The Prehistoric Past
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How did civilizations develop?
Paleolithic era ‘Old Stone Age’
Neolithic era ‘New Stone Age’
‘Bronze Age’ –science of metallurgy; the stone
and bone tools were replaced by metal ones
• Nomadic lifestyle gave way to a more sedentary
lifestyle
• In the great river valleys of the Middle East and
Asia distinct centers of people began to form
civilizations
Paleolithic Culture and Its Artifacts
• Homo sapiens (L., “one who knows”) evolved about 100,000-120,000
years ago
• Hunter-gatherers, they had lighter builds and larger brains than
earlier hominids
• They developed more sophisticated tools than those of their
ancestors—cleavers, chisels, grinders, handaxes, and arrow- and
spearheads made of flint
• They produced the paintings in caves such as Altamira in Spain and
Chauvet and Lascaux in France; carved small sculptural objects, the
most remarkable of which are the female figures—the Venuses
The Great River Valley Civilizations, 2000 BCA
• What is a civilization?
• Cooperative activity of human beings
• Develop in fertile river valleys that have adequate
resources to support life
• A social, economic, and political entity distinguished by
the ability to express itself through images and written
language
• Organizing trade and production requires an
administrative elite
• priest and ruler elites mediate between the ordinary
citizens and gods
• One of the ways that societies have acquired goods is by
means of war
How do cultures begin?
• Before the invention of writing cultures
created myths and legends that explained
their origin
• Evidence survives in wall paintings and small
sculptures dating back more than 25,000
years
What is culture?
• Encompasses the values and behaviors shared
by a group of people, developed over time,
and passed down from generation to
generation
• Art from earliest times was associated with
the religious and political elites, who used it
as a way of expressing the values of a the
culture
Chauvet cave – in front of the horses is a herd of
aurochs, extinct ancestors of oxen
What is the significance of the Chauvet
cave?
• its antiquity
• The range of animals it depicts
• Perspective painting style which shows a
stunning naturalism
• Abandonment of the linear theory of the
development of realistic art
Why were these paintings made?
• The drawings were magic charms meant to
ensure a successful hunt
• The caves –gateways to the underworld and
death
• Served as calendars for predicting the
seasonal migration of the animals
• Possessed some from of agency – they were
created to exert some power or authority over
those who came into contact with it
Lascaux Cave, Dordogne, France. 15,000 BCE
In Lascaux we find one of first depictions of a human being. He wields a spear-like throwing
implement. The human in the painting is stylized while the animals are realistic indicative of the ritual
purpose of these paintings.
Explain the discrepancy between the naturalistic representation of the animals and the abstract
realization of the human figure. Does it suggest that man and beast are different orders of being?
Venus of Willendorf, Austria. 25,000 BCE
Ideal of female beauty comparable to the Roman ideal of beauty implied
by the name Venus
Paleolithic Culture and its Artifacts
• What do female figurines suggest about the
Paleolithic era?
• Women played a central role – they had
considerable religious and spiritual influence
• Ritual purpose for sculpture which may have
been tied to fertility
• Matrilineal and matrilocal
Neolithic Era
• ca. 8000—2000 BCE
• “New Stone Age”—neo + lithos
• Defined by the rise in agriculture
• Concentrated in the great river valleys of the Middle East and Asia
(Nile, Tigris and Euphrates, Indus and Ganges, and Yellow Rivers)
How did agriculture develop?
• Agriculture-- animal husbandry, domestication
of dogs
• From hunting gathering to agriculture
• Populations came together into cities in
fertile river valleys
• The transition led to the increased use of
pottery vessels in Iran
• 3000 BCE potter’s wheel was in use in the
Middle East
Beaker with ibex, dogs, and long-necked birds, from
Susa, Iran. 5000 BCE
The ibex was the most widely hunted game in the Middle East.
Beaker with Ibex, Dogs, and Long-Necked Birds
Baked clay, 11¼"
Iran, ca. 5000—4000 BCE
• Neolithic pottery the result
of transition from hunting
and fishing cultures to
agriculture
• Used to carry and store
water and to prepare
and store certain types of
food
• Ibex, a popular decorative
feature of prehistoric pottery
from Iran, may have been a
symbol of plenty
What are the Neolithic Megaliths of
Northern Europe?
• A distinctive kind of monumental stone
architecture in Britain and France
• Were designed to be permanent structures
• Stood in tribute to the authority of the
leaders responsible for assembling the labor
force required to construct them
Stonehenge, Salisbury Plain, England. 2750 BCE
Its orientation to the rising sun and the summer solstice suggest that
Stonehenge served a ritual purpose.
