Unit One: Global Prehistory, 30,000–500 BCE

Burin

A pointed tool used for engraving or incising.

Composite view

See twisted perspective.

Ground line

In paintings and reliefs, a painted or carved baseline on which figures appear to stand.

Incise

To cut into a surface with a sharp instrument; also, a method of decoration, especially on metal and pottery.

Lintel

A beam used to span an opening.

Megalith (adj., megalithic)

Greek, "great stone." A large, roughly hewn stone used in the construction of monumental prehistoric structures. See also cromlech.

Mesolithic

The "middle" Stone Age, between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic ages.

Monolith

A column shaft that is all in one piece (not composed of drums); a large, single block or piece of stone used in megalithic structures.

Mural

A wall painting.

Neolithic

The "new" Stone Age.

Paleolithic

The "old" Stone Age, during which humankind produced the first sculptures and paintings.

Radiocarbon dating

Method of measuring the decay rate of carbon isotopes in organic matter to provide dates for organic materials such as wood and fiber.

Sculpture in the Round

Freestanding figures, carved or modeled in three dimensions.

Trilithons

A pair of monoliths topped with a lintel; found in megalithic structures.

Twisted perspective

A convention of representation in which part of a figure is shown in profile and another part of the same figure is shown frontally; a composite view.

Apadana

The great audience hall in ancient Persian palaces.

Arch

A curved structural member that spans an opening and is generally composed of wedge-shaped blocks (voussoirs) that transmit the downward pressure laterally. See also thrust.

Blind arcade

An arcade having no actual openings, applied as decoration to a wall surface.

Crenellation

Alternating high and low sections of a wall which provide protection for archers.

Cuneiform

Latin, "wedgeshaped." A system of writing used in ancient Mesopotamia, in which wedge-shaped characters were produced by pressing a stylus into a soft clay tablet, which was then baked or otherwise allowed to harden.

Façade

Usually, the front of a building; also, the other sides when they are emphasized architecturally.

Glaze

A vitreous coating applied to pottery to seal and decorate the surface; it may be colored, transparent, or opaque, and glossy or matte. In oil painting, a thin, transparent, or semitransparent layer put over a color to alter it slightly.

Glazed brick

Bricks painted and then kiln fired to fuse the color with the baked clay.

Heraldic composition

A composition that is symmetrical on either side of a central figure.

Hierarchy of scale

An artistic convention in which greater size indicates greater importance.

Lamassu

Assyrian guardian in the form of a man-headed winged bull.

Register

One of a series of superimposed bands or friezes in a pictorial narrative, or the particular levels on which motifs are placed.

Stele

A carved stone slab used to mark graves or to commemorate historical events.

Stylus

A needlelike tool used in engraving and incising; also, an ancient writing instrument used to inscribe clay or wax tablets.

Tribute

A symbolic gesture of loyalty

Vault

A masonry roof or ceiling constructed on the arch principle. A barrel or tunnel vault, semi-cylindrical in cross-section, is in effect a deep arch or an uninterrupted series of arches, one behind the other, over an oblong space. A quadrant vault is a half-barrel vault. A groin or cross vault is formed at the point at which two barrel vaults intersect at right angles. In a ribbed vault, there is a framework of ribs or arches under the intersections of the vaulting sections. A sexpartite vault is a vault whose ribs divide the vault into six compartments. A fan vault is a vault characteristic of English Perpendicular Gothic, in which radiating ribs form a fanlike pattern.

Votive offering

A gift of gratitude to a deity.

Ziggurat

In ancient Mesopotamian architecture, a monumental platform for a temple.

Amulet

An object worn to ward off evil or to aid the wearer.

Block statue

In ancient Egyptian sculpture, a cubic stone image with simplified body parts.

Capital

The uppermost member of a column, serving as a transition from the shaft to the lintel. In classical architecture, the form of the capital varies with the order.

Clerestory

The fenestrated part of a building that rises above the roofs of the other parts. The oldest known clerestories are Egyptian. In Roman basilicas and medieval churches, clerestories are the windows that form the nave's uppermost level below the timber ceiling or the vaults.

Engaged column

A half-round column attached to a wall. See also pilaster.

Fresco

Painting on lime plaster, either dry (dry fresco or fresco secco) or wet (true or buon fresco). In the latter method, the pigments are mixed with water and become chemically bound to the freshly laid lime plaster. Also, a painting executed in either method.

Hieroglyphic

A system of writing using symbols or pictures.

Hypostyle hall

A hall with a roof supported by columns.

Ka

In ancient Egypt, the immortal human life force.

Lapis lazuli

A rich ultramarine semiprecious stone used for carving and as a source for pigment.

Mastaba

Arabic, "bench." An ancient Egyptian rectangular brick or stone structure with sloping sides erected over a subterranean tomb chamber connected with the outside by a shaft.

Mummification

A technique used by ancient Egyptians to preserve human bodies so that they may serve as the eternal home of the immortal ka.

Palette

In ancient Egypt, a slate slab used for preparing makeup. A thin board with a thumb hole at one end on which an artist lays and mixes colors; any surface so used. Also, the colors or kinds of colors characteristically used by an artist.

