Unit 1: Global Prehistory

hihi

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Tlatilco Female Figure
Central Mexico, Site of Tlatilco
Ceramic

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Running Horned Woman
Tassili n’ Ajjer, Algeria
Pigment on Rock

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Beaker with ibex motifs
Susa, Iran
Painted Terra Cotta

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Jade Cong

Liangzhu, China

Carved Jade

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Anthropomorphic Stele
Arabian Peninsula

Sandstone

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Camelid Sacrum in the shape of a canine
Tequixquiac, Mexico

Bone

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Great Hall of the Bulls
Lascaux, France

Rock Painting

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Apollo 11 Stone

Nambia

charcoal on stone

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:Lapita

Terra cotta fragments

Reef Island, Solomon Island

Terra Cotta (incised)

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The Ambum Stone

Ambum Valley, Enga Province, New Papua Guniea

Greywacke

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Stonehenge

Wiltshire, UK

Sandstone

Visual Analysis

FORM:

• rock painting; charcoal on a stone broken into 2 pieces

• hand-sized 

• image in profile = from the side view; parts are clearly recognizable

CONTENT: 

• animal with feline body, oryx horns, human hind legs & bovid genitals

Contextual Analysis

CONTEXT:

• earliest known figural rock paintings in Africa (25,500–25,300 bce)

• excavated from the floor of a rock shelter in the Huns Mountains

• culture of hunters and gatherers; ancestors of Khoi (San)

• the Apollo 11 site was an ongoing settlement:

  • over 100,000 years of human occupation

  • included many cave paintings of animals 

  • animal engravings along the river

  • ostrich eggshell fragments with red color found in hearths

• excavated in 1969; the archaeologist named the site after the recent lunar landing

FUNCTION:

• an example of portable art 

• site had ritual significance over a long period of time

Visual Analysis

FORM:

• created using mineral pigments

• overlapping and often repeating forms

• superimposed forms

• strong outlines (contour lines)

• animals in profile to show their distinct feature

CONTENT:

• naturalistic animals with a sense of vitality and movement

Contextual Analysis

CONTEXT:

• the location of the paintings in secluded chambers far from the main entrance, suggest that the caves were used for rituals

• different artists’ depictions created over a long time

FUNCTION:

• to document animal-based rituals

• to depict connection to spiritual realms

• Painting, itself, as a spiritual/ritualistic act

• could indicate some type of “hunting magic”

Visual Analysis

FORM:

• basic form was likely determined by the natural shape of the animal bone

• made from the fossilized remains of the sacrum of a now extinct camelid

• bone is engraved

CONTENT:

• head of a dog-like animal

• holes were cut into the end of the bone to represent nostrils

Contextual Analysis

CONTEXT:

• considered among the earliest pieces of art from the American continent

• discovered in 1870 in Tequixquiac, Mexico—in the Valley of Mexico (where Mexico City is located)

• lack of information from the find spot makes precise dating very difficult

FUNCTION:

• perhaps the sacrum bone was considered sacred as it is located near the reproductive organs

Visual

Visual Analysis

FORM:

• created with mineral pigments

• diagonal lines suggest movement, add dynamism

• composite pose: multiple views of the figure are presented in a single representation

  • torso and legs in profile 

  • shoulders, arms, and horns are frontal 

  • also called twisted perspective

CONTENT:

• diagonal limbs make her appear to move

• ceremonial dress

• dancewear; armlets, garters and tassels 

• dots represent physical ornamentation (body art)

Contextual Analysis

CONTEXT:

• Tassili n’Ajjer is a difficult to access plateau in the Algerian section of the Sahara Desert

FUNCTION:

• the site elevation and topology suggests ritual, rite, or ceremony

Visual Analysis

FORM:

• made from terra cotta

• composed of simple geometric elements and patterns

• distinctive brown on cream color palette

CONTENT:

• stylized animals: birds, hunting dogs and a large centrally placed representation of an ibex, a kind of mountain goat

• represent both the wild and the domesticated animals of an agricultural society

