Global Prehistory 30,000-500 B.C.E.

B.C.E. WTH is BCE? BEFORE The COMMON ERA It replaces BC (not, BS unfortunately) in discussions of time. Why change? --What does A.C.E. mean?

Themes Relationship of imagery to the artist Importance of fertility and renewal Magic and ritual. Influences of geography, Economy politics and agriculture on art.

Lithic Lithic= stone (no relation to stoner or stoned) Paleolithic (Old Stone Age) Mesolithic (________Stone Age) Neolithic (New Stone Age) Pre-history- Time before the written record Human artifacts are influenced by the geologic and meteorological changes

Art Macrocosmic to the Microcosmic Early art showed that humans were aware and interested in their surroundings form the Macrocosmic to the Microcosmic Into what category do the following fall: Astronomical cycles Locally available stones Awareness of the solstices Which animals migrate

Paleolithic Sites

The Earliest Human Groups Hunter-Gatherers- First groups in AFRICA 77,000 years ago Radiate outward- following the herds What types of objects do you think that they created? Why? What was the first “art”? How did they create it? Neolithic humans created mostly practical tools and some symbolic objects Rock paintings and carved natural materials Natural dyes and media- associated with food production and daily activities

Apollo 11 Stone Namibia- Charcoal on Stone 25,500-25,300 (How did we discern this date?) What kind of animal do you think this charcoal figure represents? Some people believe the hind legs are human. This stone plaque is one of several carried into Apollo 11 Rock Shelter in Namibia where they were discovered in 1969 (when the first spacecraft - Apollo 11 - landed on the moon). Radiocarbon and other dating methods confirm that the cave layer that contained this plaque is between 60,000 and 40,000 years old. Charcoal on stone

Shamanism Widely accepted as the 1. earliest and 2. most persistent worldwide spiritual approach Shaman (What is the plural of this? Shamen?) are intermediaries or messengers between the human world and the spirit worlds. Shamen are said to treat ailments/illness by mending the soul

Radiocarbon Dating Radio and Carbon sitting in a tree? No!

Stratigraphic Archaeology

Great Hall of the Bulls Lascaux Cave, France 15,000-13,000 BCE

Camelid Sacrum in the Shape of a Canine Central Mexico 14,000 to 7,000 BCE

Running Horned Woman This early rock painting is thousands of years older than the first African sculptures. It represents a running woman with body paint, raffia skirt, and horned headgear, apparently in a ritual context. Tassili n’Ajjer, Algeria 6,000- 4,000 BCE https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/global-prehistory-ap/paleolithic-mesolithic-neolithic/a/running-horned-woman-tassili-najjer

Sand and rocks, Tassili n’Ajjer, Algeria

Bushel with Ibex Motif Susa, Iran 4,200-3,500 BCE Funerary Object

Anthropomorphic Stele Arabian Peninsula ~4,000 BCE

Çatalhöyük (A TOWN!)

Not the oldest site of the Neolithic era or the largest, but it is extremely important to the beginning of art.   Located near the modern city of Konya in south central Turkey, it was inhabited 9000 years ago by up to 8000 people who lived there… Çatalhöyük is a site whose history is about one of man’s most important transformations: from nomad to settler. 

Art is everywhere among the remains of Çatalhöyük, geometric designs as well as representations of animals and people.  Seated Woman of Çatalhöyük (head is a restoration), The Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, Ankara, Turkey (photo: Nevit Dilmen, CC BY-SA 3.0)

Bull bucrania, corner installation in Building 77, Çatalhöyük (photo: Çatalhöyük, CC: BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Hmmm… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2xbeGgNKos

Jade Cong China 3,300-2,200 BCE

Stonehenge Wiltshire, UK Neolithic Empire

2,500- 1,600 BCE

Stonehenge built during… Neolithic Revolution- Humans begin to settle down Plant and Harvest crops Domesticate Animals (Animal Husbandry) Why does art become bigger and more substantial in this period? Stonehenge 320 ft. in diameter some stones 50 tons some stones quarried 450 miles away

https://www. khanacademy https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/global-prehistory-ap/paleolithic-mesolithic-neolithic/a/ambum-stone Ancient Pestle? Ambum Stone, c. 1500 B.C.E. Ambum Valley, Enga Province, Papua New Guinea (Australia National Gallery, Canberra)

Tlatilco figurines Central (present day) Mexico c. 1200–600 B.C.E. Ancient Mexico! Tlatilco figurines Central (present day) Mexico c. 1200–600 B.C.E.