Papyrus

A plant native to Egypt and adjacent lands used to make paperlike writing material; also, the material or any writing on it.

Pictograph

A picture, usually stylized, that represents an idea; also, writing using such means; also painting on rock. See also hieroglyphic.

Sarcophagus

(pl. sarcophagi) Latin, "consumer of flesh." A coffin, usually of stone.

Serdab

A small concealed chamber in an Egyptian mastaba for the statue of the deceased.

Sphinx

A mythical Egyptian beast with the body of a lion and the head of a human.

Repoussé

Formed in relief by beating a metal plate from the back, leaving the impression on the face. The metal sheet is hammered into a hollow mold of wood or some other pliable material and finished with a graver.

Akhenaton

early ruler of Egypt who rejected the old gods and replaced them with sun worship (died in 1358 BC)

Ramses II

A long-lived ruler of New Kingdom Egypt (r. 1290-1224 BCE). He reached an accommodation with the Hittites of Anatolia after a standoff in battle at Kadesh in Syria. He built on a grand scale throughout Egypt.

Nefertiti

queen of Egypt and wife of Akhenaton (14th century BC)

Tutenkhamen

Son of Akhenaten who was killed at a young age, he was one of the most famous finds by archaeologists

Tutenkhamen's tomb, innermost coffin

New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty. c. 1323 B.C.E. Gold with inlay of enamel and semiprecious stones.

Imhotep

First named artist in history.

Imhotep, Stepped Pyramid of Djoser

What: tomb (not a true pyramid), similar to stacked mastabas.

When: Early dynastic

Special: 1st known artist (Imhotep), and earliest engaged columns.

Apollo 11 Stones

Namibia. c. 25,500-25,300 B.C.E. Charcoal on stone.

Palette of King Narmer

Predynastic Egypt. c. 3000-2920 B.C.E. Greywacke.

Great Pyramid

The largest and grandest of the pyramids; built for King Khufu around 2540 B.C.; one of three still standing in Giza on the west bank of the Nile

Sphinx

A mythical Egyptian beast with the body of a lion and the head of a human.

King Menkaura and Queen

Old Kingdom, Fourth Dynasty. c. 2490-2472 B.C.E. Greywacke.

Seated Scribe

Saqqara, Egypt. Old Kingdom, Fourth Dynasty. c. 2620-2500 B.C.E. Painted limestone.

Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut

Near Luxor, Egypt. New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty. c. 1473-1458 B.C.E. Sandstone, partially carved into a rock cliff, and red granite.

Hatshepsut

Queen of Egypt (1473-1458 B.C.E.). Dispatched a naval expedition down the Red Sea to Punt (possibly Somalia), the faraway source of myrrh. There is evidence of opposition to a woman as ruler, and after her death her name was frequently expunged.

Hatshepsut

First female pharaoh

Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and 3 daughters

Period: Unit 2 Ancient Mediterranean

Medium: Limestone

Artist: Unknown

Patron: Akhentaten

Date: 1353-1335 B.C.E

Location: Egypt

Form: Lots of curved and flat lines emphasis on the sun disk and its rays

Function:Used to depict the change in Egypt as it enters the Amarna period under Akhenaten

Content: Akhenaten and his wife Nefertiti sit equal to each other whilst playing with their children underneath the sun disk god Aten

Context: During the Amarna period under Akhenaten a major change occurred as Akhenaten depicted himself as a normal human being as opposed to the divine pharaohs of the past.

Temple of Ramses II

unknown

1250 BC

Abu Simbel, Egypt

Temple of Amun-Re and Hypostyle Hall

Karnak, near Luxor, Egypt. New Kingdom, 18th and 19th Dynasties. Temple: c. 1550 B.C.E.; hall: c. 1250 B.C.E. Cut sandstone and mud brick.

Last Judgement of Hu-Nefer

New Kingdom, 19th Dynasty. c. 1275 B.C.E. Painted papyrus scroll.

Henge

An arrangement of megalithic stones in a circle, often surrounded by a ditch.

Venus of Willendorf

This Old Stone Age statuette exhibits exaggerated female features.

Great Hall of the Bulls

Lascaux, France

Paleolithic Europe

15,000-13,000 B.C.E

Rock Painting

Catalhuyuk

one of the world's first villages, established in modern-day Turkey around 7000 B.C.

Neolithic Age

"New Stone Age"; About 10,000 years ago marked by advances in the production of stone tools. Shift from hunting and gathering to agriculture

Paleolithic Age

(750,000 BCE - 10,000 B.C.E.) Old Stone Age. A period of time in human history characterized by the use of stone tools and the use of hunting and gathering as a food source.

Mesolithic Era

the middle part of the Stone Age; marked by the creation of smaller and more complex tools

Jericho

oldest Neolithic community in the West Bank between Israel and Jordan

Agricultural Revolution

The time when human beings first domesticated plants and animals and no longer relied entirely on hunting and gathering

Stonehenge

Wiltshire, UK. Neolithic Europe. c. 2500-1600 B.C.E. Sandstone.

Sumerian Empire

The name of the first culture in the world to develop cities.

Akkadians Empire

Led by Sargon