challenge a broad historical
tendency to explain even the earliest representations of the unclothed female body as products of male erotic
fantasy. We should exercise caution before ascribing ritual, social, or even artistic significance to such prehistoric
objects, but we can properly treat them as early evidence of the human body as an important subject of
representation among even the most archaic of cultures” (Flynn 22-23).
2. “The artist has emphasized those parts of the body related to reproduction and nursing. Furthermore, comparison of the front
with the side and back shows that, although it is a sculpture in the round, more attention has been lavished on the front. This
suggests that the figure was intended to be viewed from the front. Since frontality is characteristic of much religious art in later
cultures, the combination of frontality and symbolic exaggeration here has led some scholars to conclude that the Venus of Willendorf
represented a fertility goddess” (Adams, Art Across Time 26). “After an image is shaped, it can be sanded, filed, or polished. The
Venus of Willendorf was not polished, although some Paleolithic sculptures were. It is made of limestone, which does not polish as
well as other types of stone” (26). “Some of the carvings suggest that the objects may have stemmed from the perception of a chance
resemblance. Earlier Stone Age people were content to collect pebbles in whose natural shape they saw something that made them
special. Echoes of this approach can sometimes be felt in later pieces. The so-called ‘Venus’ of Willendorf, one of many such female
figurines, has a bulbous roundness of form that recalls an egg-shaped ‘sacred pebble.’ Her navel, the central point of the design, is a
natural cavity in the stone” (Janson 35).
3. “Women probably secured food by gathering fruits and berries; they acted also as healers and nurturers. Moreover, since the
female (in her role as childbearer) assumed the continuity of the tribe, she assumed a special importance: Perceived as life-giver and
identified with the mysterious powers of procreation, she was exalted as Mother Earth. Her importance in the prehistoric community
is confirmed by the great numbers of female statuettes uncovered by archeologists throughout the world” (Fiero, First Civilizations 4).
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Unit ONE: Prehistoric
STUDY GUIDE
D Shamanism
1. “Shamanism exists today in certain small-scale societies throughout the world, and seems to have been a feature of some prehistoric
cultures. Shamans, from the Tunguso-Manchurian word saman (meaning “to know”), function as intermediaries between the human and
the spirit worlds. They communicate with spirits by entering a trance- induced by rhythmic movement or sound, hallucinogenic drugs,
fasting, and so forth- during which one or more spirits “possess” them” (Adams, Art Across Time 32).
2. “Shamans are revered healers and problem-solvers in their communities, and are feared for the harm they could do if angered. They
foretell the future, cure the sick, and assist in such rites of passage as birth and death. Shamans are highly individualistic, often living
on the fringes of society, and do not participate in organized religion. They generally wear ritual costumes made of animal skins and
horns or antlers and carry ritual objects such as rattles. Dancing and chanting typically accompany shamanic ceremonies” (32).
E Human skull from Jericho, c. 7000-6000 BCE
spirit trap
1. “By 7000 BCE, agriculture was well established in at least three Near Eastern regions: Palestine, Iran, and Anatolia… The site of
Jericho – a plateau in the Jordan River valley with an unfailing spring – was occupied by a small village as early as the ninth millennium
BCE… By approximately 7500 BCE, the town, estimated to have had a population of more than 2,000 people, had built a huge (almost
13 feet tall) wall and a circular stone tower… Among the artifacts excavated there are a number of human skulls whose features artists
“reconstructed” in plaster to create lifelike features. Some scholars think they attest to a belief in an afterlife following the body’s death
since they were detached from their bodies and buried separately” (Kleiner , Mamiya, and Tansey 12-13).
2. “The biblical account of Joshua’s attack on Jericho (Joshua 6) refers to a much later settlement at the site. His success lives on today
in the refrain of the spiritual: ‘Joshua fought the battle of Jericho, and the walls came tumbling down.’ Jericho’s walls protected a city of
rectangular houses and public buildings made of mud-brick and erected on stone foundations. Mud-brick was the mainstay of ancient
Near Eastern architecture, used for ordinary buildings as well as for public architecture. Manufactured from an inexpensive, readily
available material, it was easy to work with and suited to the climate. The walls of Jericho’s mud-brick houses were plastered and
painted” (Adams, Art Across Time 49).
