Pre-Historic/Ancient Near East

Pre-Historic Civilizations

The Paleolithic Period – 30,000 B.C.E. to 10,000 B.C.E.

Pre-Historic Civilization (Cont.)

Earliest examples of creativity of mankind

Visual Arts – Sculptures and Cave

Painting

Painting – The Cave of Lascaux

France

Characteristics of Cave Paintings

• Animal Images in Profile• Black Outlines• Limited Colors (Red, Yellow,

Ochre, Brown, Black)• Attempt at Naturalism and

Realism• Purpose: Ritual (Hunting)

Human Figures in Cave Paintings

• No attempt at naturalism• More stick-like in appearance

Not creating realistic images of humans is probably from superstitions/beliefs in powers of images.

These beliefs are still present in some cultures today.

Sculpture

• Human and Animal Sculptures-Most common human figures

were fertility figures and “Venus” figures.

• Most sculptures were “found objects” that required very little manipulation

• Used for Ritual Purposes

Bison Licking Its Flanks ca. 14,000 BC

Dordogne, France

Venus of Willendorf

c. 24,000-22,000 BCE Oolitic limestone 4 3/8 inches (11.1 cm) high

Architecture

• Post and Lintel Construction• Use of Megalithic Stones• Purpose: Ritual

Stonehenge between 3000 and 1700 B.C.E.

•Built in three stages

•Circular Arrangement

•Post and Lintel Construction

Music, Dance, and Drama

Minimal Physical Evidence

• Footprints in dance-like patterns on cave floors (Dance)

• Objects possible used as instruments found in caves (Music)

• Images of masked figures (Drama/Storytelling)

Purpose: Ritual

Mesopotamia

The Fertile Crescent/The Cradle of

Civilization

Earliest Civilizations in area between Tigris and

Euphrates Rivers

Known Civilizations of this Region (in Chronological Order):

Sumerian AssyrianAkkadian Neo-BabylonianNeo-Sumarian PersianBabylonian

Cuneiform – Writing System

Writing with Wedge-Shaped Characters on Clay Tablets created by

Sumerians

Sumerian Visual Art Examples

• Sculpture• Ceramics• Jewelry

Tell Asmar Sculptures

• Free-Standing Sculptures of Human Figures

• Large Eyes (Windows to the Soul)• Posed Frontal, Stiff and Formal• Size Shows Rank or Importance• Beards and Pleated Skirts Symbols of

Power• Hands Clasped as if Praying, Looking

Upward• Purpose - Ritual

Tell Asmar Statues

Sumerian Sculpture

Use of Image of a Bull Common in Sumerian and other cultures

Symbolic of Power and Strength

Ceramics Exampleca. 3100-2900 B.C. Baked clay, painted

17.2 cm H, 23.5 cm W

Jewelry ExamplePuabi's headdress ca. 2550–2400

B.C

Architecture - Ziggurats

Temples in the form of Stepped Mounds of earth and brick.

Symbolic of man reaching toward the gods in heaven.

Ziggurat of Ur  c. 2100 B.C.E. 

built by the king

Ur-Nammu

Sumerian Musical Instrument

Bull-Headed Lyre - Lyre of Queen Puabi, Ur, c. 2685 BCE

Dance and Drama

• Evidence of Singing and Dancing in Written Sumerian Texts and on Relief Sculptures – Usually Religious in Nature.

• Dance by both Men and Women in Religious Ceremonies and for Social Purposes in Assyrian Culture

• Babylonians had Religious Dance where Dancers Performed in a Ring around a Sacred Sculpture

Egyptian Civilization

3100 B.C.E. – 322 B.C.E

• 3 Kingdoms – Old, Middle, and New

• Kingdoms divided into Dynasties – a Single Family in Power

• Following Last of Dynasties, Ruled by Hellenistic Greece

• 30 B.C.E – Egypt becomes a province of Rome

Egyptian Culture

• Dependence on the Nile River• Life and Culture Centered on Religion• Belief in Life After Death• Pharoah (ruler) a God on Earth• Ka (soul) reborn after death to join

the gods in the afterlife• Body preserved to house the ka

(mummification and pyramid burial)

Egyptian Painting

• Most for Tombs and Temples• Scenes First Carved in Low Relief into

Limestone Walls, then Painted in Bright Colors on Top of a Layer of Dry Plaster.

• Scenes Reflected Egyptian Dieties and Daily Life – Necessary to Ease the Journey to the Land of the Dead and to Provide for them in the Afterlife

Painting Rules

• Body in Correct Proportion• Faces and Legs in Profile• Eyes, Shoulder, and Torso from Front• Pharoahs and Nobles in Stiff Poses, Standing

or Sitting on Lines Representing the Ground• Persons of Less Importance in Comfortable

Movement and Natural Poses.• Flesh of Men – Dark Red or Brown• Flesh of Women – Yellow, White, or Pale

Brown

Egyptian Painting (cont.)

