Art of the Aegean Exam 1

Anatolia

Anatolia

Crete

Cycladic Islands

Dimini

Franchthi Cave (map)

Gournia

Knossos

Lerna

Melos

Mycenae

Fournou Korifi

Peloponnese

Troy

Frying Pan

Cycladic art piece, not actually a frying pan, maybe a mirror?, symbolic spirals, long boats, etched bronze

Abrasion/Abrasives

material used to smooth/polish stone, mostly marble for sculpture, emery is common

Absolute Chronology

assigning exact dates to things (as opposed to relative chronology where you are estimating based on things before and after)

Abutting Walls

two walls that touch each other but were built at different times

Agglutinative Growth

how buildings get added on to over time with abutting walls

Attribution (to an artist/master)

saying a piece is from an ancient artist (whether it is or not) to give it higher monetary value, usually based on a set of similar characteristics

Bonding Walls

the way you lay brick and hold them together to keep the wall standing

Bronze

usually a copper and tin alloy that is shiny and can be molded and crafted into weapons, sculpture and practical wares

Bronze Age

the time after the copper age, in Greece (3,000-1050 BC)

Candiavervus

prehistoric Deer that Strasser talked a lot about in his article

Canon of Proportions

stencil used to make sure art carvings were equally proportional, Egyptians had them, unsure if Cyclades used them for their figurines

Cist Grave

a stone grave used to house the bodies of the dead, usually have grave goods and some sort of marker

Corridor House

Lerna, houses with long corridors on the sides with stairwells that lead to the 2nd story

Cycladic

the civilization that exists on the Cycladic Islands

Emery

abrasive stone used for smoothing marble

Ethnographic Parallel/Comparison

looking at current civilization practices and traditions to link archaeological evidence to an ancient practice or tradition

Folded-Arm-Figure (FAF)

Cycladic form of stone sculpture of a (typically) female figure with crossed arms

Franchthi Cave (term)

Southern Greek cave just above sea level with archaeological evidence dating back to the Paleolithic period (20,000 BC), but most known for the mesolithic burials and Neolithic architecture

Ghost of Paint

basically the negative space left on a figure where paint was that protected the stone against the weathering and sun damage that happened to the rest of the statue

Hearth

a center fireplace in most dwellings (Tsoungiza had a clay one at the center)

Hellenic Arc

the stretch of the European continent that abuts the African continent and basically outlines Greece down to Crete and back up to Anatolia

Herringbone Masonry

a specific alternating pattern of laying bricks that the house of the tiles used in Lerna

Incised Decoration

Keros-Syros Artifacts had this, basically you cut designs into pottery

Kernos (Kernoi)

multiple cups attached to a centerpiece that was used a multi-offering vessel

Longship

seen on the Cycladic frying pan, basically a long sailing vessel for traversing the Aegean Sea in the Bronze Age

Lyre-Shaped Head

seen on the Spedos variety of Cycladic figurines

Megaron

In Dimini, it's the largest room in the Mycenaean palace complexes that held lots of pots filled with goods and figurines

Mesolithic

Transitional period of the Stone Age between Paleolithic and Neolithic (8,000-5,000 BC)

Minoan

Ancient civilization based in Knossos on the island of Crete

Minos

Ancient King of the Minoan civilization, known for starting the Minotaur legend

Minotaur

mythological half bull/half human that lived in the labyrinth below King Minos's tower and ate the yearly tribute of 12 athenian's every year until Theseus killed him

Mudbrick

the method of sun-drying mud into bricks to use for infrastructure, we have some at the House of the Tiles because they got fired and preserved when it burned down

Naturalistic Art

The Minoan practice of decorating their fresco with many examples of natural depictions such as animals, foliage and landscapes

Neolithic

The settling down of nomadic groups at the end of the Stone Age before the Bronze Age, find a lot of inhumations, stone tools and early buildings (6000-3000 BC)

Obsidian

Volcanic glass that can be chipped into very sharp and very useful tools

Paleolithic

Earliest part of the Stone Age since they hadn't yet developed ways of smelting metals, nomadic peoples, mostly find camp site remains and stone tools (300,000-6,000 BC)

Peloponnese (term)

Southern region of Greece where the Mycenaean culture was based

Petroglyph

Paleolithic form of art done by carving into a stone wall

Pithos (Pithoi)

a large ceramic vase used for storing things

Prepalatial Period

the early Minoan period from 3000-1900BC

Provenance

where did you buy the artifact from, who owned it before you, what museums has it been in

