Paleolithic
Dates and Places:
 30,000-9,000BCE
 Western Europe
People:
 Nomads
 Hunter-gatherers
Two bison, ca. 15,000-10,000BCE. Fig. 1-3.
Paleolithic
Themes:
 Survival
 Fertility
 Animals
Forms:
 Anatomical exaggeration
 Pictorial definition
 Twisted perspective
Spotted horses and negative hand imprints,
Pech-Merle, ca. 22,000BCE. Fig. 1-4.
Paleolithic
Example:
 Portable
 Fertility figure
 Survival
 Exaggeration
Nude Woman (Venus of Willendorf), ca.
28,000-25,000BCE. Fig. 1-2.
Paleolithic
Hall of the Bulls, Lascaux, France, ca. 15,000-13,000BCE. Fig. 1-6.
Paleolithic
Example:
 Deep in cave
 New tools
 Use of surface
 Twisted perspective
 Animals
 Signs and representations
of humans
 Narrative?
Hall of the Bulls, Lascaux, France, ca.
15,000-13,000BCE. Fig. 1-6.
Rhinoceros, wounded man, and disemboweled
bison, Lascaux, France, ca. 15,000-13,000BCE.
Fig. 1-8.
Neolithic
Dates and Places:
 9,000-2,000BCE
 Western Europe, Near
East
Stonehenge, ca. 2500-1600BCE. Fig. 1-9.
People:
 Settled in villages
 Farmers
 Complex rituals
Neolithic
Themes:
 Human activity
 Building for community
Forms:
 Composite view
 Mud brick and stone
construction
 Post-and-lintel
 Monumental sculpture
Deer Hunt, ca. 5750BCE. Fig. 1-7.
Neolithic
Example:
 Post-and-lintel
construction
 Monumental
architecture
 Megaliths
 Astronomical
observatory
Stonehenge, ca. 2500-1600BCE. Fig. 1-9.
Ancient Near East
Dates and Places:
 3500-330BCE
 “Fertile Crescent” of
Mesopotamia
Ziggurat at Ur, ca. 2100BCE. Fig. 1-11.
People:
• City-states and empires
• Agriculture
• Specialized labor and social hierarchies
• Writing system
• Complex religions
Ancient Near East
Themes:
 Offerings
 Gods
 Warfare and hunting
 Rulers
Forms:
 Mud brick construction
 Natural and conceptual treatments of
figures
 Registers of space
 Hierarchy of scale
Head of an Akkadian ruler,
ca. 2250-2200BCE. Fig. 1-15.
Ancient Near East: Sumer
Example
 Ziggurat platform
 Monumental mud
construction
 Temple for god on top
 Cella for priests
 Votive offerings placed
inside
Ziggurat at Ur, ca. 2100BCE. Fig. 1-11.
Statuettes of two
worshippers, ca.
2700BCE. Fig. 113.
Ancient Near East: Sumer
Standard
Of Ur, ca.
2600BCE.
Fig. 1-14.
Ancient Near East: Sumer
Example:
 Burial good
 Historical narrative on two
sides
 Offerings and ritual
 Warfare
 Registers of space
 Hierarchy of scale
Standard of Ur, ca. 2600BCE. Fig.
1-14.
Ancient Near East: Akkad
Example:
 Divine kingship and its
attributes
 Warfare
 Cuneiform
 Hierarchy of scale
 Composite view
 Organization versus
disarray
 Landscape
Victory Stele of Naram-Sin, ca. 22542218BCE. Fig. 1-16.
Ancient Near East: Babylon
Example:
 Law code
 Cuneiform
 King Hammurabi and god Shamash
 Symbols of authority
 Composite view with some
foreshortening
Stele of Hammurabi, ca.
1780BCE. Fig. 1-17.
Ancient Near East: Assyria
Example:
 Low relief sculpture
 In palace citadels
 Narrative scenes
 Naturalism
Ashurbanipal hunting lions, ca. 645-640BCE. Fig. 119.
 Controlled hunt
 Warfare and hunting to show ruler’s power
 Period of constant warfare
Ancient Near East:
Achaemenid Persia
Persepolis,
ca. 521465BCE.
Fig. 1-21.
Ancient Near East:
Achaemenid Persia
Example:
 Citadel complex
 Home to king and court
 Fortified and elevated
 Monumental gateway
Persepolis, ca. 521 465BCE. Fig. 1 Audience hall (apadana)
21.
 Relief sculpture of processions
 Influence of Greek art through trade
 Destroyed by conqueror Alexander the Great