Ancient Art and Culture: Paleolithic to Egyptian Symbols

Paleolithic

old stone age

Mesolithic

middle stone age

Neolithic

new stone age, initiated with the introduction of agriculture

iconography

interpreting works of art as embodiments of cultural situation by placing them within broad social, political, religious, and intellectual contexts

parietal art

wall paintings

therianthrope

part animal and part human figure

modeling

shaping a figure

high relief

extending significantly from the background

post-and-lintel construction

posts - vertical element, lintel - horizontal element (stone henge)

corbel

corbelling, corbelled arch and vault - like stepping stones on the ceiling?

megalith

very large stone monument

menhir

a single, upright megalith

alignment

an arrangement of menhirs in lines

henge

circle of stones or posts

ziggurat

A tall step tower, often supporting a shrine (mesopotamia)

registers

horizontal band of art, think a section of a wall painting or vase

hieratic scale

votive figure

tiny offering figure

ba

that aspect of the Egyptian individual that marks him or her as an individual. It refers to those non-physical properties that make a person unique.

ka

almost indefinable. Usually referred to as the creative life force of each individual, human or divine. It marks the difference between the living and the dead and comes into being at birth. It must be united with the ba in order for the akh to come into being.

akh

The enduring and unchanging form of the deceased in the afterlife created by the reunion of the ba and the ka.

relief sculpture

three dimensional figure made by carving the background away

buon fresco

water based figments applied to plaster

rhyton

vessels used for pouring liquids (thrown in graves in ancient egypt)