3. “In addition to providing shelter for the living, dwellings in Jericho housed the dead. Corpses buried under
the floors indicate a concern with ancestors, a conclusion reinforced by one of the most intriguing
archaeological finds, the so-called ‘Jericho skulls.’ These uncanny skull ‘portraits’ are almost literal renderings
of the transition between life and death. The dead person’s detached skull presumably served as a kind of
armature on which to rebuild the face and thus preserve the memory of the deceased” (49).
“Unlike Paleolithic art, which had grown from the perception of chance images, the Jericho heads are not
intended to ‘create’ life but to perpetuate it beyond death by replacing the flesh with a more enduring
substance. From the circumstances in which they were found, we gather that these heads were displayed
above ground while the rest of the body was buried beneath the floor of the house. We can presume that they
belonged to honored ancestors whose beneficent presence was thus ensured” (Janson 36).
E Çatal Hüyük, (Turkey), c. 6000-5900 BCE
Çatal Hüyük/ Anatolia/ no streets or doors/ shrines with bucrania and wall paintings
1. “Excavations at Çatal Hüyük in Anatolia (modern Turkey) brought to light another Neolithic town, roughly a thousand years younger
than Jericho. Its residents traded in obsidian (a volcanic glass used for cutting) and ores, making it a center of metalworking. The people
lived in houses built of mud bricks and timber, clustered around open courtyards” (Janson 37).
2. “The layout of the town suggests that it was planned without streets. Instead, one-story, mud-brick houses were connected to each
other by their rooftops, and scholars assume that ladders provided access from ground level; it is possible, although not certain, that this
was for defense… Skeletons were buried under floors and benches. Some of the skeletons were coated with red ocher, while the necks and
heads of others were decorated with blue and green pigments. Deposits of jewelry and weapons accompanied the remains, suggesting
that they were thought necessary in an afterlife” (Adams, Art Across Time 50).
3. “The settlement did include a number of religious shrines, the oldest so far. On their plaster-covered walls we find the earliest
paintings on a man-made surface. Animal hunts, with small running figures surrounding huge bulls or stags, remind us of cave
paintings. The similarity is a sign that the Neolithic Revolution must have been a recent event at the time, but the balance has already
shifted: these hunts appear to be rituals honoring the deity to whom the bull and stag were sacred… Compared to the animals of the cave
paintings, those at Çatal Hüyük are simple and static; here it is the hunters who are in motion. Animals associated with female deities
appear even more rigid…. The most surprising of the wall paintings at Çatal Hüyük is a view of the town itself, with the twin cones of an
erupting volcano above it” (Janson 37). “Bulls’ horns, widely thought to be symbols of masculine potency, adorn most shrines, sometimes
in considerable numbers. In some rooms they are displayed next to plaster breasts, symbols of female fertility, projecting from the walls.
Statuettes of stone or terracotta (baked clay) also have been found in considerable numbers at Çatal Hüyük. Most are quite small (two to
eight inches high) and primarily depict female figures” (Kleiner, Mamiya, and Tansey 14).
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Unit ONE: Prehistoric
STUDY GUIDE
F Stonehenge (Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, England), c. 2000 BCE
megaliths/ cromlech/ post and lintel construction/ heelstone/ vesica pisces/ omphalos/ dolmen/ menhirs
1. “In the Carnac district on the south coast of Brittany, in France, thousands of menhirs, or single
vertical megaliths, were set up sometime between 4250 and 3750 BCE. Over 3,000 of them still
stand in a two-mile stretch near Menec. Each of these squared-off stones weighs several tons. They
were placed in either circular patterns known as cromlechs or straight rows known as alignments…
The east-west orientation of the alignments suggests some connection to the movement of the sun”
(Stokstad, Art History 53). “Of all the megalithic monuments in Europe, the one that has stirred the
imagination of the public most strongly is Stonehenge, on Salisbury Plain in southern England. A
henge is a circle of stones or posts, often surrounded by a ditch with built-up embankment. Laying
out such circles with accuracy would have posed no particular problem. Their architects likely relied
on the human compass, a simple but effective surveying method that persisted will into modern
times. All that is required is a length of cord either cut or knotted to mark the desire radius of the
circle. A person holding one end of the cord is stationed in the center; a co-worker, holding the other
end and keeping the cord taut, steps off the circle’s circumference” (53).
