Prehistoric Past and Earliest Civilizations PDF

The Prehistoric past and the earliest civilizations The River Cultures of the Ancient World Chauvet Discovery On a cold December afternoon in 1994, Jean- Marie Chauvet and two friends were exploring the caves in the steep cliffs along th...

The Prehistoric past and the earliest civilizations The River Cultures of the Ancient World Chauvet Discovery On a cold December afternoon in 1994, Jean- Marie Chauvet and two friends were exploring the caves in the steep cliffs along the Ardèche River in southern France After descending into a series of narrow passages, they entered a large chamber where they found a group of drawings that would astonish not only the three explorers, but also the world Major Paleolithic Caves in France and Spain Since the late 19ᵗʰ century, we have known that prehistoric peoples – peoples who lived before the time of writing (recorded history) – drew on the walls of caves Twenty-seven such caves had already been discovered throughout France and Spain But where previously discovered cave paintings had appeared to modern eyes as childlike, the Chauvet cave contained drawings comparable to those a contemporary artist might have done Chauvet Cave: Preserving Prehistoric Art Chauvet Cave Authorities realized that carbon dioxide from their breath was contributing to growth of bacteria and mold that was destroying Lascaux Cave’s wall paintings In 2015, a replica of Chauvet opened Prehistoric Art We can only speculate that other comparable artworks were produced in prehistoric times but have not survived It is even possible that art may have been made earlier than 30,000 years ago, perhaps as people began inhabiting the Near East, between 90,000 and 100,000 years ago How do cultures arise, and how do art and architecture reflect their growing sophistication? The Beginnings of Paleolithic Culture A culture encompasses The Ardèche River gorge values and behaviors was a focal point of shared by a group of group living, in which the people, developed over values of a community time, and passed down find expression – as such, from one generation to it became a center of the next culture  Agency and Ritual: Cave Art The Beginnings of Most scholars believe that cave paintings were created to exert power Culture or authority over the world of those who encountered them. in the Paleolithic Era What role did the drawings play in daily life? Ritual function of caves Color may be iconographical Styles: illusionism, naturalism, abstraction Wall painting with bird-headed man and bison Lascaux Cave, Dordogne, France, ca. 15,000–13,000 BCE Paint on limestone, length approx. 9’. In 1963, Lascaux was closed to the public so that conservators could fight a fungus attacking the paintings. Most likely, the fungus was caused by carbon dioxide exhaled by visitors. An exact replica called Lascaux II was built and can be visited. Hall of Bulls, Lascaux Cave 15000-13000 BCE Largest bull c. 11´6˝ long  Paleolithic Culture and its Artifacts The Beginnings of Around 2.5 or 2.6 million years ago, hominid populations began to make rudimentary Culture in the stone tools Homo sapiens were hunter-gatherers Tools included cleavers, chisels, grinders, hand Paleolithic Era axes, and arrow- and spearheads made of flint, a material that also provided the spark for fire They buried their dead in ritual ceremonies, often laying them to rest accompanied by stone tools and weapons They made musical instruments Bone flute from Hohle Fels Cave, Germany, ca. 40,000 BCE The flute is nearly one foot long, and its mere existence points to a culture of reasonable musical sophistication Woman (Venus of Willendorf), found at Willendorf, Austria, ca. 25,000–20,000 BCE Woman – limestone, height 4” For many years, modern scholars called this small statue the Venus of Willendorf They assumed that its carvers attributed to it an ideal of female beauty comparable to the Roman ideal of beauty implied by the name Venus Fit neatly into a person’s hand, suggesting they may have had a ritual purpose Their exaggerated breasts and bellies and clearly delineated genitals support a connection to fertility and childbearing Female figurines vastly outnumber representations of males in the Paleolithic period – suggests that women played a central role in Paleolithic culture How do Neolithic art and architecture reflect the era’s changing cultural concerns? The Rise of Agriculture and Community in the Neolithic Era Around 10,000 BCE, the ice receded, and the seas rose Agriculture began replacing hunting and gathering This shift ushered in the Neolithic era, or “New Stone Age. Animals were domesticated  Civilization: Social, economic, and political entity The