Stonehenge
Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, England
• Four major building periods from ca. 2750 to 1500 BCE
• Uncertain as to its purpose, but its orientation toward the rising sun
at the summer solstice connects it to planting and harvesting
• Post-and-lintel is the most basic technique for spanning space. Two
posts, or pieces fixed firmly in an upright position, support a lintel, or
horizontal span
• This megalithic structure suggests that the late Neolithic peoples who
built it were extremely social beings, capable of great cooperation
Neolithic Cultures of the Americas
• 15,000 BCE – a migration occurred from Asia into
northern America and continued down into Mexico
and Central America
• Who were the Anasazi people?
• Developed a civilization in modern day Colorado
between 900-1200 CE that bears many similarities to
earlier Neolithic civilizations found in the Middle East
• “People without a beast of burden, the wheel, metal or
written language, yet they constructed magnificent
masonry housing and ceremonial structures”
Spruce Tree house, Mesa Verde. Anasazi culture. 1200
CE
What are the Zuni Pueblo Emergence
Tales?
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Myths – stories used to explain, unify and order one’s experience
Not entirely fantasy for they are based on real experience
Myth have common characteristics:
animism
anthropocentricism
a belief that humans can communicate with the spirits in natural
objects
• Religion and myths are intertwined
• Zuni emergence myth explains the process of maturity from
childhood to adulthood
• Pueblo people believe that they originated in the womb of Mother
Earth
Buffalo Kachina. Zuni culture.
1875
It is designed to increase the population of furbearing animals
in the arid environment of the Southwest. Derived from a
Plains Indian ritual dance, it was first danced by the Zuni near
the end of the 19th century as the region’s wildlife was
becoming increasingly threatened
Mesopotamia: Power and Social Order
in the Fertile Crescent
• The city of Ur in Sumer located between the Tigris and
Euphrates rivers developed a specialized society of
priest rulers made possible by canal irrigated
agriculture.
• This area would become contested over successive
generations because of its rich soil and access to water
• Ur is notable for its well preserved and reconstructed
ziggurat, a pyramidal structure with a shrine on top
• The sanctuary might have symbolized the bridge
between heaven and earth
• Offering of food or an animal to be sacrificed to the
resident god
The ziggurat at Ur, Iraq. 2100 BCE
It was the center of the city of Ur, the best preserved and most fully
restored of the ancient Sumerian temples
Reconstruction drawing of the ziggurat at Ur
Reconstructed Drawing of
the Ziggurat at Ur
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The best preserved and most fully
restored of the ancient Sumerian
temples
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Platforms might have been covered
with soil and planted with trees
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Weeper-holes, venting ducts loosely
filled with broken pottery, in the side
of the ziggurat would have drained
rainwater
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Might also have symbolized the
bridge between heaven and earth
Eastern Mediterranean basin and major Mesopotamian
capitals
What were the religions in Ancient
Mesopotamia?
• With the exception of the Hebrew religion, they were
polytheistic
• Gods were recognized for the forces of nature
• Shamash –sun
• Ishtar – love, war
• Enlil –air
• Ea-water
• Anu- father of the gods
• Priest-ruler – intermediary between gods and humans
• Religious burial was important for the citizens of Ur.
Rich and poor were buried together
Royal Standard of Ur, War and Peace, cemetery at Ur,
Iraq. 2600 BCE
It depicts the themes of war and peace. The king is depicted using a hierarchy
of scale, showing his prominence by his large size.
Its narrative structure shows the unfolding of events through time graphically.
Royal Standard of Ur
• Rectangular box of unknown function
• Main panels called “War” and “Peace” because they illustrate, on one
side, a military victory and, on the other, the subsequent banquet
celebrating the event
• Social perspective, or hierarchy of scale—most important figures (king)
represented as larger than the others
• One of the earliest examples we have of historical narrative
Who were the Akkadians?
• The Sumerian culture of Ur was superseded by the
Akkadians, a people from the north
• Settled around modern Baghdad
• Akkad lies under Baghdad
• The Akkadians conquered virtually all other cities in
Mesopotamia, including those of Sumer
• Sargon – famous ruler, believed that he was god, a
status bestowed upon Akkadian rulers from his time
forward
• Legend of his birth gave rise to what amounts to a
narrative genre: a boy from humble origins who rises
to a position of might and power
Head of an Akkadian Man, from Niniveh, Iraq. 2300 BCE
Sargon, or Sargon’s grandson
It is a realistic work, depicting a man who appears both powerful and majestic
The fine detail testifies to the Akkadian mastery of the lost-wax casting
technique that originated in Mesopotamia
Head of an Akkadian Man
Copper Alloy, 14-1/8", ca. 2300-2200 BCE
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All that survives of a life-size statue
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Once thought to be Sargon I, many
modern scholars believe it depicts
his grandson, Naramsin
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A highly realistic work, depicting a
man who appears both powerful
and majestic
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The first existing monumental work
made by the lost-wax casting
technique
Babylon
• No one in Mesopotamia matched the Akkadians’
power until the 18th c. BCE when Hammurabi gained
control of the region
• Law Code of Hammurabi: its purpose was to celebrate
his sense of justice -- a record of decisions and decrees
• Significant for its presentation of the principle of talion
(eye for an eye)
• Snapshot of Babylonian social and familial life
• Provided a uniform set of laws for a millennium
• Made the law more objective by removing it from the
arbitrary whim of the sovereign
Video will play automatically.
