ARTH100: Unit 2 - The Agrarian Revolution

Neolithic (New Stone Age)

• 10/5,000 BCE (varies by region, focus on adoption of practices)

• More sophisticated stone tools, pottery, agriculture, and settlements

Megaliths

• Large stones used in monuments or structures

• May have religious or spiritual significance

• Sometimes carved with symbols

• Examples include:

  ◦ Dolmen: A megalithic tomb consisting of three or more upright stones capped by a large flat stone to form a chamber and covered by a mound.

  ◦ Trilithons: An ancient stone monument consisting of two upright megaliths carrying a third as a lintel.

  ◦ Henges: Prehistoric stone circle with “hanging” elements

Microliths

• Small, sharp stone tools used in hunting and gathering

• Later incorporated into composite tools

Henges

• Circular stone structures with “hanging” elements

• Often associated with rituals or astronomy

Dolmen

• A tomb made of three or more upright stones with a large capstone on top

• Typically covered by an earthen mound

Trilithons

• Two upright stones supporting a horizontal stone on top

• Example: Stonehenge

Post-and-lintel

• Architectural system where two upright posts support a horizontal beam

• Used in doorways, tombs, and temples

Corbeling

• Overlapping arrangements of stones or bricks

• Used in ancient structures to create roofs or arches

Cyclopean Masonry

• Large, mortarless stone walls

• Used for fortifications to reduce weak points

Passage Tombs

• Round mounds with a central burial chamber accessed through a passage

• Often found on hilltops and contain rich grave goods

Temples

• Religious structures built for worship and rituals

Stele

• Inscribed stone or wooden slabs marking graves, sites, or historical events

Barrows (Burial Mounds)

• Large communal burial sites, often used for rituals

Geometric Wall Paintings

• Abstract patterns painted on settlement walls

Bas-Relief (Low Relief)

• Shallow carvings on stone surfaces

Ocher

• Natural mineral rich in iron oxide, used for painting and decoration

Archaic or Large Wild Fauna Style

• Often used to describe a culture before its “peak” or “classical” period

Pastoral (Cattle) Style

• Nomads who depend on domesticated livestock, migrate in an established territory to find pasturage for their animals

Bannerstones

• Polished stone weights, possible used on spear shafts

Flint Stones & Chisels

• Tools used for carving and cutting

Congs

• Rectangular objects with a hollow center, used in rituals

Bi discs

• Circular jade discs placed in burials

Jade

• Green mineral carved into jewelry, tools, and ceremonial objects

Jomon Period

• Early Japanese culture known for intricate coil pottery

Stone Adz

• Tool used for shaping wood

Stone Axe

• Used for cutting, clearing land, and warfare

Slash-and-burn land-clearing

• Technique of burning forests to create farmland

Woodworking

• Craft of carving and assembling wood for structures and tools

Quern

• A hand-operated stone grinder for grains

Open fire pottery

• Clay hardened by direct fire, reaching up to 700 degrees

Kiln-fired pottery

• Pottery fired in an oven-like structure for better durability

Pit Kiln

• Early method of firing pottery in a hole covered with fuel

Updraft kiln

• Vertical kiln that directs heat upward for better temperature control

Coil Pottery

• Pots made by coiling long strips of clay and smoothing them together

Clay-Impressed Decoration

• Patterns pressed into wet clay using sticks, bones, shells, or cords

Gobekli Tepe Carved Pillars

• Upper Mesopotamia, this site contains massive monumental structures (megaliths)

  • Decorated with animals, insects, and phallic human figures, offering insight into the way of life and beliefs of the people living in this region

• This site was erected by hunter-gatherers and was used between 9600-8200 BCE

• Believed to have been used for rituals, possibly funerary, and is considered an early temple complex

• No evidence of permanent settlement

Jomon Pot

• Highly sophisticated coil pottery which characterizes the earliest major culture of prehistoric Japan, the Jomon Period

• Decorated with cord-pattern clay impressions or incisions

• Some of the earliest pottery found

• The Japanese people of this period put attention into details and aesthetics when creating these useful and beautiful objects

Bannerstones

• Polished stone spear weights

• Generally symmetrical in shape and drilled down the center, leading to the belief they were placed on wooden rods hoisted in the air

• Stone used often had aesthetic properties, quality of material, and pre-existing shapes that were highlighted in their creation

The Jericho Skull

• Found in Jericho, instead of burying art objects with the body, the skulls of ancestors were buried under the floor of homes

• Later, these skulls would be dug up and decorated with plaster, and the eyes were inlaid with shells

• Jericho is one of the oldest continuously lived-in cities in the world, dating back to 10/9,000 BCE

