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Published byRussell Malone Modified over 8 years ago
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-200,000 years ago, Homo sapiens appeared. -120,000-100,000 years ago, Homo sapiens sapiens (our sub-species) appeared. -people migrated heavily around the globe from 100,000 to 35,000 years ago.
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The Stone Age- Prehistory is the period of time before people began creating a written record. This period is characterized by the stone tools and objects people made, hence the name “stone age”. Stone Age is divided into 2 eras: Paleo (“old”) lithic (“stone”) and Neo (“new”) lithic. Paleolithic is further divided into Lower Middle Upper -based on the layers of objects found in excavation, so lower is oldest, etc. Transition from Paleolithic to Neolithic depended on the rate of glacial retreat across the globe—so the timing varies.
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As far back as 2,000,000 years, people made stone tools. c. 100,000 years ago, well-developed Homo sapiens, Neanderthals, made a wide variety of stone tools and may have buried their dead with funerary offerings. c. 40,000 years ago, fully-developed Homo sapiens, called Cro-Magnon after the French location where their bones were 1 st found, replaced Neanderthals. Cro-Magnons were clearly social and exhibited rituals and organizations that led them to create images—1 st image making and the beginning of our study.
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-Settlements in Prehistoric Europe
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Cave painting- begins approx 30,000 BCE—associated with Upper Paleolithic period Ceiling, Altamira Cave, Spain, c. 12,500 BCE (Upper Paleolithic) Chauvet Cave painting; France, c. 30,000 BCE; earliest known cave painting
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How they were made: artists used natural outcroppings in the rocks to create believable volume. Pigments like charcoal and ocher (earth pigment) were ground, chewed and sprayed (w/ mouth) onto walls using hands or leather stencils Drawn lines created using animal hair or moss brushes, or blocks of ocher. Lascaux Cave; France, c. 15,000 BCE. One of best known cave painting sites. Has 600 paintings and 1500 engravings.
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Figurative Sculpture: c. 30,000 BCE we also begin to find small figurines of people carved from bone, ivory, stone and clay in Europe and Asia—”sculpture in the round,” as opposed to “relief sculpture” found in caves Usually women Woman from Willendorf; Limestone; height 4⅜" c. 24,000 BCE Woman from Ostrava Petrkovice; Hematite, height 1¾“; c. 23,000 BCE
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Bird-headed Man with Bison; c. 15,000 BCE; Lascaux cave, France; 9 ft long. Narrative?
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Lion-Human; c. 30,000 BCE; mammoth ivory, 11 5/8” tall. Dating ancient work: -relative dating; relies on the chronological relationship among objects in a single excavation or several sites -radiometric dating; measures the degree to which radioactive materials have disintegrated over time—most accurate method of absolute dating
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Architecture usually means the “enclosure of space with at least some aesthetic intent”
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From Paleolithic to Neolithic: - by approx. 10,000 BCE, the ice age had ended in most areas, resulting in a climate like our own -glacial retreat happened slowly, so change from Paleo to Neo eras was gradual -scientists look for 3 factors to determine the onset of Neolithic culture: 1. organized agriculture2. domesticated animal herds3. permanent settlements -new tools, like bows and arrows, polished stone tools, and dug-out boats, improved the quality of life for Neolithic people -agriculture meant there was adequate food production which allowed some members of the group to focus on other activities, like religion or politics, resulting in more complicated social structures
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Neolithic Architecture: -built buildings for storage, animal shelter and homes -used wood and plant materials for dwellings, clustered in villages -tombs and ritual centers were outside the village settlements House interior, Skara Brae settlement; Orkney Islands, Scotland, c. 3100 BCE
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Elements of Architecture: Post-and-Lintel and Corbel Construction
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Megalithic Architecture: refers to huge stones used to create ceremonial structures and tombs in Neolithic period. Tomb interior with corbeling and engraved stones c. 3000 BCE Ireland Stonehenge Stonehenge; c. 2750 BCE England
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Stonehenge, on summer solstice
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Neolithic sculpture and ceramics: period saw technical advancement in ceramic work, especially the introduction of ceramic vessels (c. 7000 BCE) and life-like ceramic figures. Figures of a man and a woman; ceramic, 4½" h. c. 3500 BCE Romania
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Ceramic vessels from Denmark; c. 3000-2000 BCE.
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Neolithic cave painting: more simplified, graphic artistic style -often line drawing, with no addition of color -found in more shallow rock shelters, as opposed to the deep caverns of Paleolithic cave painting Rock-shelter painting, c. 4000-2000 BCE, Spain
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The Bronze Age: c. 2300 BCE metalworking is introduced in Europe from the Near East. -c. 2300 BCE to 800 BCE = Bronze Age (alloy of copper and tin) -c. 1000 BCE; Iron Age begins -introduction of metal changed societies in fundamental ways; created strong elite groups within society and increased trade with foreign cultures. Horse and Sun Chariot; Bronze, c. 1800 BCE, 231/4” long, Denmark
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Openwork Box Lid; c. 100 BCE; Bronze; 3” dia., Ireland
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Break it down now (review)
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