AP Art History: Units 1 and 2 – Global Prehistory

Apollo 11 Stones

• Namibia

• 25,500 – 25,300 BCE

• Charcoal on stone

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• One of the oldest works of art, found in Wonderwerk Cave

• Emphasis on animals, depicts a potentially feline body with human legs and hips → composite animal

  • suggests existence of human-animal shapeshifter

• Its mobiliary nature is important because of nomadism

Great Hall of the Bulls

• Lascaux, France.

• 15,000 – 13,000 BCE

• Rock painting, using brushes made from horse hair and bones/reeds

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• Artists were animal-dependent nomads, used twisted perspective to emphasize animal identity and because lighting was inconsistent/more dynamic

• Drawn on top of other art because that was considered normal

Camelid sacrum (in the shape of a canine)

• Tequixquiac, central Mexico

• 14,000 – 7000 BCE

• The bone at the bottom of the spine

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• Altered only slightly to resemble an animal because they have a reverence of nature

• Creation reflects belief that the sacrum itself is said to have power / be the “second head,” which was spiritually important to the people of Tequixquiac

• Process of turning one thing into another was considered ritualistic

Tlatilco female Figure

• Tlatilco, Central Mexico

• 1200-900 BCE

• Ceramic, hand made

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• Reflects the value of the female body and fertility → other parts of the body that aren’t specific to females are stylized/omitted

• Used for home burials

• Two heads reflect dualism: seeing two worlds at once (an aspect of shamanism)

Moai on platform (ahu)

• Rapa Nui (Easter Island)

• 1100-1600 CE

• Volcanic tuff figures on basalt base

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• 887 moai total, size and complexity increased over time

  • 14 figures were made from basalt, all others were made from tuff

  • Ranged from 6-60ft, though most were 36

    • Head is at least 1/3 of total height

  • Run parallel to the coast

• Backs are purposefully to the sea – they watch over the island + the people.

• Creating these required immense resources and labor, which means someone of elevated status may have commissioned it.

  • No outside influence in their creation, either

• These were ceremonial; related to ritual altars.

• Peak production occurred in the 1500s, moai were toppled in the 1600s due to loss of faith, overpopulation, and European contact.

Female deity (Nukuroro)

• Nukuoro, Micronesia

• 1700s-1800s CE

• Breadfruit wood → a very hard and glossy material that could pass for metal

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• Form: emphasized chin and pubic region, suggestion of breast, geometric design.

  • The geometric form of the statue represents the Nukuoro value of tranquility

• Larger than life, wrapped in cloths

• Sat in an am’alu (community temple), and was involved in many rituals (including the breadfruit harvest)

• Once again, omitted/stylized hands and feet

• Many were abandoned due to conversion to Christianity

Tamati Waka Nene

• Auckland, New Zealand

• 1890 CE

• Painted by Gottfried Lindauer

• Oil on canvas

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• Form: ¾ perspective, organic shapes, the painting representing a moment in time from one POV

  • These are European traditions

• Based on a photograph, created posthumously to preserve Tamati Waka Nene’s presence

  • Tamati’s clothes are purely imagined (European idea of

• The tattooing on his face represents the practice of tapu, the protection of mana, a Maori value

  • the practice was taken from the Tahitian word “tatau” and spread through Europe

• Tattoo: left side of head represents maternal side, right side of head represents paternal side; upper crows’ feet and lips represent personal status

• Earring is greenstone, and has apotropaic qualities

• Cloak made of kiwi feathers and staff both indicate status as well.

Presentation of Fijian mats and tapa cloths to Queen 

• Fiji, Polynesia

• 1953 CE

• Multimedia performance (costume, cosmetics, scent, chant, movement, hibiscus fiber mats; photographic documentation)

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• Queen Elizabeth II, after being coronated, essentially went “on tour” – this included the island of Tonga

• She was warmly and ceremonially welcome, being given spiritually and naturally valuable tapa cloth.

  • Tapa cloth is traditionally given for things like birth/death/coronation/marriage of a sovereign

• Women made, carried, and wore the Tapa Cloth

• The ceremony activated all the senses, which created memory.

