Prehistory and the birth of Civilization 08 21 2013 I PALEOLITHIC Old Stone Age Ca 7 Million 10 000 B C E before common era a Hominids Near humans different skulls of different animals closely relaged to humans b Cave Art Why All explainations are theories We express ourselves in art b c we have needs to explain France and Spain has the best remains Purposes are all hypothesis Loscaux is most famous Hall of Bulls c Composite Concept view is a concept making it in your mind d Optical view is more visual as it is e The exercise of everyone drawing a bull proves that the way humans think has not changed the drawings were closely related f Nude woman Venus of Willendorf only 4 inches Big in other ways so she looks big although she is very tiny II NEOLITHIC New Stone Age 8000 4000 B C E b They buried their dead in the floors of their house c Figure of a woman Cyclades Greece ca 2500 2300 BCE Marble a approx Found in graves laying down Similarities between these and Venus tightly crossed hands Venus organic curvey brown Figure of a woman straight and rigid d Stonehenge Stonehenge Salisbury Plain Wiltshire England ca 2550 1600 BCE Circle is 97 in diameter trilithons approx 24 high Made from volcanic rock which is not near by Megalith one solid material Entire structure post and lintel Stone henge is not the only henge circle of stones Thought to have been associated with a ritual Stonehenge is the best preserved III Birth of Civilization 4000 BCE a To be considered a civilization must have division of labor some kind of currency architecture social order governing body etc b Rosetta Stone Napoleon and crew discovered it Contains 3 languages hieroglyphics greek Translation piece Mesopotamia Gods Rulers and the Social Order 08 21 2013 I Sumerians a Architecture Sculpture The Ziggurat is a platform for the temple in order to raise the temple up Believed Gods reside in the heavens so they wanted to get higher up 270 feet Orientation has been important overtime ex orientation of Sun Statues that represent a person and are put into a temple to pray because the human has many things to do and can not pray 24 7 They have big eyes to symbolize being eternally awake Holding little cups Artist is not very concerned with correct body proportions Eyes are most important The unek has no beard which means not manly voices kept as little boys no sex drive live cushy life in the palace War side of the Standard of Ur i Most important person is in the top middle we know this because he is much bigger and everyone is facing him Term Hierarchy of scale Use of groundline Reads from bottom to top ii Composite view frontal eye frontal shoulders body profile Why To show the story of the image to assure Beard and bull horns symbolize masculine traits The bigger the image is told the beard the better II Akkadians a Head of an Akkadian ruler made of copper knowledgable of molding metals and creating molds It was attacked so whoever this was supposed to be was not well liked III Babylonians a Stele slab b Writing in cuneiform especially Middle Ages d Stone of Gudea c Pictures become didactic intended to teach because most people could not read this is why art is very important throughout history ensi ruler made out of stone called diorite very durable Hands folder in reference to prayer represents good ruler who is conscious of the gods Text all over his body which tells the reader all about him e The Tower of Babel 50 feet tall IV Neo Babylonians a The Babylonians are back b Ishtargate goddess of love and wants to be with Gilgamesh but her temple is the blue temple in the power point it is in c Art being in a different place than its original location changes our he rejects her Germany perception of it V Assyrians a Lion slaughter art in that time represents power because he is taking down the lions Lions and some nature represented evil The mentality was nature can kill you In todays society this would not be politically correct to have an artwork of killing lions low relief the way you feel the wall and how it is felt b At the palace gate they have these creatures the lama su Intended to be scary and to intimidate and rise fear In that time it was actually scary because people had no printing or anything They only saw what they see with their eyes VI The Ziggurat is orientated with cardinal points Ancient Egypt 08 21 2013 I Three major themes of early civilizations a The formulation of belief systems that link secular and spiritual b The establishment of a rulership within the earliest urban realms communities c The nature of the social order is revealed in laws and other forms of cultural expression II Two most important natural forces in Egypt a Nile River life and death River flows north so lower Egypt is actually more north than upper Egypt because its in relation to the flow of the river b Sun resurrection III In general Egypt was polytheistic a Hathor Thoth Horus The eye of Horus Anubis b Like to use composite creatures IV Many different translations for their hyeriroglyphics V Early Dynasty a Palette of King Narmer Utilitarian object that has been made bigger its 2 feet tall Its used to mix make up the black ones that Egyptians used A basic tool that became special Examples World Cup Graduation Tassel Wedding knife cups center piece a wrestler s belt Narmer is shown in Hierchy of Scale also composite view Registers list of actions Groundline is very important to Egyptians Narmer has a sandal barrer Shows narmer bringing together Egypt Dead bodies shown in aerial view Why To show how much there is Lions necks intertwines represents unification of upper and lower Egypt same with curly thing on hat VI Old Kingdom a Khafre statue Egyptians believed that the spirit can come back to the body a painting of the body or a sculpture of the body why they mummified dead and made art Function was to last forever Stuck to chair means powerful eternal not going anywhere as a ruler Made out of a very tough to carve stone Idealized because in that time the rulers were descended from the Gods b Menkaure and Khamerernebty His left foot out start to eternal life None of these are portraits because they are done on a grid system none can be told who is who c Kay Man sitting legs crossed More portrait like He was a scribe that was his job recording Given an orange color men women were given documenting white Lived a cushy life got to sit a lot eat well Painted limestone Small 1 9 high d Ka Aper From his mastaba at Saqqara