Rise of distinguished by ability to express itself through Agriculture and images and written language Civilizations develop when the environment of a region Community can support a large and productive population in the Neolithic Era The great river valley civilizations, ca. 2000 BCE Agriculture thrived in the great river valleys throughout the Neolithic era, but by the end of the period, urban life had developed there as well, and civilization as we know it had emerged  Neolithic Communities The Rise of Çatalhöyük (Turkey) People were traders, principally Agriculture and of obsidian Houses were rectangular and stood side by side, with Community entrances through the roof and down a ladder for defensive in the Neolithic purposes Interior walls and floors were plastered and painted white, Era and beneath some floors were burials This was possibly a matrilineal culture  Neolithic Communities The Rise of Skara Brae (Scotland) Agriculture and Houses were made of stone, used the corbeling technique, with roofs of organic material, such Community as straw thatch or seaweed. in the Neolithic Furniture was built into the walls, and the only light would have come from the smoke hole Era above the hearth. The houses in the village were connected by a series of walkways.  A predatory animal on a pillar at Göbekli Tepe, Turkey, ca. 9130–8800 BCE To date, only about one- tenth of the site has been excavated. Woman seated between two felines, Çatalhöyük, Turkey, ca. 6850–6300 BCE Terra cotta, height 4⅝” The woman’s head in this sculpture is a modern addition Wall painting showing the capturing or baiting of a deer, Çatalhöyük, Turkey, ca. 6850–6300 BCE The painting, along with many others like it, suggests that the hunt played a significant role in Neolithic culture, as it did in Paleolithic times House interior, Skara Brae, Orkney Islands, Scotland, ca. 3100–2600 BCE A view of the interior of house In this and other houses, archaeologists have found stone cooking pots; mortars for grinding grains, including barley and wheat; carved stone balls; bone tools used for fishing and sewing; and pottery In this view, the corbeled walls are just beginning to curve inward Plan, Village of Skara Brae, Orkney Islands, Scotland, ca. 3100–2600 BCE (The numbers refer to individual houses)  In most Neolithic societies, women made pottery Neolithic Jomon: Pots built up from the bottom with coil Pottery Across upon coil of soft clay China: Painted decorations added, such as flowing, Cultures curvilinear forms Susa: Highly stylized animal motifs added Europe: clay molded over a round stone or by coiling long ropes of clay and smoothing seams between them Egypt: Potter’s wheel Deep bowl with sculptural rim, late Middle Jomon period (ca. 2500–1600 BCE), Japan, ca. 2000 BCE Terra cotta, 14½” x 12⅓” The motifs incised on this pot may have had some meaning, but most interesting is the potter’s freedom of expression The design of the pot’s flamelike rim is anything but practical. Basin (pen), Majiayao culture, Majiayao phase, Gansu Province, China, ca. 3200–2700 BCE Earthenware with painted decoration, diameter 11” The designs on this bowl are examples of the kind of markings that would eventually develop into writing. Beaker with ibex, dogs, and long-necked birds, from Susa, southwestern Iran, ca. 5000–4000 BCE Baked clay with painted decoration, height 11¼” The ibex was the most widely hunted game in the ancient Middle East, which probably accounts for its centrality in this design  The Nok fired clay figures of Neolithic animals and humans that were approximately life-size between Ceramic 800 BCE and 600 CE The artistry was based on abstract geometrical shapes Figures They used ovals, cones, cylinders, or spheres to represent heads They used ovals, triangles, graceful arches, and straight lines to represent facial features Nok head, ca. 500 BCE–200 CE Terra cotta, height 14 3/16” This slightly larger-than-life-size head was probably part of a complete body and shows the Nok people’s interest in abstract geometrical representations of facial features and head shape Holes in the eyes and nose were probably used to control temperature during firing The Neolithic Megaliths of Northern Europe Monumental stone architecture known as megaliths, or “big stones” Appeared late in the Neolithic era Göbekli Tepe, in modern-day Turkey, is one of the earliest Neolithic megaliths – begun as early as 10,500 BCE  The Neolithic Megaliths of Northern The Europe Megaliths, the most basic form Beginnings of of architectural construction, were built without the use of mortar Culture Constructions built merely with upright posts are menhirs Construction that consists of two posts roofed with a capstone is a