Ancient Civilizations

Where is Chauvet Cave located?

Southeastern France

When were the paintings in Chauvet Cave discovered?

1994

When do the paintings in Chauvet Cave date to?

30,0003 BCE

What period are the paintings in Chauvet Cave placed in?

The Old Stone Age (Upper Paleolithic Period)

What colors are the paintings in Chauvet Cave made with?

Yellow, red, and black

What material was the red paint in the Chauvet Cave paintings made with?

Red ochre

What was the black paint in the Chauvet Cave paintings made from?

Charcoal

What animals does the Chauvet Cave paintings depict?

Horses, rhinoceros, lions, buffalos, and mammoths

Similar cave paintings to the ones in southeastern France have been found where?

Other parts of France and Spain

Apart from the Chauvet Cave paintings, what other cave paintings are most famous?

Lascaux and Altamira

Art in the Lascaux and Altamira caves takes the form of what?

Large colored drawings of animals

What animals are depicted in Lascaux and Altamira?

Horses, bears, lions, bison, and mammoths, as well as several outlines of human hands

Early scholarships considered the cave paintings to be what?

Spontaneous scribbling of primitive cavemen

True or False, the drawings in the Lascaux, Altamira, and Chauvet caves were drawn by skilled artists

True

What color was the outlines of the animals found in cave paintings?

Black

The yellow and red ochre were used to do what?

Add color to the elegant black outlines

Why were the Chauvet, Lascaux, and Altamira cave paintings made?

Possibly as part of hunting ceremonies or other ritual behaviors

Apart from cave paintings what other artworks are well-known from the Old Stone Age?

Small stone female figures that have exaggerated features

How tall is the Venus of Willendorf?

4 and 1/8th inches high

When was the Venus of Willendorf made?

28,000-25,000 BCE

What contrasts the exaggerated female features of the Venus of Willendorf?

The facial features of the statue being undefined, the arms are barely visible, and the feet are missing

What do scholars assume about the use of the Woman of Willendorf?

It was used as a fertility figure, though it was not known precisely how it was used

The Middle Stone Age was also known as what?

The Mesolithic Period

What happened to the climate during the Middle Stone Age?

It warmed

The culture of the Middle Stone Age produced similar art to the paintings of which period?

The Paleolithic Period

Warmer temperatures of the era caused what change in cave dwellers?

They moved out of caves and began sing rock shelters

Cave paintings from the Paleolithic Period found in Spain are generally estimated to be created from which years?

7,000 BCE until 4,000 BCE

What sets rock shelter paintings apart from cave paintings?

Their depiction of the human figure

How many paintings of human figures are found in the Lascaux paintings?

One

True or False, there is an emphasis on scenes where humans dominate animals

True

What art forms are most linked with the New Stone Age?

Rings or rows of rough hewn stones located in Western Europe

The New Stone Age was also known as what?

The Neolithic Period

The rings or rows of rough hewn stones are located where?

Western Europe

The rings/rows of rough-hewn stones have been dated as early as what?

4,000 BCE

The size of the works from the New Stone Age led historians to call them what?

Megaliths

What does megalith mean?

Great stones

What is the most well known megalith?

Stone Henge

Where is Stonehenge?

Salsbury Plain in Wiltshire, England

Stonehenge is believed to have been built in phases starting around when?

2100 BCE

The concentric rings mad with what material?

Sarsen (a form of sandstone) and smaller bluestones

The outermost ring of Stonehenge is comprised of what?

Huge sarsen stones in post an lintel construction

What is post and lintel construction?

Two upright pieces topped with a crosspiece

Where is the heel stone placed?

To the northeast outside of the formation

Where does the heel-stone mark?

The point at which the sun rises on the midsummer solstice

Where does art usually thrive?

In highly organized cultures with stable population centers that house ruling classes who in turn support the work of artists

Which civilizations developed writing and arts in parallel with Egypt?

Those that arose in Mesopotamia int he valley between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers

Why do we have less examples of Mesopotamian civilizations arts?

They used perishable materials

Starting in what year did the Sumerians in Mesopotamia build sculptures and buildings?

4000 BCE

What did the Sumerians build at the center of their cities?

Massive temples

Less complex platform structures evolved over time into what?

The stepped pyramids called ziggurats

What year did the cities of Sumer come under the rule of Sargon of Akkad?