Beaker with Ibex Motifs

• Susa, Iran

• 4200-3500 BCE

• Painted terra cotta (refined clay)

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• One of the first neolithic pieces, when human society was shifting from nomadism to stationary agriculture

  • This era also introduces ceramics (w/ the purpose of cooking + storing food/water)

• Form: geometric shapes, separating registers, abstract animal style, repeating lines (feels orderly/balanced)

• This piece, however, is placed in a tomb (funerary/mortuary art) – no one would see it → conspicuous spending at its finest.

  • The neolithic people learned to refine clay, and they created ceramics — not to use for storage, but for decoration

Anthropomorphic Stele

• Arabian Peninsula

• Fourth millennium BCE

• Sandstone

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• Early Arabian work

• Stele: a stone slab that would go into the ground

• abstracted face → has the face of a human, but the form itself isn’t

• Body isn’t articulated at all, but the double belt (held together by an awl), along with the double blade indicates memorial of authority figure

• Likely associated with ritualistic/religious burial activity

Running Horned Woman

• Tassili n’Ajjer, Algeria (Mountain Range)

• 6000-4000 BCE

• Pigment on rock

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• More than 15,000 paintings and engravings at the site

• Form: obvious attributes of a woman, but there’s uncertainty about the “headdress,” “mittens,” etc.

• Potentially ritualistic markings

• Not created in a cave, easily accessible

• Abundant representation of humanity

• Composite view of her body

• Algeria used to be a lush savannah, but, by 4000 BCE, it becomes the dry desert it is today, and most forms of life leave.

• Like in The Great Hall of the Bulls, people painted over others’ work.

  • Thus, the main figure (the horned woman) and the smaller figures (humans and wildlife)

Terra Cotta fragment (Lapita Stones)

• Solomon Islands, Reef Islands

• 1000 BCE

• Incised Terra cotta

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• Intricate, repeating geometric carved into clay

• Stylized/abstract face

• Potentially the first people to practice tattooing in the Pacific.

  • The Lapita people originated in Southeast Asia, but spread throughout the Pacific quickly, bringing tattooing with them.

• These stones give ideas of what tattoos may have looked like; similar to pottery and textiles

Ahu’ula (feather cape)

• Hawaiian (Pacific)

• Late 1700s CE

• Feathers and fiber

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• To be worn only by high-ranking chiefs (those with status)

• Design for the cloak was divinely inspired and based on tapu practices and ancestry (very similar to tattooing)

  • The red is associated with divinity and royalty, while yellow is considered a rare color.

  • The crescent shape of the cloak is apotropaic and grand

• Fiber netting is done by men, who chant and pray to imbue power, while women collect the feathers (like Stonehenge, this required a massive effort under a centralized power)

• Birds are seen as spiritually connected; cloaks were said to wrap chiefs in the “power of the gods.”

• Given as political gifts and taken from clashes (which was seen as an accomplishment, but was also feared to have spiritual ramifications)

Buk mask

• Torres Strait (between Papua New Guinea and Australia)

• Mid to late 1800s CE

• Turtle shell, wood, fiber, feathers, and shell

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• This mask is meant to be worn + conceal the identity of the wearer\

  • This mask wasn’t meant to be seen in a static state of motion, but as a part of a costume in movement

• This mask could be seen at male initiation rituals, funerals, and “increase rites”

• An early example of multimedia art

• Stylized/abstract human face with a stylized frigate bird

  • The frigate bird is essentially their “national bird,” and it’s connected to the spirit realm in Polynesian culture.

• All of the materials don’t naturally occur in the Torres Strait → collaborative effort via trade.

Navigation Chart

• Marshall Islands, Micronesia

• 1800s- early 1900s CE

• Wood and fiber

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• Also called wapepe, these charts were memorized before voyages + helped travelers to make their way through the low lying Marshall Islands

• Small clams represent islands and their position on the chart.

• Horizontal and vertical sticks are the base, diagonal lines represent wind and current.

Jade cong

• Liangzhu, China

• 3300-2200 BCE

• Carved jade

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• Jade couldn’t be cut, and shaping took sand, water, and a LOT of time and effort

• Only chiefs and shamans owned them (clear sign of wealth)

• They were deposited in graves around skeletal remains (for elite burials only)

• In a later era, Chinese texts depict circles as heavenly and rectangles as earthly, so many thought of that when viewing the cong.