post-and-lintel structure Construction that is laid out in a circle is a cromlech Neolithic Menhir Alignments at Ménec, Carnac, Brittany, France, ca. 4250–3750 BCE According to an ancient legend, the Carnac menhirs came into being when a retreating army was driven to the sea Finding no ships to aid their escape, they turned to face their enemy and were transformed into stone  Poulnabrone Dolmen, a Neolithic Dolmen on the Burren Limestone Plateau, County Clare, Ireland, ca. 2500 BCE Stonehenge, Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, England, ca. 2750–1500 BCE Probably no Neolithic site has received, and continues to receive, more scrutiny Yet the purpose of Stonehenge remains a mystery Seems clear that orientation toward the rising sun at the summer solstice connects it to planting and harvest Neolithic peoples were extremely social beings, capable of great cooperation Mesopotamia Mesopotamia Some of earliest centers of human civilization arose in the ancient Near East Mesopotamia literally means “between the rivers” – the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers 1927 British archaeologist C. Leonard Wooley unearthed a series of “royal tombs” Mesopotamia: Sumerian Ur Not the oldest city to occupy the southern plains of Mesopotamia The temple structure at Ur is the most fully preserved and restored Ziggurat – pyramidal temple structure consisting of successive platforms with outside staircases and a shrine at the top – center of the city Visitors (likely limited to priests) might bring an offering of food or an animal to be sacrificed to the resident god or place a statue representing themselves in perpetual prayer Reconstruction Drawing of the Ziggurat at Ur ca. 2100 BCE British archaeologist Sir Leonard Woolley undertook reconstruction of the ziggurat in the 1930s In his reconstruction, a temple on top, which was the home of the patron deity of the city, crowned the three-tiered platform, the base of which measures 140 by 200 feet. The entire structure rose to a height of 85 feet Comparable “sacred mountains” can be seen in the pyramids of Egypt and Mesoamerican civilizations Mesopotamia: The Sumerians By 3,500 BCE, several cities had arisen within the Sumerian region of Mesopotamia The Sumerians were the first people to use writing (cuneiform) which originally consisted of pictures pressed into clay tablets, probably used to record contracts and chart (inventory) goods Mesopotamia The Sumerians The Royal Tombs of Ur show that religion was central and remained relatively constant across the centuries Mesopotamian religion was polytheistic, consisting of multiple gods and goddesses connected to the forces of nature—sun and sky, water and storm, earth and its fertility These statues—marble, alabaster, and gypsum (height of tallest figure, approx. 30”) were found in the shrine room of one of the Temples The wide-eyed appearance of these figures is probably meant to suggest they are gazing in perpetual awe at the deity Mesopotamia The Sumerians The double-sided panels of the Royal Standard of Ur give us a picture of Sumerian society One side depicts “War,” where the ruler (larger than all other figures) presides over his army while receiving enemy captives who have escaped being trampled beneath his horse-drawn chariots On the panel depicting “Peace,” the ruler feasts among his ministers and receives a procession of people bearing goods, herdsmen with their herds, and a musician with his female accompanist The division of each panel into three registers the social stratification of society Mesopotamia: The Babylonians Hammurabi reigned as king of Babylon (r. 1792–1750 BCE) He instituted a written legal code dictating the orderly resolution of disputes and uniform punishments for crime A stone pillar carved with Hammurabi’s Code depicts him before the throne of Shamash, god of the sun and justice, receiving his blessing This giant stele, or an upright stone slab carved with a commemorative design or inscription, remains The stele is a record of decisions and decrees made by Hammurabi with the purpose to celebrate the king's sense of justice and wisdom  The Epic of Gilgamesh (second millennium Mesopotamia: BCE) is the oldest story ever recorded It is an epic – a long narrative poem recounting the adventures of a heroic central the Epic of figure, who is usually aided by supernatural forces The epic hero is the Sumerian king Gilgamesh Gilgamesh, who is two parts god and one- part human While the supernatural world of gods and goddesses plays a role in the story, the epic illuminates the development of a nation or race celebrating the cultural identity of Mesopotamians Epics are often compilations of preexisting myths and tales handed