What do you know about the “evolution” of humans?

Bi pedalism Brain size Body size Opposable thumb Face and teeth Emergance of Humans Bi pedalism Brain size Body size Opposable thumb Face and teeth

Paleolithic Era Characterized by use of stone tools and weapons Scavengers Nomadic (hunters) All time spent on surviving Governed by natural leaders

Domestication of animals (beginning with the dog) Neolithic Era or Revolution About 8,000 BC civilization began to emerge Domestication of animals (beginning with the dog) Domestication of grains Use of sophisticated tools Gathering into communities

Civilization emerged in several places at the same time Indus River valley Yellow River Valley Tigris and Euphrates River valley Nile River valley

Civilization was marked by the following characteristics: Advanced metallurgy Complex urban centers Division of labor Intellectual achievements (calendar, writing, pictographs and ideograms)

Ideograms ~ …represent ideas of Paleolithic Man Longer definition: an object that represents not the object pictured but some thing or idea that the object pictured is supposed to suggest

Prehistoric Art

Art can function as an artifact: Art as Artifact Art can function as an artifact: a product that represents the ideas and technology of time and place. Artifacts, such as plays, paintings, poems, and buildings, connect us to our past. Artifacts can invite us to start with a formal criticism and move toward a contextual criticism.

Hall of the Bulls (Caves of Lascaux), c. 15,000-13,000 BCE The Past’s Story: Hall of the Bulls (Caves of Lascaux), c. 15,000-13,000 BCE

art as a tool for survival/ art for use in rituals/ twisted perspective/ figure ground relationship/ naturalistic renderings

Wounded man and disemboweled bison (Lascaux), c.15,000 –13,000 BCE

Spotted horses and negative hand imprints (Pech-Merle, Lot, France), c Spotted horses and negative hand imprints (Pech-Merle, Lot, France), c. 22,000 BCE

Wall Painting in Chauvet Cave, Vallon-Pont-d’Arc, (Ardeche), c Wall Painting in Chauvet Cave, Vallon-Pont-d’Arc, (Ardeche), c. 30,000-28,000 BCE

Venus of Willendorf (Austria), c. 28,000- 23,000 BCE, limestone More stories… Venus of Willendorf (Austria), c. 28,000- 23,000 BCE, limestone cult of the fertility goddess/ lack of naturalistic rendering

Human skull from Jericho, c. 7000-6000 BCE spirit trap

Stonehenge (Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, England), c. 2000 BCE

megaliths/ cromlech/ post and lintel construction/ heelstone/ vesica pisces/ omphalos

Two Criticisms Formal: Contextual: Analysis that applies no external conditions or information. It attempts to explain bare artistic organization. Contextual: Seeks meaning by adding to formal criticism an examination of related information outside the artwork Information like: facts about the artist’s life, his or her culture, social and political conditions, and philosophies, and public/expert responses to the work

Art as Artifact Imagine that it is 200 years in the future. The world is very different. The United States may not even exist anymore! Archeologists have discovered a small building with many artifacts. They speculate what these artifacts were used for, and then they use them to tell a story about us.

Art as Artifact Pick 5 things from the year 2016 that you think would best tell our story if individuals didn’t know about us! Explain your reasoning!