Stokstad Key Monuments Chapter 1

1-1 Spotted Horses and Human Hands

• c. 25,000 BCE

• on the wall of a chamber in Pech-Merle Cave (France)

• tapering of horses head follows the shape of the rock

• at a later date a large red fish was painted on top of the spots

• painters left their handprints around the animal as signatures

1-6 Lion Human

• 40,000-35,000 BCE

• Germany

• male human figure w/ feline head- carved out of mammoth tusk

• could have been someone in a ritual lion mask or someone who had taken the appearance of a animal (shamanism)

• humans might have seen animals and humans as sharing the world as one common group

1-7 Woman from Willendorf

• ~24,000 BCE

• Austria

• carved from limestone and painted with red ocher

• exaggerated form and female attributes

• could be expressing health and fertility

• female statues (most human figurines from the Upper Paleolithic are female) may have been a signature object that signaled whether a group was friendly (for mating)

1-9 Woman’s Head from Brassempouy

• 30,000 BCE

• France

• captures the essence of a head (memory image)

• abstraction

• we lose original cultural context

1-12 Lascaux, Bird-Headed Man w/Bison and Rhino

• ~15,000 BCE

• Lascaux, Southwest France (abundant cave paintings)

• this painting located in a remote setting (bottom of 16ft shaft)

• stylistically different from other paintings- tells a story (narrative)

• figure (hunter) with the head of a bird or wearing a bird mask lying down w/ bison looming over

• Bison disemboweled with a spear; staff with a bird; wholly rhino runs off

• myth, actual event, shaman?

p15 Closer Look at Catalhoyuk

• ~7,400 BC (Early Neolithic Period)

• Central Turkey

• made of rectangular mud bricks held together w/mortar and covered in plaster

• houses were an emblem of the spirit and history of the community

• art decorated interiors with violent and wild scenes painted on walls

• scenes highlight the dangerous interactions b/w people and animals

1-21,22 Stonehenge

• 8 phases of construction- starting in 3000 BC

• Different types of stones used for different phases

• blue stone (from 150 miles away) in early phases = powerful connection to homeland

• site for ceremonies linked to death and burial