The Prehistoric Past

• How did civilizations develop?• Paleolithic era ‘Old Stone Age’• Neolithic era ‘New Stone Age’• ‘Bronze Age’ –science of metallurgy; the stone and

bone tools were replaced by metal ones• Nomadic lifestyle gave way to a more sedentary

lifestyle• In the great river valleys of the Middle East and Asia

distinct centers of people began to form civilizations

Paleolithic Culture and Its Artifacts

• Homo sapiens (L., “one who knows”) evolved about 100,000-120,000 years ago

• Hunter-gatherers, they had lighter builds and larger brains than earlier hominids

• They developed more sophisticated tools than those of their ancestors—cleavers, chisels, grinders, handaxes, and arrow- and spearheads made of flint

• They produced the paintings in caves such as Altamira in Spain and Chauvet and Lascaux in France; carved small sculptural objects, the most remarkable of which are the female figures—the Venuses

The Great River Valley Civilizations, 2000 BCA

• What is a civilization?• Cooperative activity of human beings• Develop in fertile river valleys that have adequate resources to

support life• A social, economic, and political entity distinguished by the

ability to express itself through images and written language• Organizing trade and production requires an administrative

elite• priest and ruler elites mediate between the ordinary citizens

and gods• One of the ways that societies have acquired goods is by means

of war

How do cultures begin?

• Before the invention of writing cultures created myths and legends that explained their origin

• Evidence survives in wall paintings and small sculptures dating back more than 25,000 years

What is culture?

• Encompasses the values and behaviors shared by a group of people, developed over time, and passed down from generation to generation

• Art from earliest times was associated with the religious and political elites, who used it as a way of expressing the values of a the culture

Chauvet cave – in front of the horses is a herd of aurochs, extinct ancestors of oxen

What is the significance of the Chauvet cave?

• its antiquity• The range of animals it depicts• Perspective painting style which shows a

stunning naturalism• Abandonment of the linear theory of the

development of realistic art

Why were these paintings made?

• The drawings were magic charms meant to ensure a successful hunt

• The caves –gateways to the underworld and death

• Served as calendars for predicting the seasonal migration of the animals

• Possessed some from of agency – they were created to exert some power or authority over those who came into contact with it

Lascaux Cave, Dordogne, France. 15,000 BCEIn Lascaux we find one of first depictions of a human being. He wields a spear-like throwing implement. The human in the painting is stylized while the animals are realistic indicative of the ritual purpose of these paintings.Explain the discrepancy between the naturalistic representation of the animals and the abstract realization of the human figure. Does it suggest that man and beast are different orders of being?

Venus of Willendorf, Austria. 25,000 BCEIdeal of female beauty comparable to the Roman ideal of beauty implied by the name Venus

Paleolithic Culture and its Artifacts

• What do female figurines suggest about the Paleolithic era?

• Women played a central role – they had considerable religious and spiritual influence

• Ritual purpose for sculpture which may have been tied to fertility

• Matrilineal and matrilocal

Neolithic Era

• ca. 8000—2000 BCE

• “New Stone Age”—neo + lithos

• Defined by the rise in agriculture

• Concentrated in the great river valleys of the Middle East and Asia (Nile, Tigris and Euphrates, Indus and Ganges, and Yellow Rivers)

How did agriculture develop?

• Agriculture-- animal husbandry, domestication of dogs

• From hunting gathering to agriculture• Populations came together into cities in fertile

river valleys• The transition led to the increased use of

pottery vessels in Iran• 3000 BCE potter’s wheel was in use in the

Middle East

Beaker with ibex, dogs, and long-necked birds, from Susa, Iran. 5000 BCEThe ibex was the most widely hunted game in the Middle East.

Beaker with Ibex, Dogs, and Long-Necked BirdsBaked clay, 11¼"

Iran, ca. 5000—4000 BCE

•Neolithic pottery the result of transition from hunting and fishing cultures to agriculture

•Used to carry and store water and to prepare and store certain types of food

•Ibex, a popular decorative feature of prehistoric pottery from Iran, may have been a symbol of plenty

What are the Neolithic Megaliths of Northern Europe?

• A distinctive kind of monumental stone architecture in Britain and France

• Were designed to be permanent structures• Stood in tribute to the authority of the

leaders responsible for assembling the labor force required to construct them

Stonehenge, Salisbury Plain, England. 2750 BCEIts orientation to the rising sun and the summer solstice suggest that Stonehenge served a ritual purpose.

