Art History-Prehistory to Gothic
ARTS 1110
Paleolithic Era
40,000 years ago to about 15,000 BCE
Last advance and retreat of glaciers:
– End of the Ice Age
Cro-Magnon replaces Neanderthal (hypothesis) about 30,000 BCE
Cro-Magnon: first anatomically modern man
First production of non-utilitarian art
Prehistory DatingRelative dating: Relies on chronological
relationships to other objects or events• BP=Before Present, BC=Before Christ• BCE=Before Common Era, Ca. = circa • La Tene, Old Kingdom
Absolute dating: years of age determined from scientific process
• Radiometric dating (carbon-14• Potassium-argon dating• Thermo-luminescence dating• Elecron spin resonsance
Venus of Willendorf, 25,000 BCE, Paleolithic, Austria
France Austria Russia
Woman from Brassempouy, France,
30,000
Footprints in Tuc d’Audoubert
Bison relief, 15,000 BCE, Paleolithic, France
Relief Sculpture
Cave ArtThe Cave of
Lascaux, Dordogne region,
France,
15,000 BCE
Lamp with Ibex Design, France, 15,000-13,000 BCE
Hall of the Bulls, France, 15,000 BCE,
Spotted Horse, Handprints, France, 22,000 BCE
Why are the handprints represented here?How do you think they were painted on the rock?
The Chinese Horse, France, 15,000 BCE
Rhino, Wounded Man, Bison, 15,000 BCE, France
How does this image differ from the Hall of the Bulls? Why do you think the human figures are not portrayed in a naturalistic
way?
Hunting Scene, Zimbabwe, Africa, 20,000 BCE
Bird, Crab, and Eggs, Queensland, Australia
Petroglyph panel, Nine Mile Canyon, Utah
Human Hand Prints, Argentina, 7,350 BCE
Neolithic Period ca. 8,000-3000 BCE
• Ice Age ends around 10,000 BCE• Climate and geography of the world was much
like it is today• Neolithic: New Stone Age, new uses for stone • New developments in how people lived• Metalwork appears in Europe around 4th
millennium BCE with Copper, Tin and Gold• Bronze Age – from ca. 2300 BCE• Iron Age – from ca. 1000 BCE
Public Shrine at Çatal Höyük, 6700-5700 BCE
Deer Hunt Mural, 5750 BCE, Çatal Höyük
http://www.catalhoyuk.com/
Human Figure, Ain-Ghazal, Jordan, 7000-
6000 BCE
Human Skull, 6500 BCE, Jericho
Stone Tower, ca. 7500 BCE, Jericho
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZB6a4C0Ca00
Newgrange, 3200 BCE,Co. Meath, Ireland
Roof box, post and lintel, megaliths
Stone Basin in right cove
Corbeled Roof at Newgrange
Stonehenge, Neolithic, 2500 BCE Wiltshire, England
Paleolithic Neolithic
How is life different in the Neolithic Period compared to the Paleolithic
period?
• Provide 3 answers
•Sumer, Akaad, and Syria
•Independent city-states from Turkey to the Persian Gulf
•World’s first religious architecture
•City-states are under patronage of different gods
•Ruler was god’s chosen representative on earth
•Complex government including a ruler and a governing body of nobles
Mesopotamia
Sumerian,White Temple, Uruk (Warka),
3200-3000 BCE
•Sky God, Anu
•Gilgamesh
•Ziggurat
•Bent-axis
•Inanna, Fertility Goddess
Sumerian, Warka Vase
(Uruk Vessel), 3200-3000 BCE
Neo-Sumerian, Temple of Ur, Ur, Iraq, 2100 BCE
•Ziggurat
Sumerian, Worshiper Statues from the Abu
Temple, 2700 BCE
•Votive statues
Sumerian, Standard of Ur, 2600 BCE
Akkadian, Akkadian Ruler, 2250-2200 BCE
Akaadian,Stele of Naram-Sin,
2254-2218 BCE
•Lullubi
Babylonian, Code of Hammurabi, 1780
BCE
•King Hammurabi •Sun god, Shamash
Assyrian, Lamassu,
from the Citadel of Sargon II,
720-705 BCE
Assyrian, Citadel of Sargon II, Khorsabad, Iraq, 720-705 BCE
Assyrian, Assurnasirpal II Killing Lions, Palace complex of Assurnasirpal II, Kalhu, (Nimrud, Iraq), ca. 850BCE
Babylonian, Ishtar Gate, 575 BCE
Reconstruction of Babylon, ca. 6th
century BCE
Persian, Palace of Darius, Persepolis, Iran, 521-465 BCE
Persian, Palace of Darius, Persepolis, Iran, 518-460 BCE
Persian, Stairway Relief, Palace of Darius,
Persepolis, Iran, 518-460 BCE
Stairway relief detail
Darius and Xerxes Receiving Tribute, Stairway Detail of the Palace of Darius,
Persepolis, Iran
How do different Bronze Age cultures attempt to access God(s)?
Ancient Egypt
• Egyptology-Heroditus, Bible, Manetho
• Rosetta stone-Demotic, hieroglyphs, and Greek
• Expanded interest in mathematics and sciences
• Pre-dynastic Egypt: until 2700 BC
• Old Kingdom: ca. 2700-2190 BC
• Middle Kingdom: ca. 2040-1674 BC
• New Kingdom: ca. 1552-1069 BC
Ancient Egypt
3150 BCEthrough30 BCE
The Rosetta Stone, Egypt, ca. 196 BCE
hieroglyphics
Demotic
Greek
Imhotep, Step Pyramid of Zoser,
Egypt, 2630-2611 BCE
Columns at Zoser’s Funerary Complex
Egyptian Columns
Closed and Open Papyrus Capitals
Great Pyramids of Giza, Egypt, 2551-2472 BCE
•Fourth Dynasty: Menkaure, Khafre, Khufu
•Sandstone and Limestone casing
2,300,000 BlocksWeighing 2.5 tons each
Great Sphinx, Giza, Egypt, 2520-2494 BCE
Statue of Hatshepsut, Egypt,
1473-1458 BCE
Senmut, Funerary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, Egypt, 1473-1458 BCE
Temple of Amun at Karnak,
1294-1212 BCE
•Hypostyle hall•Clerestory•Columns/capital
Temple of Amun at Karnak, 1294-1212 BCE
Statue of Kaphre,
Egypt,
2520-2494 BCE
•Diorite
Akhenaten, Egypt,
1353-1335 BCE
•Amarna period under
pharaoh Akhenaten
(Amenhotep)
Nefertiti, Egypt, ca. 1353-1336 BCE
Akhenaten and His Family, Egypt, ca. 1353-1336 BCE
Death Mask of
Tutankhamen,
Egypt, 1323 BCE
•Nemes headdress