• Very small size.

• These are believed to be apotropaic by those who commission them.

Stonehenge

• Wiltshire, UK (Salisbury Plain, Southern England)

• 2500-1600 BCE

• Sandstone (with some Sarsen stones)

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• Trilithon stones on top locked in by post and lintel construction (mortise shaped to receive tenon)

  • Tongue and groove: side-to-side fitting

• Henge: a circular monument with concentric circles and a ditch

  • Horseshoe structure in the middle

• Site was potentially used as burial grounds for elite cremation burials

• Neolithic people used large stones as monoliths.

• Existence and function indicate a cohesive society, usage of the henge as an observatory, and the creation of a calendar

Ambum Stone

• Ambum Valley, Enga Province, Papua New Guinea

• 1500 BCE

• Greywacke

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• Thought to be a ritualistic piece, as contemporary Guineans use greywacke for rituals

• Greywacke wasn’t in the area where the stone was found (indicates a mobiliary work)

  • Crafting a piece like this would require a lot of time and labor

• Could be a pestle or mortar, as they often took the form of animals. This, however, is more articulated than a normal pestle.

• This piece is zoomorphic.

• Thought to represent an anteater or echidna — both were attractive because their fat deposits could be harvested.

Nan Madol

• Pohnpei, Micronesia

• 700-1600 CE

  • Saudeleur Dynasty ruled from about 1200-1600 CE

• Basalt boulders and prismatic columns

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• The people who built this were descendants of the founding brothers of the dynasty — which was initially a religious group that worshipped the sea.

• 92 small artificial islands created, 200 acres total

• Built out into the water on a lagoon; similar to Venice, Italy

• Created by transporting/stacking basalt(which were labor intensive to quarry → large population under centralized power), which naturally cleaves into columns

  • 50 ton rocks with coral being the fill

  • Roofs were thatched

• For housing the upper class; half for rulers, half for priests, mortuaries, etc.

• Most other Pacific structures are made of organic material, and by less isolated peoples.

Staff god (Rarotonga)

• Rarotonga, Cook Islands, central Polynesia

• 1800s CE

• Wood, tapa, fiber, and feathers

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• Very sacred item of Rarotonga — the tapa is the most important part

  • The body is wrapped in tapa to protect the “deity” within + to protect humans from the deity

• Wooden core wrapped in tapa.

• The shaft is in the form of an elongated body.

• There’s a phallus on the lower end; some missionaries came and removed them.

• The soul of the god is represented by polished pearl shells and red feathers, which are placed inside the tapa next to the interior shaft.

• Most of the staff gods were destroyed, with only the top parts being kept as trophies.

• This one holds Tongaroa — the creative god of Rarotonga.

Hiapo (tapa)

• Niue

• 1850-1900 CE

• Bark cloth, freehand painting

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• The only type of cloth in Polynesia before European contact

• The process of creating the cloth is pretty much universal throughout Polynesia

  • Trees are kept by the men, actual cloth is made by the women (from paper mulberry springs fibers)

• Production spiked due to contact with Samoan missionaries

• After the 1880s, the tapa cloths depicted things the Tongans saw due to European contact.

• Geometric shapes indicate Lapita influence

• Used as a wall hanging — too small for a blanket or clothing

• Form: concentric circles, geometric shapes, fine lines, freehand rather than stamps/stencils, plant forms, signatures

• Hiapo is the Niue word for tapa

• Tapa takes on a special meaning: commemorating an event, honoring a chief, noting a series of ancestors.

Malagan display and mask

• New Ireland Province, Papua New Guinea

• 1900s CE

• Wood, pigment, fiber, and shell

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• Intricate masks and sculptures are used in ceremonies.

  • Functions of said ceremonies were pretty much funerary, and included releasing souls after death, restoring order, increasing prestige, and elevating the youth

• Meant to be temporary, usually destroyed or abandoned after the ceremony

• Each sculpture honors a specific individual and illustrates his or her relationships with ancestors, clan totems, and/or living family members.

• The commissioned malagan sculptures are exhibited in temporary display houses. Each sculpture honors a specific individual and illustrates his or her relationships with ancestors, clan totems, and/or living family members.