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Why did humankind first create art? Cave painters used their mouths as brushes---20,000-30,000 years ago The ancient Sumerians were the first to divine astrology--the zodiac---5,000 years ago What is the oldest known piece of art? Until 2 years ago, had been: • • • • • Venus of Willendorf Austria, 22,000 BCE Limestone, tinted with red ochre Small, hand-held Purpose--Fertility? Worship? The newest “oldest” is now: The Venus of Hohle Fels, Germany •35,000-40,000 years old •2-1/2” high •Made of wooly mammoth tusk •No head---could have been a pendant •Discovered in 9/2008 Cave Art --- Paleolithic Era “Old Stone” Cro-Magnon and Neanderthal, 40,000-10,000 BCE • First man--2 million years ago in Africa •Altamira, First15,000 Homo Sapiens--100,000 years ago in Lascaux, 17,000 Africa • First art found made by Cro-Magnon and Neanderthal Man--Late Paleolithic (40,00010,000 BCE) Chauvet, 30,000 What might have been used to paint these figures? How does the rock influence the forms of these images? Is “spirit” reflected in these paintings? Cave Paintings—do you see stylistic differences? Chauvet (European, 30,000 BCE) vs Laas Geel (African, 8,000 BCE) Chauvet, France, discovered in 1994 Laas Geel Somaliland, discovered in 2002 Neolithic Era (8,000-2,000 BCE) how might art have changed when people settled in villages? • • • • • Ice Age ending People begin to settle in permanent villages—CIVILIZATION Begin farming and domesticating animals First systems of writing developed New arts emerge--pottery, weaving, architecture, megaliths, pictographs • Focus of art in Middle East—the Fertile Crescent Earliest Landscape, Catal Huyuk (Turkey), 6,150 BCE Civilizations arise around river valleys--Egypt, India and The Fertile Crescent • The Fertile Crescent---Mesopotania (“land between two rivers”, Iraq) and Jericho (modern day Syria) • Settled in towns around 7,000 BCE • Arts and crafts become specialized Fertile Crescent Jericho Sumerian Culture—3,500 BCE • Mesopotamia, current-day Iraq • Invented first numerical system • Invented first known system of writing – cuneiform • Created first written music— hymn to Goddess Nikkal • Believed in a pantheon of gods • Wrote first epic--Gilgamesh • Wrote down laws—Hammurabi Code, 1790 BCE • Discovered how to mine metals— enter the Bronze Age What do you think was the purpose of these statues? Ziggurats---religious temples and dwelling place of gods Art serves religious and political purposes— can you name any other civilizations that have done the same? Ziggurat of Ur, 2200 BCE Ishtar Gate, Babylon, 600 BCE, glazed tile, 47 feet tall, now in Berlin animals of worship—mythical and real Egyptians • 3,000-343 BCE • Believe in a pantheon of gods • Ruled by pharoahs who were godlike Canopic Jars—stomach and livers, lungs and guts • Conquered by the Persians led by Alexander the Great in 343 BC • Developed picture writing-hieroglyphs • Art concerned with death and the afterlife—Funerary Art Great Sphinx of Giza Cairo, c. 2500 BCE monolith, 241’x 66’ Khafra’s pyramid, 706’ tall King and Queen of Giza, 3rd century, BCE, 54.4” slate, at Harvard University, Boston. What does this statue tell you of their rule and power? Papyrus was used as a canvas, minerals and animal fats as paint. Is this imagery more idealistic or realistic? Can you walk like an Egyptian? Ancient Sub-Saharan African Civilizations • • • • Aquatic Period---9,000- 2,000 BCE “sedentary” (non-nomadic) societies develop and spread from Upper Nile regions to other parts of Africa Wet climate created lakes across the present-day Sahara where fishing and food production were abundant After 2,000 BCE, tribes travel away from newly formed desert area to find better climate; populate West Africa 500 BCE Nok (Nigerian) civilization begins (ancestors to Yoruba and Igbo peoples) Nok, terracotta masks, 500 BCE-200 CE Nok, terracotta head, 12”, 550-50 BCE head may have been broken off a life-sized body; holes suggest tufts of hair ornamented head ; women often potters, therefore artists Ancient Art of the Indus Valley 3,300-1500 BCE • • • • Parts of modern day Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan and India Communities built on fertile Indus River land Ritual practices shape Hinduism, which emerges at around 1,500 BCE No major monolithic structures, but sophisticated artifacts…golden jewelry, pottery, detailed stone and terra cotta figures The Dancing Girl of Mohenjo-Daro--a girl with attitude, 4, 500 years old, 4” high, bronze Ancient Art of China First Dynasties—2,100 BCE-220 CE Terracotta Army—Qin Dynasty, 210 BCE Soldiers guard the first emperor in his vault; painted in colorful hues; over 8,000 life sized figures, discovered in 1974. Some on display at National Geographic in 2009 Bronze vessels for sacred rituals Jade carvings Ancient Meso American Civilization—the Olmecs • • • 1500-400 BCE Olmec means “rubber people” Settled in fertile river areas of Mexico Hollow baby with bound head, ceramic with ochre paint, 12” Colossal heads—20 tons; ancient ball-players?