down from generation to generation, often orally, and finally unified into a whole by the epic poet Ancient Egypt  The development of ancient Egyptian The stability of civilization coincides with the development of civilization in Ancient Egypt Mesopotamia The unity of Egypt through dynastic political transitions distinguishes Egypt from Mesopotamia The Nile and Its Culture Most years, from July to November, the Egyptians could count on the Nile flooding their land and leaving deep deposits of fertile silt Together with the sun, this made Egypt one of the most productive cultures in the ancient world. For 3,000 years (3100–31 BCE), Egypt's institutions and culture remained remarkably unchanged. The Pyramids of Menkaure (ca. 2470 BCE), Khafre (ca. 2500 BCE), and Khufu (ca. 2530 BCE) At Giza, Egypt Giza was an elaborate complex of ritual temples, shrines, and ceremonial causeways, all leading to one or another of the three giant pyramids In addition to their religious and political significance, the pyramids were massive state- sponsored employment projects  One Greek historian said the Egyptians were the most religious people he knew Egypt’s religious beliefs gave rise to much of Egypt’s greatest art Like most ancient peoples, the Egyptians were polytheistic – they believed in many gods Some gods (often portrayed as animals) had only local powers, while others played roles in mythic dramas of national significance Religion and society Religion and Society The myth of Isis and Osiris, for example, reenacts the political struggle between lower and upper Egypt The god Seth (representing upper Egypt) murders and dismembers his brother Osiris But Isis, Osiris’ wife, gathers up his scattered limbs and resurrects him in the underworld From then on, Osiris rules the realm of life after death Seth is defeated by the falcon-god Horus, in whose name Egypt’s pharaohs ruled the realm of the living  The early Egyptians believed that life continued Religion and unchanged after death, an expectation that gave rise Society to the great pyramids of the Old Kingdom These monuments were tombs built to contain the bodies of the pharaohs The largest pyramid at Giza covered 13 acres at its base, and was built of more than 2 million huge stone blocks Shafts and rooms in the interior of the pyramid housed not only the pharaoh’s mummified body, but also a huge treasure of objects required for his happy existence after death Nebamun Hunting Birds from the Tomb of Nebamun, Thebes, Dynasty 18, ca. 1400 BCE The fish and the birds, and the cat, are completely realistic, but this is not a realistic scene It is a conventional representation of the deceased, in this case Nebamun, spearing fish or hunting fowl, almost obligatory for the decoration of a tomb The pigments were applied directly to a dry wall, a technique that has come to be known as fresco secco, dry fresco Mycerinus with Queen Khamerernebty, from the Valley Temple of Menkaure, Giza, Dynasty 4, ca. 2460 BCE Schist, height 54¼". Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Note that the woman’s closefitting attire is nearly transparent, indicating a very fine weave of linen This sculptural pair stood on the processional causeway leading to Mycerinus’ pyramid The figures’ bodily proportions were calculated on a grid determined by a strict rule of proportion, like Greek statues of the classical period The Arts of Ancient Egypt For the most part, the Egyptians were conservative and restrained in their art The one exception was during the brief reign of Akhenaten (ruled 1379 – 1362 BCE), who introduced new religious ideas and promoted a distinctive artistic style of great intimacy Akhenaten allowed himself and his family to be portrayed in startling realism Nefertiti appears to share the king's position and authority The strangely stylized portions of the figures are distinguishing characteristics of the “Amarna style” The technique used here is called sunken relief, in which the outlines of figures are notched deeply into a background that remains raised Queen Nefertari Ancient Asia  Indian civilization was born along the Indus River in Ancient Asia: the northwest corner of the Indian subcontinent The Indus (present-day Pakistan) somewhere around 2700 BCE Valley The earliest civilization was located in an area known as Sind—from which the words India and Hindu originate The earliest Indian peoples lived in at least two great cities in the Indus Valley—Mohenjo-Daro, on the banks of the Indus, and Harappa, on the River Ravi, downstream from the present-day Lahore These great cities thrived until around 1900 BCE and were roughly contemporaneous with Sumerian Ur, the Old Kingdom of Egypt, and Minoan civilization in the Aegean