Stonehenge Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, England

• Four major building periods from ca. 2750 to 1500 BCE

• Uncertain as to its purpose, but its orientation toward the rising sun at the summer solstice connects it to planting and harvesting

• Post-and-lintel is the most basic technique for spanning space. Two posts, or pieces fixed firmly in an upright position, support a lintel, or horizontal span

• This megalithic structure suggests that the late Neolithic peoples who built it were extremely social beings, capable of great cooperation

Neolithic Cultures of the Americas

• 15,000 BCE – a migration occurred from Asia into northern America and continued down into Mexico and Central America

• Who were the Anasazi people?• Developed a civilization in modern day Colorado

between 900-1200 CE that bears many similarities to earlier Neolithic civilizations found in the Middle East

• “People without a beast of burden, the wheel, metal or written language, yet they constructed magnificent masonry housing and ceremonial structures”

Spruce Tree house, Mesa Verde. Anasazi culture. 1200 CE

What are the Zuni Pueblo Emergence Tales?

• Myths – stories used to explain, unify and order one’s experience• Not entirely fantasy for they are based on real experience• Myth have common characteristics:• animism• anthropocentricism• a belief that humans can communicate with the spirits in natural

objects• Religion and myths are intertwined• Zuni emergence myth explains the process of maturity from

childhood to adulthood• Pueblo people believe that they originated in the womb of

Mother Earth

Buffalo Kachina. Zuni culture. 1875

It is designed to increase the population of furbearing animals in the arid environment of the Southwest. Derived from a Plains Indian ritual dance, it was first danced by the Zuni near the end of the 19th century as the region’s wildlife was becoming increasingly threatened

Mesopotamia: Power and Social Order in the Fertile Crescent

• The city of Ur in Sumer located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers developed a specialized society of priest rulers made possible by canal irrigated agriculture.

• This area would become contested over successive generations because of its rich soil and access to water

• Ur is notable for its well preserved and reconstructed ziggurat, a pyramidal structure with a shrine on top

• The sanctuary might have symbolized the bridge between heaven and earth

• Offering of food or an animal to be sacrificed to the resident god

The ziggurat at Ur, Iraq. 2100 BCEIt was the center of the city of Ur, the best preserved and most fully restored of the ancient Sumerian temples

Reconstruction drawing of the ziggurat at Ur

Reconstructed Drawing of the Ziggurat at Ur

• The best preserved and most fully restored of the ancient Sumerian temples

• Platforms might have been covered with soil and planted with trees

• Weeper-holes, venting ducts loosely filled with broken pottery, in the side of the ziggurat would have drained rainwater

• Might also have symbolized the bridge between heaven and earth

Eastern Mediterranean basin and major Mesopotamian capitals

What were the religions in Ancient Mesopotamia?

• With the exception of the Hebrew religion, they were polytheistic

• Gods were recognized for the forces of nature• Shamash –sun• Ishtar – love, war• Enlil –air• Ea-water• Anu- father of the gods• Priest-ruler – intermediary between gods and humans• Religious burial was important for the citizens of Ur. Rich and

poor were buried together

Royal Standard of Ur, War and Peace, cemetery at Ur, Iraq. 2600 BCEIt depicts the themes of war and peace. The king is depicted using a hierarchy of scale, showing his prominence by his large size.Its narrative structure shows the unfolding of events through time graphically.

Royal Standard of Ur

• Rectangular box of unknown function

• Main panels called “War” and “Peace” because they illustrate, on one side, a military victory and, on the other, the subsequent banquet celebrating the event

• Social perspective, or hierarchy of scale—most important figures (king) represented as larger than the others

• One of the earliest examples we have of historical narrative

Who were the Akkadians?

• The Sumerian culture of Ur was superseded by the Akkadians, a people from the north

• Settled around modern Baghdad• Akkad lies under Baghdad• The Akkadians conquered virtually all other cities in

Mesopotamia, including those of Sumer• Sargon – famous ruler, believed that he was god, a status

bestowed upon Akkadian rulers from his time forward• Legend of his birth gave rise to what amounts to a

narrative genre: a boy from humble origins who rises to a position of might and power

Head of an Akkadian Man, from Niniveh, Iraq. 2300 BCESargon, or Sargon’s grandsonIt is a realistic work, depicting a man who appears both powerful and majesticThe fine detail testifies to the Akkadian mastery of the lost-wax casting technique that originated in Mesopotamia

Head of an Akkadian ManCopper Alloy, 14-1/8", ca. 2300-2200 BCE

• All that survives of a life-size statue

• Once thought to be Sargon I, many modern scholars believe it depicts his grandson, Naramsin

• A highly realistic work, depicting a man who appears both powerful and majestic

• The first existing monumental work made by the lost-wax casting technique

Babylon

• No one in Mesopotamia matched the Akkadians’ power until the 18th c. BCE when Hammurabi gained control of the region

• Law Code of Hammurabi: its purpose was to celebrate his sense of justice -- a record of decisions and decrees

• Significant for its presentation of the principle of talion (eye for an eye)

• Snapshot of Babylonian social and familial life• Provided a uniform set of laws for a millennium• Made the law more objective by removing it from the

arbitrary whim of the sovereign

"Contracts and Laws”Mesopotamia: I Have Conquered the River (length 2:46).