Provenience

where did the artifact come from, meaning what grave, what site, what country

Pubic Triangle

a geometric depiction of female genitalia that appears on many Stone Age/EBA art pieces

Pyxis

a grave good little jar that could have been for cosmetics

Rectilinear Plan/Layout

a building design theme that consists primarily of straight lines, right angles, and square or rectangular shapes

Relative Chronology

placing things into time periods based on things that are definitely older and definitely newer to give it a relative date (as apposed to absolute chronology which has an actual year attached to it)

Representational Art

an art style that employs the use of signs that stand in for and take the place of something else

Rubble Masonry

masonry that uses irregularly shaped stones, sometimes minimally worked or selected for similar size (basically they just stack a bunch of stones that are close enough to the same size)

Sauceboat

Lerna type of ceramic pottery that could have been used for anything, but it kind of looks like a gravy boat

Schematic or Abstract Art

art that is usually very geometric and only vaguely resembles what it is representing

Seal

a tool with carvings on one end that you would press into wax or clay to leave the impression

Seal Impression

the impression left in wax or clay from a seal

Socle

the lower foundational part of the fortification wall that projects above the floor level

Stamped Decoration

seen in the Cycladic frying pans, carved into bronze by nailing designs into the soft metal or clay

Stamped Spirals

the spirals are symbolic of a journey and are made using the stamped decoration technique

Stratigraphy

layers of archaeological material that lets us relative date the various levels

Symmetry

an image that is duplicated on two sides of an axis

Terracotta

fired clay

Vasiliki Ware

Minoan pottery that looks like a tea pot

Zoomorphic

art representing animal forms or gods of animal form

Lady of Lerna

Neolithic, terracotta, found in Lerna 1 house along with 10 graves

House of Tiles, Lerna

Early Helladic, 2-story corridor house made of stone base and mud brick, plaster on inner walls, terracotta tiles, burnt down and fired everything which is why we have it

Seals and Seal Impressions, Lerna

Early Helladic, found in the house of tiles, found both the carved seals and the seal impressions in fired clay

Cycladic Figurines - Schematic/Violin

marble, Grotta-Pelos Culture, ca. 3100/3000 - 2650 B.C.

Cycladic Figurines - Plastiras

marble, Grotta-Pelos Culture, ca. 3100/3000 - 2650 B.C.

Cycladic Figurines - Spedos

marble, Keros-Syros Culture ca. 2650-2450/2400 B.C.

Cycladic Figurines - Dokathismata

marble, developed from the Spedos variety

Cycladic Figurines - Non-Canonical Varieties

marble, they don't fit into a particular canon, musicians, men with baldrics, women with different hand placement

Cycladic Frying Pans - Kampos Group

clay, incised decoration, transitional between the ECI Grotta-Pelos and ECII Keros-Syros Culture, maybe center represents the sun

Cycladic Frying Pans - Keros-Syros

clay, depiction of a long boat, swirls depict wind/water/journeying, pubic triangle at the bottom

Potter's Disks, Fournou Korifi

Pre-Palatial, Early Minoan IIA, basically used to shape wet clay, but it didn't spin how we think of a potter's wheel, it was more just a plate

Vasiliki Ware Pottery

Pre-Palatial, Early Minoan IIB, basically a pitcher, made to look like stone even thought its terracotta, also had painted designs

Myrtos Goddess

Pre-Palatial, Early Minoan II, (not the turtle goddess), found in room 92, maybe a votive figure, has an apron painted on, could have a pubic triangle

Essay Question 1

Applying what you have learned from lectures, readings, and class discussions, compare and contrast the roughly contemporary Early Bronze Age sites of Lerna (in southern Greece) and Myrtos Phournou Koryphi (in eastern Crete) in terms of history, development and architectural forms. What does the study of the material culture (art & artifacts) and the built environment (architecture) suggest about their respective cultures, communities, and social identities?

Essay Question 2

Applying what you have learned from lectures, readings, and class discussions, discuss the interpretation of Cycladic Folded-Arm-Figures. How have these objects been interpreted by art historians? What kinds of evidence have scholars used, and what are some of the pros and cons of their approaches? In particular, compare and contrast the approaches and interpretations of G. Hoffman and E. Hendrix. (HINT: Read BOTH articles!)