2 Million Years of Style
Australopithecus Afarensis
Upright walking
leaves hands free to manipulate.
Prehensile hands (& feet)
Oldowan
-approx 2MYA
Acheulean
-approx 1.5MYA
Paleolithic & Neolithic Stone Tools
Mousterian
-from 200KYA
Neolithic
“Laurel Leaf”
Control of fire improved safety, cooking & health, and
enhanced social bonding.
Decorative shell beads made by
Homo Sapiens about 100,000 Y.A.
Face made from stone and bone by
Neanderthal about 32,000 Y.A.
Aesthetic awareness of both abstract and figurative forms
Hand of Man, El Castillo, Spain
about 20,000 Y.A.
Bison rock drawing from Altamera, Spain
about 20,000 Y.A.
Self and environmental awareness.
Agriculture and farming was first used in the fertile crescent
of present day Turkey and the Levant.
Catal Huyuk
from 8 KYA?
Houses were entered through
the roof for protection.
Mother Goddess
The oldest known town was Catal Huyuk, built close to a
source of obsidian, a natural glass that was used for
toolmaking and trading.
Modern plow
Egyptian plow
The invention of the plow pulled by oxen (or horse power)
allowed for a huge increase in harvests.
Stone dagger & grass sheath
Copper head bound to branch, axe
Retoucheur
The Iceman, found in the European Alps, from about 2,500
B.C. had tools that were both Stone Age & Copper Age
Primitive tripart wheel
Modern magnesium alloy wheel
The invention of the wheel brought about 5,000 years of
style change.
Pictograms lead to hieroglyphics, writing and the first font
styles.
Egypt & Sumeria
Temple at Sumer
Indus Valley
Shang China
Shang bronze weapons
By 2000BC there were city based civilizations in Egypt, the
Middle East, India and China.
Egyptians
at leisure
Minoan
Goddess
Assyrian wounded lion
The rise of cities brought about specialization, trades,
craftsmen, hierarchal culture and increased leisure time.
Huge Buddha statue from
Shive Dagon paoda, Burma
Olmec greenstone mask
From about 300 BC.
Siddhartha Gautama Buddha (563-483 BC) & Confucius
(551-479 BC) founded two of the world’s great religions,
while in Central America the Olmec civilization was
producing religious artworks.
For 2200 years the Xi'an
terracotta warriors silently
guarded the tomb of
Qin Shihuang,
first Emperor of China.
The Ch’ín dynasty in China started building the Great Wall.
Alexander the Great conquered the Eastern Mediterranean,
Egypt, Persia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Western India.
Sculptured
relief of
Alexander.
The Lighthouse at Pharos.
Coin of
Alexander.
The main hall of
the great Library
held perhaps
half a Million
scrolls.
Alexander founded and built the City in Egypt that bears his nameAlexandria, with it’s famous lighthouse and the library that was the
center of much of the world’s intellectual knowledge.
Legend has it that Rome was
founded by Romulus one of twins
that were suckled by a she-wolf.
Republican Rome practiced
democratic principals
first practiced by the
Athenians. Painted by Rafael
during the Renaissance.
The Roman state started as a small group of tribes on the Tiber and
grew to become an empire that still influences style in the modern
world.
The Roman Empire
By 150 A.D.
Well engineered roads meant military
control and increased commerce.
Roman glass
Roman engineers
first used the arch.
Examples of classical architectural
style can still be seen today.
The Roman Empire encompassed the Mediterranean and
strongly influenced all the cultures it controlled.
Amy Wildermouth
Tommy Hsieh
Stephen Myers
Bibliography
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The Ascent of Man: J. Bronowski, 1973 Little Brown & co.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/cavemen/factfiles/australopithecus_afarensis.html?img2
New Scientist: Douglas Palmer- Neanderthal art alters the face of archaeology, 6 Dec. 2003
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