Item #11654 © 2000 on FMG

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What is the Epic of Gilgamesh?

• One of the greatest works of Mesopotamian literature• 100,000 clay tablets and fragments in Akkadian cuneiform

script• Written around 1200 BCE• Discovered in the library of King Ashurbanipal at Niniveh• Epic – a long poem in elevated language that follows

characters of high position through a series of adventures, including a visit to the world of the dead

• Epic poems are about the origin and development of a nation

• Deeds of a semi-divine character

The Hebrews

• The Hebrews (from Habiru, “outcast” or “nomad”) were forced out of their homeland in the Mesopotamian basin in about 2000 BCE

• They differed from other Fertile Crescent cultures in that their religion was monotheistic—they worshiped a single god: YHWH (Yahweh)

• According to the Hebrew bible, their law—the Ten Commandments—was delivered to Moses on stone tablets and carried in a sacred chest, called the Ark of the Covenant

What makes the Hebrews unique?• Monotheistic• God created Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (delta of Tigris and Euphrates)• Abraham of Ur led his people out of here into Canaan in order to escape the

warlike Akkadians and Babylonians• Hebrew Bible – a compilation of hymns, prophecies, and laws 800 400 BCE• The stories represent the Hebrews’ attempt to maintain their sense of their own

history and destiny• See themselves as chosen by God, as a moral example• God establishes a covenant with the Hebrews beginning with Noah, and

reaffirming later with Abraham and other Hebrew patriarchs• Under the leadership of Moses, the Hebrews settled for 40 years in the desert of

the Sinai peninsula where they received the 10 commandments from YHWH• Entered Canaan under the leadership of Joshua• Took the name of Israel from the patriarch Jacob• The kingdom of Israel was united by King David

How do the Ten Commandments differ from the Code of Hammurabi?

• Afford rights to all citizens• Do not differentiate between poor and rich in

assigning penalties for violations• Ethical and moral system derived from an

omnipotent God• Torah- ‘Law’ – instructions• Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy• The Hebrews carried the commandments in a

sacred chest, called the Ark of the Covenant

The Ark of the CovenantTwo menorahs flank each side of the Ark. The menorah is a symbol of the nation of Israel

Ancient India

• Indian civilization was born along the Indus River around 2700 BCE in an area known as Sind—from which the words India and Hindu

• By the early years of the second millenium, they were adept at bronze casting

• They even had a written language, although it remains undeciphered

• Sometime around 1500 BCE, the Aryans, nomads to the north, invaded the Indus River valley and conquered its inhabitants, making them slaves. Thus began the longest-lasting set of rigid, class-based societal divisions in world history, the Indian caste system

Ancient India

• Rigid caste system:• Untouchables• Unskilled workers• Artisans and merchants• Warriors and rulers• Brahmins

India Around 1500 BCE

How did Hinduism develop?• From two sets of Aryan texts: the Vedas and the Upanishads,

written in Sanskrit• The purpose of life is to be free from illusion and achieve nirvana

–the state free from death, life and rebirth• Unification with Brahman, the universal soul• Brahman- creator• Vishnu-preserver• Shiva- destroyer• Ramayana- relates the story of the pious incarnation of the god

Vishnu through Ram and his wife Sita• They illustrate lives that follow dharma, the path of right conduct

Hinduism and the Vedic Tradition

• Hindu religion has no single body of doctrine, nor any standard set of practices

• Brahmin, the universal soul, is at its center

• Brahmin’s functions are split among three gods: Brahma, the creator; Vishnu, the preserver; and Shiva, the destroyer

• In Hinduism, creation follows destruction. Shiva, though a god of destruction, is regarded as a reproductive power as well and is commonly portrayed in a circle of fire, symbolic of both creation and destruction, the endless cycle of birth, death, and reincarnation

Shiva, Lord of the Dance, Southern IndiaFramed in a circle of fire, symbolic of both creation and destruction