India, ca. 1500 BCE Cut off from the rest of Asia by high mountains to the north, India was nevertheless a center of trade by virtue of its prominent maritime presence  The two cities were discovered by Remains of chance in the 1920s and excavations have continued since These excavations have revealed the Indus Valley remains of unfortified cities laid out on an orderly grid plan with public baths, sanitary sewers, and large Civilizations assembly halls The best preserved of the sites is Mohenjo-Daro Built atop a citadel is a complex of buildings, presumably a governmental or religious center, surrounded by a 50’ high wall Set among the buildings on the citadel is a giant pool Mohenjo-Daro, Indus Valley Civilization, ca. 2600–1900 BCE Large water tank, possibly a public or ritual bathing area The tank measures approximately 39½ feet north– south and is 23 feet wide, with a maximum depth of almost 8 feet  The remains of Indus Valley civilization reveal a thriving Remains of cultural life but, surprisingly, nothing of the elaborate temple cultures found at other ancient centers Indus Valley Outside the wall and below the citadel, a city of approximately 6 -7 square miles was laid out in a rough Civilizations grid It appears to have been home to a population of between 20,000 and 50,000 inhabitants Most of the houses were two-story tall and built around a central courtyard A network of covered drainage systems ran through the streets, channeling waste and rainwater into the river The houses were built with fired (baked) bricks, making them much more durable than the sun-dried bricks in other cultures at the time All of this suggests a civilization of considerable technological sophistication Torso of a “Priestking” from Mohenjo-Daro, Indus Valley civilization, ca. 2000–1900 BCE Steatite (soapstone), height 6⅞“ The look created by the figure’s half-closed eyes suggests that this might be a death mask of some sort. The trefoil, or three-lobed, decorations on the garment that crosses his chest were originally filled with red paint Seal Depicting a Horned Animal, Indus Valley Civilization, ca. 2500–1900 BCE The arts include human and animal figurines made of stone, terra cotta, bronze, and other materials – including the so-called priest-king found at Mohenjo-Daro Over 2,000 small seals have been unearthed Carved from soapstone, coated with alkali, and then fired to produce a luminous white surface, many depict animals with an extraordinary naturalism, especially considering that they are rendered in such miniature detail As the top of the seal shows, the peoples of the valley had a written language, although it remains undeciphered  Around 1700 BCE, the Indus Valley culture The rise of Aryan began to decline as the area was struck by a series of floods and through the culture exhaustion of the soil as well as the overuse of the woodlands To these ecological disasters, apparent in the archaeological record, was added a new threat: a series of invasions from the Northwest by a people called the Aryans The decline of the older Indus Valley culture was so complete that archaeologists have failed to find any significant artworks from the period of decline until the later emergence of Buddhist culture Who they were and where they came from is not at all clear The Aryans The material evidence mapping the spread of the Aryan people is at best spotty What we do know is that they spoke the language we call Sanskrit – a branch of the Indo-European language groups, and the ancestor of Indo-Aryan and Romance languages such as Latin The Aryans brought with them a culture that made a class distinction between the nobility and the common people Over a long period, this distinction developed into a caste system, which divided all of society into castes The caste system was one of the shaping social forces in India  The Aryans brought the Hindu religion—one of Hinduism and humanity’s most ancient surviving religious the Vedic tradition—with them Hinduism is based on two texts, the Vedas and Tradition the Upanishads, with Brahman, the universal soul, at its center Hinduism has no single body of doctrine, nor any standard set of practices The individual soul needs to discover a truth that will free it from the endless cycle of birth, death, and rebirth and unite it with the Brahman in nirvana, a place or state free from worry, pain, and the external world Bronze Age China Chinese culture in the Central Plain paralleled developments in the Middle East and Greece during the same period Unification—first achieved by the Qin dynasty through the building of the Great Wall—has remained a preeminent problem throughout China's long history The Great Wall’s length is approximately 4,100 