2. “Stonehenge is not the largest such circle from the Neolithic period, but because it was repeatedly reworked to incorporate new
elements, it is one of the most complicated megalithic sites. It must have had, or developed,, an extraordinary importance in its region…
An ‘avenue’ from the henge to the northeast led well outside the embankment to a pointed sarsen megalith- sarsen is a gray sandstonebrought from a quarry 23 miles away. Today, this so-called heel stone, tapered toward the top and weighing about 35 tons, stands about
16 feet high. The ditches and embankments bordering the approach avenue were constructed somewhat later, at the same time as the
huge megalithic monument we see today. By about 2100 BCE, Stonehenge included all of the internal elements reflected in the drawing
shown here. Dominating the center was a horseshoe-shaped arrangement of five sandstone trilithons, or pairs of upright stones topped
by lintels. The one at the middle stood considerably taller than the rest, rising to a height of 24 feet, and its lintel was more than 15 feet
long and 3 feet thick. This group was surrounded by the so-called sarsen circle, a ring of sandstone uprights weighing up to 50 tons each
and standing 20 feet tall. This circle, 106 feet in diameter, was capped by a continuous lintel. The uprights were tapered slightly toward
the top, and the gently curved lintel sections were secured by mortise and tenon joints, a conical projection from one piece fitting into a
hole in the next. Just inside the sarsen circle was once a ring of bluestones- worked blocks of a bluish dolerite found only in the
mountains of southern Wales, 150 miles away. Why the builders of Stonehenge felt it necessary to use specifically this type of stone is
one of the many mysteries of Stonehenge. Clearly the stones were highly prized” (54). “Whoever stood at the exact center of Stonehenge
on the morning of the summer solstice 4,000 years ago would have seen the sun rise directly over the heel stone. The observer could then
warn people that the sun’s strength would shortly begin to wane, that the days would grow shorter and the nights cooler until the country
was once more gripped by winter” (54-55). Another prehistoric structure called the dolmen “was made up of a post-and-lintel frame of
large stone slabs ‘roofed’ with one or more capstones, then mounded over with dirt and smaller stones called a cairn” (53). Stonehenge
could have served as an omphalos. The omphalos marks the place where “the belief that one’s own country… was the center of the earth
or even the axis of the cosmos” (Hall 105).
G Observations and Theories surrounding Stonehenge
1. “Stonehenge is thought to have been built over a long period of time, between 1900 and 1600 BCE, because the rings of standing
stones are made of different materials and clearly were erected at different times. The sarsens average thirty tons each and are from the
Marlborough Downs, while the bluestones are from Wales” (Mann 67).“The overall geometry of Stonehenge is determined by squaring the
circle. The outermost circle of sarsen stones determines a square within which the diameter of the bluestone ring can be determined…
The circumference of the outer sarsen circled and the square encircling it is equal to 316.8 feet, a symbolic number also describing the
measure around the New Jerusalem in miles. John Michell believes that the Holy City of St. John’s vision, the outlines of which are also
found at Glastonbury, precedes Christian revelation and was understood by the builders of Stonehenge. It was a model of the cosmic
order created on earth” (66).
2. “A larger scale solar geometry determines the relative sizes of the rings of Stonehenge. A cross drawn through the center of Stonehenge
allows the construction of two vesica pisces at right angles to each other, one enclosing and one enclosed with the sarsen ring. When a
vesica is in turn inscribed within the innermost one, the enclosed diamond has an area of 1080 square feet, 1080 being the sacred
number of the Holy Ghost. These measurements use the Megalithic Yard (MY), a unit sacred to early humanity. The largest intersecting
circles have a total width of 666 MY, a number sacred to the sun. Stonehenge may therefore be seen as a sanctuary to the earth spirit
penetrated by the sun’s rays” (66-67). “An interesting hypothesis presented by Michael Saunders in 1982 was that Stonehenge was the
first planetarium. Using the measurements of the various rings of stones from the center of the monument, Saunders discovered that
when they are multiplied by 10 (to the tenth power), they correspond, to within a few percent, to the distances of the planets from the Sun
to Jupiter. Mercury corresponds to the semi-circular bluestone ring of trilithons; the sun to the sarsen horseshoe; Venus to the second
bluestone ring of fifty-six stones; the Earth to the sarsen ring of thirty uprights; the nearest and furthest possible orbits of Mars
correspond to the two Y and Z rings; the asteroids to the surrounding circular bank; and Jupiter to the Heelstone, with the chalk circle
around the stone representing the mean distance of Jupiter’s orbit. He also found that the length of the Avenue (leading from the center
of the circle to the Heelstone) corresponds to the mean distance of Pluto from the Sun. It is a superb illustration of the way in which the
mathematics of this remarkable structure represents an archetype of planetary relationships in symbolic form” (69).
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