2334 BCE

The loyalty to the city state was supplanted by what?

Loyalty to the Akkadian king

The arts of the period of Akkadian rule over Sumer tends to reflect an emphasis on what?

The monarchy, with Akkadian rulers depicted in freestanding relief sculptures

When did the Akkadian rule come to an end?

2150 BCE

Why did the Akkadian rule come to an end?

The Guti barbarous mountaineers invaded and took control of the region

How many years after the Guti took control were the cities of Sumer able to reassert control?

50 years

After the cities of Sumer asserted control what did they establish?

A Neo-Sumerian ruler King of Ur.

The greatest known works of the Neo SUmerian era was what?

Ziggurats built at city centers

What did Ziggurats function as?

Temples aswell as administrative and economic centers

After the Neo Sumerians what was the next important civilization in Mesopotamia?

The Babylonians

Who centralized power in Mesopotamia?

Hammurabi, king of the city-state of Babylonia

When did Hammurabi centralize power?

1792 BCE

What was Hammurabis enduring legacy?

Codified Babylonian law (the Code of Hammurabi) the oldest legal code known in its entirety

What is the best known artwork from Babylonia?

A stone stele onto which Hammurabi’s code is carved with a sculpture in high relief at the top depicting Hammurabi receiving inspiration for his legal code

Who is depicted as giving Hammurabi inspiration for his code of law?

Sun god Shamash

Which cultures grew in southern Mesopotamia?

SUmerian, Akkadian, and Babylonian

Who dominated the north?

The Assyrians

From what years were the Assyrians the most powerful civilization in the Near East?

900 BCE - 600 BCE

What are the most notable Assyrian artworks?

Relief carvings

The relief carvings of the Assyrians open depict what?

Battles, sieges, hunts, and other important events

From what years did Babylonia gain control over the region for a second time?

612-538 BCE

During what period were the hanging gardens of Babylon constructed?

The Neo Babylonian period

Apart from the hanging gardens of Babylong what were the other most important construction of the time?

The gateway to the great ziggurat of the temple of Bel called the Ishtar Gate

What is superimposed onto the walls of the Ishtar Gate?

Animal figures

What country inhabits the area where the Persian Empire flourished?

Iran

What were the Persians notable for?

Their impressive architectural achievements

What is the most important Persian architectural achievement?

The palace at Persepolis

What was the palace at Persepolis constructed from?

Stone, brick, and wood

The palace at Persepolis reflects influence from where?

Egyptian architechture

When is the Ancient Egyptian civilization dated from?

3000 BCE following the predynastic period through 322 BCE

What are the most recognizable works from ancient Egypt?

The Sphinx, the great pyramids at Giza, the larger than life sized statues of the pharaohs, and the portrait head of Queen Nefertiti

Egyptian art emphasizes what style?

Hierarchical scale

What does hierarchical scale use?

The status of figures or objects to determine their relative sizes within an artwork

In what Egyptian work is hierarchical scale exemplified?

The Palette of King Narmer

What was the Palette of King Narmer used for?

A ceremonial palette for mixing cosmetics

The Palette of King Narmer depicts what?

Narmer holding the hair of a fallen enemy with his arm raised in preparation for delivering a deathblow, in the lowest section there are two smaller figures of defeated enemies

What is fractional representation?

Figures presented so that each part of the body is shown as clearly as possible

In fractional representation the head is in profile with what?

The eye

The torso of a figure in fractional representation is in what view?

Full frontal view

True or False, fractional representation the lower body, legs, and feet are not in profile

False

Why do we know a lot about the art of Egypt?

Excellent conditions for preservation were present in much of Egypt, in addition burial customs resulted in rich stores of objects and images

What did the burial customs of Egyptians decree?

mummification and entombment with lavish furnishings, symbolic servants, and jewelry

What is the most famous Egyptian tomb?

The tomb of the boy king, Tutankhamun

Tutankhamun’s tomb remained almost completely intact until what year?

1922

What is the most famous object recovered from Tutankhamun’s tomb?

Tutankhamuns burial mask

What is Tutankhamuns burial mask made from?

Gold, decorated with blue glass and semiprecious stones

Where did the kingdom of Nubia exist?

To the south of Egypt

What continent did Nubia cover a large area of?

Africa

How has the expansion of knowledge about the kingdom of Nubia changed the history of Egypt?

Egypt was once ruled by Nubia