miles with an average height of 25’ In the third century BCE, Qin Shihuangdi, the first emperor of China, ordered his army to reconstruct, link, and augment walls on the northern frontier of China in order to form a continuous barrier protecting his young country from northern Mongol “barbarians” Map of China, ca. 1600 CE Continuity of Chinese Culture The continuity of Chinese culture is especially striking if we consider that the system of writing in use today is essentially the same as that instituted almost 4,000 years ago Chinese writing first emerged as a way of recording the divination of oracles used to guide the daily decisions of state In due time, omens were codified in China’s oldest book, the Yijing (The Book of Changes) compiled c. 1150 BCE, which spells out the oracular meaning of the 64 arrangements of the eight trigrams Four other “great books” of China also have survived: The Book of Rites (Liji), The Book of Odes (Shijing), The Book of History (Shujing), and The Annals (Chunqiu Shida) The Shang Dynasty (ca. 1700 – 1045 BCE) The ideas for the first classic of Chinese literature, The Book of Changes, or Yi Jing, were developed It is a guide to interpreting the workings of the universe and a book of wisdom that prescribes certain behaviors appropriate to the situation These ideas are reflected in the Chinese symbol of yin yang Shang Dynasty, Ritual Wine Vessel with Taotie The Shang Dynasty (1766-1045 BCE) was a warrior culture whose rulers built walled cities and gigantic tombs in the Yellow River Valley Their principal artistic media were carved jade and cast bronze Shang bronzes include vine vessels used in the sacrificial rites of ancestor worship These vessels were profusely decorated with fantastic animals, including a design called the taotie, a bilaterally symmetric animal mask with bulging eyes, perhaps symbolizing mysterious cosmic powers  The Shang fell to the conquering Zhou, a feudal The Zhou kingdom whose king reigned as the Son of Heaven Dynasty Ushered in an era of cultural refinement and philosophical accomplishment (1045 – 256 Like the Shang, the Zhou practiced ancestor worship and excelled at the manufacture of ritual bronze BCE) objects As evidence of his extraordinary love of music, one Zhou ruler was buried with a carillon of 65 bronze bells, among hundreds of other musical instruments Zhou Era Bronze Age China  Confucius was China’s philosopher and Chinese Spirituality: teacher He taught a way of life, now referred to Confucianism as Confucianism, based on self-discipline and proper relations among people Traditional Chinese values—such as self- control, propriety, reverence for one’s elders, and virtuous behavior—lie at the core of this system  Daoism also arose during this time period Chinese Daoism represents a spiritual desire to transcend spirituality the material world Somewhat opposing and yet complimentary, Confucian ethics sought truth through a practical connection with society, while Daoist ethics sought truth through a mystical connection with nature These two outlooks—engagement in and withdrawal from public life—have remained perennial impulses at the root of Chinese arts and letters ever since Ancient america Mesoamerica Modern humans migrated to the Americas some 20,000 years ago The exact course of human immigration and occupation is still debated, but by 7,000 BCE the earliest indigenous Americans were domesticating crops such as maze, squash, and corn The first settled urban areas appeared in Mesoamerica Distinctive and highly advanced civilizations rose and fell in this region, perhaps equaling other contemporary civilizations in size and acheivement Mesoamerica: The Olmecs The Olmec inhabited most of the area that we now refer to as Mesoamerica from 1300 to 400 BCE Some scholars call the Olmecs the America’s “mother culture” because their cosmology, calendar-making, and pyramid construction influenced so many others The Olmecs Built their cities on great earthen platforms, probably designed to protect their ceremonial centers from rain and floods Erected giant pyramidal mounds, which could reference the volcanoes of Mexico, or they may be tombs Colossal stone heads Stood guard over the ceremonial centers Similar facial features, including wide, flat noses, and thick lips Likely represented leaders Mesoamerica: The chavín The Chavín civilization developed in the northern Andean highlands of Peru between 900 – 250 BCE Contemporaries of the Olmecs, the Chavín culture created ceremonial complexes of pyramidal altars and erected huge carved monoliths Their iconography, typical of Andean civilization, included sacred animals like the caiman, serpent and cat MesoAmerica: The chavín Mesoamerica: The chavín