AP Art History - Unit 1

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* - Water-worn pebble

• ≈3,000,000 years old, found in a grave

• Natural chipping and wear patterns

• Looks slightly like a face

  • A hominin in that era might have recognized this and kept it around

1 - Apollo 11 Stones

• 25,000 BCE, Namibia

• Charcoal on stone, found in a cave

• Found in 1969 (hence the naming)

• Possibly designed for communication or hunting magic

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* - Venus of Willendorf

• 25,000-20,000 BCE, Austria

• Portable; human-like figure, no face

• Possibly a luck charm for fertility

  • Emphasis on baby-nurturing parts of body (breasts, larger body, vagina)

  • No history and less information, so birth was seen as a miracle

  • Reddish color could have been vaginal blood

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* - Venus of Laussel

• 23,000 BCE, discovered in France

• Limestone relief sculpture

• Likely a representation of the ideal female body for raising children

3 - Great Hall of the Bulls.

• Lascaux, France. 14,000 BCE.

• Rock painting created with paint made with nearby ingredients- Charcoal, ocher, etc.

• Original cave was in total darkness, paintings overlapped and took a lot of effort to make

• Likely no narrative and simply for hunting magic and communication.

• An example of composite view

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* - “Disemboweled Bull”

• Found in the Hall of the Bulls

• Male humanoid figure, depicted by a penis

• New interactions, possibly some sort of narrative or warning communication

3 - Camelid sancrum

• Central Mexico. 14,000-7,000 BCE.

• Strangely in the shape of an animal skull, someone carved + added to resemble a face

• Comes from the hip structure of a camelid

• TO BE CONTINUED