Axe Head

• Stone axes were used in a variety of ways, including breaking minerals, cutting down trees, slash-and-burn land-clearing, and rough wood-working

• Also used in battle

• Crucial for farmers in Northern Europe

• The new polished axe was pleasing to the eye, sank deeper, and was more shock resistant

Newgrange Mound (3300 BCE)

• Large tomb of one person,

• It aligns with the setting and rising of the sun at the winter solstice, showing a spiritual understanding of the time of transition when light returns

• Symbolized renewed life for crops, animals, and humans, and represented a human victory of life over death, promising new life to spirits

Seated Woman

• Found at Çatalhöyük in modern-day Turkey

• An important early Neolithic settlement inhabited by up to 8000 people

• Figurines like this large woman between two felines may have been wish tokens or used to ward off bad spirits

Anthropomorphic Stele

• Slabs of stone or wood sculpted to show a kind of human figure

• They are sculpted on the front and back to look human

• Found in regions first settled by Neolithic people

• Meant to celebrate the dead and could have had funerary purposes, representing people who lived in the region

Pottery Vessel with Amber Beads

• Illustrates the use of pottery and amber in the Neolithic period

• Pierced and a strong drawn through

• Spiritual quality to it

• Found in graves

  • Took a lot of time to make

• Amber was used for

  • decorative and ritualistic purposes,

  • it was considered very valuable, indicating the wealth of its owners,

  • was often placed in bogs and burials for spiritual reasons

  • was shaped and worked by human hands

Stonehenge

• Megalithic monument was constructed in phases

• It was used as a funerary site

• The sunrise of the midsummer solstice is framed by the end of the horseshoe and trilithons at the interior of the monument, suggesting a connection to celestial events and the longest day of the year

• Phase 1 (c. 3000 BCE): A circular ditch and bank (henges) were constructed, along with 56 wooden posts, possibly marking a burial site or a ritual space.

• Phase 2 (c. 2500 BCE): The iconic sarsen stones and bluestones were erected, creating the stone circle that we recognize today, possibly for ceremonial or astronomical purposes.

• Phase 3 (c. 1600 BCE and beyond): Further alterations were made, including rearranging and adding stones, and it may have served more as a place for continuous ritual and pilgrimage.

House of Painting

• Notable for its geometric wall paintings, which are abstract and non-figurative murals applied to the wall surface

• The presence of these suggests a fascination with geometric patterns

• Argued this building was a cultural space, possibly a community or spiritual space or a house of the dead with over 80 buried individuals

The earliest signs of both agriculture and human settlement are found in:

West Asia

Holocene Epoch

• 10,000 BCE

• Marked the beginning of the Neolithic period

• Beginning of extensive human settlement, domestication of animals, rise of agriculture

• Some argued we have entered the “Anthropocene” or the Age of Man

Axes

Used for cutting down trees and clearing forests for agriculture

Adzes

Allowed the shaping of wooden logs into structural beams and wood-working

Coil Pottery

developed as a way to store, cook, and serve food in an increasingly agricultural society

Pit firing and kiln firing pottery

Allowed people to make more durable objects that could last a long time, freeing people to do other things

The spiritual practices of Neolithic people

• Involved ritual sacrifice of people and valuable objects in nature

• Included the carving of elaborate art objects and stone monuments for the dead

• Often included digging up the skulls of their ancestors for ritual decoration

• Used art as part of their commemoration process

• Was shaped by their relationship to nature and the animal world

The art and visual culture of the Neolithic was:

• Strongly shaped by spiritual practices and ancestor worship,

• Included the extensive building of megalithic structures for rituals and burial mounds for elaborate graves for the dead

• Funerary art is important

  • Ritual burying of people with ornaments and valuable objects such as amber beads and axes

  • Carving of stele and erecting of menhirs for the commemoration of important events, places, and people

Amber was

• used for both decorative and ritualistic purposes

• considered very valuable and showed the wealth of its owners

• Was often placed in bogs and in burials for spiritual reasons

• Was shaped and worked by human hands

The Neolithic people of Gobelki Tepe were:

• Largely hunter gatherers

• Practicing rituals

• Engaging in ceremonies

• Worked together as a community to build their complex and elaborate structures

Catalhoyuk was a settlement that was designed to

• House many thousands of people in a defensive manner

The Agrarian Revolution

This period witnessed a slow but radical transformation in the human relationship with nature, moving from a dependent one to a more independent one. Key aspects include the development of agriculture (primarily cereal), animal domestication and husbandry, and a sedentary lifestyle that led to fixed village settlements.... This also spurred innovations like the division and specialization of labor, the emergence of an artisan class, the development of trade, the invention of private property, and the development of basic political and social institutions