Prehistoric Art

- from camel-like animal

- bone worked to create image/skull of dog/wolf

- one natural form used to take the shape of another

- found in 1870

- Mesoamerican idea: a sacrum is a "second skull"

- important role in traditions

- representative of doorways that permitted spirits/deities to enter physical world

Camelid sacrum in the shape of a canine

- one of earliest known works of art from Arabia

- found in area w/ extensive ancient trade routes, near Ha'il (features tombs carved into sandstone cliffs)

- religious/burial purpose

- belted robe that a double-bladed knife/sword hangs from

Anthropomorphic stele

- abstract designs: main decoration is a face pattern (w/ human and animal influences), maybe of spirits/deities

- corners w/ mask-like images w/ pronounced eyes and fanged mouth

- in burials of people of high rank

- jade liked with virtues of durability, subtlety, beauty

- Neolithic era

Jade cong

- Stone Age

- composite human/animal figure (anteater head + human body?)

- theorized to be a pestle, maybe w/ ritual purpose

The Ambum Stone

- many shapes and forms

- detailed hair styles, clothing, body ornaments

- many w/ deformities, including 2-headed (Siamese twins?)

- shamanistic function?

- fertility cult practices?

Tlatilco Female Figures

- Lapita peoples (in the Pacific) known for pottery

- characteristic use of curved stamped patterns (dots, circles, hatching)

- outlined forms

- one of oldest human faces in Oceanic Art

Terra-cotta fragment

- 7 stone fragments, several w/ familiar images of animals in characteristic profile

- named after Apollo 11 moon landing (cave discovered at this time)

Apollo 11 stones

- paint made w/ natural products

- paint colors bound with animal fat

- 650 paintings; most common cows, bulls horses, deer

- paintings far from entrance

- profile view; some appear pregnant

- many overlapping figures

- evidence still visible of scaffolding

- evidence some people sought shelter at mouth of caves

- walls scraped for even surface

- flat stones as palettes

- theories: ensured successful hunt, ancestral animal worship, might have flung spears for target practice

Great Hall of the Bulls

- more than 15,000 drawings/engravings found at site

- once grasslands, now desert

- drawing varied

- livestock, wildlife, humans

- site probably painted by many different groups over long time

- bodypaint and horns evidence of ceremonial attire

- much larger than other beings in image

- representation of deity/woman participating in ritual?

Running Horned Woman

- found near burial site, along with hundreds of baskets, bowls, metallic items

- use of potter's wheel

- thin walls of pot

- stylized aquatic birds on top; stylized running dogs w/ long narrow bodies on bottom

- middle of horns: clan symbol of family ownership

- identifies deceased as belonging to particular group/family?

- geometric patterns

- evidence indicates used in secondary burial rituals where remains moved to another burial area after flesh removed

Beaker with ibex motifs

- maybe took 100 years to build over time

- post-and-lintel building w/ mortise-and-tenon

- large megaliths in center > 20 ft tall; form horseshoe surrounding central flat stone

- ring of megaliths (originally w/ lintels) surrounding horseshoe

- very heavy stones

- hundreds of smaller stones around monument

- some stones imported from > 200 miles

- thought to be oriented toward sunrise on summer solstice or predict eclipse

- new theory: center of ceremonies concerning death and burial

- one of many henges in southern England

Stonehenge