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/