Contextual Analysis

CONTEXT:

• was buried in a cemetery, underneath an artificial mound

• found by archeologists while excavating a necropolis (cemetery)

FUNCTION:

• most likely used in a funerary, ritual context

Visual Analysis

FORM:

• stele: vertical stone monument inscribed with text or relief carving

• highly stylized

• minimalist, yet expressive

CONTENT:

• Extremely simplified face and limbless body

• necklace

• two cords crossing the body with an awl (a small pointed tool) attached

• double-bladed daggerhangs from a wide belt that continues around to the back

Contextual Analysis

CONTEXT:

• many similar stelae have be found all over the Arabian peninsula

• early caravan trails connected these far away sites

• objects like these were circulated and exchanged along these early routes

FUNCTION:

• was likely used as a grave marker in an open-air sanctuary

Visual Analysis

FORM:

• jade, tube-like objects

• combines rectangular and round forms

• made by rubbing with a hard, abrasive sand (jade is too hard to simply carve)

• interlocking square and cylindrical forms

CONTENT:

• surface that is ornamented with:

  • geometric motifs

  • stylized faces or masks

• faces could represent spirits or deities

• rectangular form could symbolize Earth

• circular form could symbolize Heaven or Sky

  • rectangle and circle together represents the connection between the physical and spiritual worlds

Contextual Analysis

CONTEXT:

• produced by the Liangzhu culture

• required much time and labor to produce

FUNCTION:

• served as grave goods, part of funerary traditions

Visual Analysis

FORM:

• henge: a prehistoric circle of stones or wooden uprights

• trilithon: two large vertical stones (2 posts) supporting a third stone set horizontally across the top (1 lintel)

• post-and-lintel construction

• mortise-and-tenon joints

• circular ditch was made in the first phase of construction

CONTENT:

• a “heel stone” marks the point of sunrise at the summer solstice

Contextual Analysis

CONTEXT:

• created by a society of early farmers who lived in nearby settlements

• constructed in multiple phases over several hundred years

• bluestones were transported from Wales = ancestral connection

• human remains show signs of sickness and/or trauma

• animals were brought long distances here before they were eaten

FUNCTION:

• may have acted as a center for pilgrimage and healing of the sick

• may have been a calendar

Visual Analysis

FORM:

• sand was mixed with clay to make the vessels more durable for firing

• red slip (liquid clay) applied to the surface of a still unfired pot

• incised or stamped (dentate stamping = tooth-like impressions)

CONTENT:

• typical Lapita motifs:

  • human faces

  • dancing figures

  • geometric patterns

Contextual Analysis

CONTEXT:

• Made by the Lapita people

• fragments have been found across vast regions of Pacific islands

FUNCTION:

• fragment sites trace patterns of ocean migration of Lapita people

Visual Analysis

FORM:

• head and upper body of an animal, conforming to the shape of a handle

• slightly shiny patina on some of its raised details suggest it has been well handled

CONTENT:

• perhaps represented a totemic animal

• possibly depicts an echidna, an egg-laying mammal related to the platypus

Contextual Analysis

CONTEXT:

• from Neolithic Papua New Guinea 

• these people made many mortars and pestles

FUNCTION:

• pestle: a tool used to grind or pound substances

Visual Analysis

FORM:

• small ceramic figurine (fits in hand)

• highly stylized

  • exaggerated proportions

  • lack of attention to the hands and feet

  • truncated arms

  • wide, expansive hips

  • slim, pinched waist

• displays the marks of hand-formed and pinched clay

• incising: details cut into the surface with a sharp tool (hair & face)

CONTENT:

• bicephalic (two-headed) figure

• elaborate hairstyle

Contextual Analysis

CONTEXT:

• buried as a grave offering alongside the dead

• buried with a large quantity of other objects

• Modern Mexico City sits on top of the remains of the village

FUNCTION:

• found in burial contexts, function is likely funerary

• most likely functioned as an effigy (a sculpture or model of a person) or an offering