"Contracts and Laws”
Mesopotamia: I Have Conquered the River (length 2:46).
Item #11654 © 2000 on FMG
What is the Epic of Gilgamesh?
• One of the greatest works of Mesopotamian literature
• 100,000 clay tablets and fragments in Akkadian cuneiform
script
• Written around 1200 BCE
• Discovered in the library of King Ashurbanipal at Niniveh
• Epic – a long poem in elevated language that follows
characters of high position through a series of adventures,
including a visit to the world of the dead
• Epic poems are about the origin and development of a
nation
• Deeds of a semi-divine character
The Hebrews
• The Hebrews (from Habiru, “outcast” or “nomad”) were forced out of
their homeland in the Mesopotamian basin in about 2000 BCE
• They differed from other Fertile Crescent cultures in that their religion
was monotheistic—they worshiped a single god: YHWH (Yahweh)
• According to the Hebrew bible, their law—the Ten Commandments—
was delivered to Moses on stone tablets and carried in a sacred chest,
called the Ark of the Covenant
What makes the Hebrews unique?
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Monotheistic
God created Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (delta of Tigris and Euphrates)
Abraham of Ur led his people out of here into Canaan in order to escape the
warlike Akkadians and Babylonians
Hebrew Bible – a compilation of hymns, prophecies, and laws 800 400 BCE
The stories represent the Hebrews’ attempt to maintain their sense of their own
history and destiny
See themselves as chosen by God, as a moral example
God establishes a covenant with the Hebrews beginning with Noah, and
reaffirming later with Abraham and other Hebrew patriarchs
Under the leadership of Moses, the Hebrews settled for 40 years in the desert of
the Sinai peninsula where they received the 10 commandments from YHWH
Entered Canaan under the leadership of Joshua
Took the name of Israel from the patriarch Jacob
The kingdom of Israel was united by King David
How do the Ten Commandments differ
from the Code of Hammurabi?
• Afford rights to all citizens
• Do not differentiate between poor and rich in
assigning penalties for violations
• Ethical and moral system derived from an
omnipotent God
• Torah- ‘Law’ – instructions
• Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
Deuteronomy
• The Hebrews carried the commandments in a
sacred chest, called the Ark of the Covenant
The Ark of the Covenant
Two menorahs flank each side of the Ark. The menorah is a symbol of the
nation of Israel
Ancient India
• Indian civilization was born along the Indus River around 2700 BCE in
an area known as Sind—from which the words India and Hindu
• By the early years of the second millenium, they were adept at bronze
casting
• They even had a written language, although it remains undeciphered
• Sometime around 1500 BCE, the Aryans, nomads to the north,
invaded the Indus River valley and conquered its inhabitants, making
them slaves. Thus began the longest-lasting set of rigid, class-based
societal divisions in world history, the Indian caste system
Ancient India
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Rigid caste system:
Untouchables
Unskilled workers
Artisans and merchants
Warriors and rulers
Brahmins
India Around 1500 BCE
How did Hinduism develop?
• From two sets of Aryan texts: the Vedas and the
Upanishads, written in Sanskrit
• The purpose of life is to be free from illusion and achieve
nirvana –the state free from death, life and rebirth
• Unification with Brahman, the universal soul
• Brahman- creator
• Vishnu-preserver
• Shiva- destroyer
• Ramayana- relates the story of the pious incarnation of the
god Vishnu through Ram and his wife Sita
• They illustrate lives that follow dharma, the path of right
conduct
Hinduism and the Vedic Tradition
• Hindu religion has no single body of doctrine, nor any standard set of
practices
• Brahmin, the universal soul, is at its center
• Brahmin’s functions are split among three gods: Brahma, the creator;
Vishnu, the preserver; and Shiva, the destroyer
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In Hinduism, creation follows destruction. Shiva, though a god of
destruction, is regarded as a reproductive power as well and is
commonly portrayed in a circle of fire, symbolic of both creation and
destruction, the endless cycle of birth, death, and reincarnation
Shiva, Lord of the Dance, Southern India
Framed in a circle of fire, symbolic of both creation and destruction