Paintings from the tomb of UnsuNew Kingdom, 18th Dynasty

Sculpture

• Commemorate a Person or Event or Substitute for a real person

• Huge in Scale• Stone and Wooden Statues placed in

tombs to represent the dead• Relief carvings and model figures of

daily life or activities of the dead in the next world

Old Kingdom Sculpture

• Pharaohs – Seated with hands on knees or Standing, one leg forward, arms at side or crossed in front.

• Stiff, Formal, and Solemn• Size to show social order:

Pharaohs larger than life Scribes and Court Officials life-sized Workers/Peasants smallest, always

shown working• Statues of Gods as Animals reflecting

their personalities

Khafre!

Middle Kingdom

New Kingdom

The Great Sphinx

Facts about the Sphinx

• Head of Sphinx carved in about 2500 BC Face is that of the Pharaoh Khafre, measures 4.1 m wide

• Sphinx is 73 m long, 20 m high. Carved from the rock, different layers eroding at different rates. Head cut from harder strata than the lower body.

• Guards Khafre’s Pyramid

Egyptian Architecture

• Primary focus was creation of temples and tombs

• Most famous tombs, the pyramids, were built to protect the bodies of Pharoahs for the afterlife and to serve as a symbol of the pharoah’s power.

Development of Pyramids: Phase One

Developed from Mastabas which were flat roofed, single story buildings with sloping sides.

“Cities of the dead”

Phase Two– Stepped Pyramids

MostCommonlyhad four or six steps

Stepped Pyramid of Djoser, 2600 B.C.E.

Designed by Imhotep

Phase Three – True Pyramids

The Great Pyramids at Giza (Menkaure, Khufu, Khafre – left to right)

Inside Khufu’s Pyramid

Egyptian Dance, Drama, and Music

• Egyptians the first great culture to make music and dance a part of life for all social classes

• Music and Dance also used for religious/ritual purposes

• Tomb and Temple paintings show evidence of music and dance, but no written music survives.

Egyptian Drama, Dance, and Music (cont.)

• Egyptian music based on Pentatonic scale of 5 whole steps (no half steps)

• Choreography of Egyptian dance appears to consist of complex range of movements from acrobatics (splits, cartwheels, and backbends) to slow, elegant, and more formal dance steps.

• Drama – religious performances of drama and Satirical plays

Evidence of Music in Egyptian Art Works

African Culture

• Tribal Based Culture• Animism – belief that all animals,

plants, and objects have souls• Respect for nature• Ancestor worship• All arts had a functional purpose

relating to needs of everyday life and religion

African Dance, Drama, and Music

• All relative to ritual and worship• Drama – Storytelling to:

1. Pass on history and beliefs2. Show respect for ancestors

• Music and Dance accompanied storytelling in celebrations

• Masks worn and faces and bodies painted for ritual celebrations

What they celebrated:

• Milestones of Life: Death, Birth, Marriage, Reaching Adulthood

• Successful Hunt or Harvest• Success in Battle• Change of Seasons

Examples of African Art & Masks

Ashanti King Stool

Dan Mask

More Examples of African Art & Masks

Bakota

Reliquary

GuardianTsonge

Mask

Bakongo

Fetish Figure

African Drums

• Drums accompanied ceremonies and were used in communication

• Certain beats from the drummers determine the steps that are performed by dancers

• The lead drummer plays the Djembe, and determines the rhythm patterns to be played as well as the tempo

African Drums

Djembe

Talking

Drum

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwFt-bFF7CQ

Characteristics of African Dance

• Dances begin and end with bowing and touching the ground to show respect for the earth, the ancestors, the drummer, and the teacher of the dance

• Chanting by dancers and audience in call and response format accompanies the dancing

• Movements are very angular and low to the ground

Characteristics of African Dance (cont.)

• The pattern being performed by the drummer and the tempo determine the steps to be performed.

• Movements correspond to the purpose of the dance and what is being chanted

• Movements may be synchronized or independent

• Group dances often are circular representing unity and the earth

Resources

• http://www.culture.fr/culture/arcnat/lascaux/en/• http://witcombe.sbc.edu/willendorf/willendorfdiscovery.html

• http://w3.salemstate.edu/~ckramer/bison.html• http://www.activemind.com/Mysterious/Topics/Stonehenge/

pic_sunset1.html

• http://www.upennmuseum.com/cuneiform.cgi• http://www.coconino.edu/apetersen/_ART201/sumeria.htm• http://www.coconino.edu/apetersen/_ART201/sumeria.htm• http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Academy/7357/mesoart1.htm

• http://www.metmuseum.org/explore/First_Cities/clothing_mesosyria_object_61ae.asp

Resources (cont.)• http://www.multimedialibrary.com/FramesML/IM4/

IM4page6.asp• http://www.multimedialibrary.com/FramesML/IM4/

IM4page11.asp• http://www.louvre.fr/llv/oeuvres/detail_notice.jsp?CONTENT

%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673393291&CURRENT_LLV_NOTICE%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673393291&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=9852723696500807&fromDept=false&baseIndex=28&bmUID=1150823291644&bmLocale=en

• http://www.egyptarchive.co.uk/html/sphinx_02.html• Images from Collection of Melisa Gano

• http://www.genuineafrica.com/