Comprehensive Study Notes: Prehistoric Art, Nok Culture, and Early European Art

Why study art of the past?

• The course prompts examination of art from historical contexts to understand how meaning is produced and communicated through visual form.
• Studying art of the past helps us learn to read visual language, interpret cultural values, beliefs, and technologies, and connect artworks across time and space.

Unit 0: What is art and why do we make it?

• Focus: origins of visual art and foundational tools and terms that art historians use to derive meaning from objects from the past.
• By the end of Unit 0, you will:
  • $Recognize\ and\ correctly\ identify\ some\ of\ the\ earliest\ artworks\ in\ the\ world.$
  • $Situate\ these\ early\ forms\ of\ art\ in\ their\ correct\ historical\ contexts.$
  • $Recognize\ terms\ of\ visual\ analysis.$
  • $Identify\ patterns\ and\ expressions\ of\ ideas\ across\ multiple\ works\ of\ art.$

Example object and context

• Dogon mask (kanaga), 20th century

Geographic and cultural context: Nok culture (West Africa)

• Regions shown include: Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Mali, Niger, Benin, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Liberia, and Nigeria.
• Major rivers and geographic features referenced:
  • Senegal River, Niger River Delta, Benue River, lower Niger, and broader Atlantic coastal context.
• The map highlights the West African interior as the area associated with Nok culture and related archaeological landscapes.

Nok culture: key geography and sites (overview)

• Area and distribution centered in what is today Nigeria, with connections to surrounding regions.
• Important to note: area of Nok culture is marked on maps with reference points such as Kano, Jos, Abuja, Lagos, Port Harcourt, Benin, Kaduna, and other urban/nodal sites.
• These pages situate Nok artifacts within a broad West African landscape, illustrating trade routes, settlement patterns, and regional interactions.

Nok head, ca. $500\ \text{BCE}$

• Found ca. $1940\text{s}$.
• Described as having been used as a scarecrow in some contexts.

Archaeology: soil stratigraphy and materials

• Soil layers described:
  • Grey topsoil, ca. $50\ \text{cm}$
  • Mustard yellow soil with a high oxide content and traces of charcoal, ca. $80\ \text{cm}$
  • Loose red earth containing terra cotta shards at various depths
  • Natural rock
• Terra cotta artifacts are associated with the above stratigraphy, indicating burial/usage contexts.

Terra cotta object: low-relief figures, ca. $500\ \text{BCE}$

• Terms:
  • Media
  • Terra-cotta

Key terms introduced (glossary-style)

• Style: a term used to describe the distinctive characteristics of a work or group of works, reflecting form, technique, and aesthetic choices.
• Media: the materials or substances used to create an artwork.
• Terra-cotta: a type of fired clay used for sculpture and various artifacts.
• Composition: the deliberate arrangement of the elements of art within a work.

Kneeling Figure, Nok culture, Nigeria, ca. $700-\ 400\ \text{BCE}$

• Term: Composition – deliberate arrangement of the elements of art.

Analysis: Nok figure features and possible significance

• Triangular eyes with perforated pupils (characteristic of Nok sculpture).
• Ornamental hairstyle; likely indicates status and individuality.
• Pose: often interpreted as a “Thinker pose” – relaxed, at leisure but potentially meditative.
• Head disproportionately large compared to the body to emphasize facial expression and intellect.
• Jewelry: five coils around the neck and more around the arms, suggesting wealth or status markers.
• Elongated face and chin that extend into negative space within the composition; suggests a highly skilled artist.
• Limbs (arms and legs) are thin and attenuated, creating a sense of elasticity and emphasizing an intellectual/figurative focus on the head and face.
• Overall interpretation: the sculpture may encode intellectual or contemplative character; artist’s skill is evident in the proportion, negative space, and fine detailing.

Why have there been problems recovering information about Nok culture?

• Major challenges include:
  • Lack of a written record
  • Climate/topsoil acidity affecting preservation
  • Geographic spread of archaeological sites across region
  • Biased archaeologists and researchers
  • Widespread looting
  • Unscrupulous collectors
  • Poor government regulation

Looted Nok site: Anzah Gida, Kachia area

• Example of looting risk and loss of contextual information that hampers understanding of Nok culture.

A forgery?

• Slide indicates a potential discussion around authenticity and the challenges of distinguishing genuine Nok works from forgeries.

ARS 101: The Origins of Art (course context)

• The slide header indicates the course: ARS 101, The Origins of Art, Professor Bowyer, Fall 2025.

Prehistoric Art: Map and regional overview (Europe, Africa, and beyond)

• A broad map labeling major prehistoric sites across Europe and into Africa and parts of the surrounding regions.
• Europe highlights include major sites such as Newgrange, Stonehenge, Durrington Walls, Lascaux, Altamira, Pech-Mérle, Chauvet, Brassempouy, and others.
• Key regions/countries referenced include France, Spain, Portugal, the Cantabrian Mountains, Brittany, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Russia, Ukraine, Greece, Turkey, and others.
• Notable European sites listed: Newgrange (Ireland); England’s Stonehenge and Durrington Walls; Lascaux and Chauvet (France); Altamira (Spain); Brassempouy; Pech-Mérle; Laussel; Cantabrian Mountains; La Mouthe; Brassempouy; Dolní Věstonice; Willendorf; Hohlenstein-Stadel; Cernavodă; Mezine; Kostienki; Monte Carmelo; HaYonim (variously transliterated names appear on slide).

What is a picture? / Art: A Tool of Communication

• Art functions as a tool of communication, encoding information, beliefs, and values, and enabling communities to convey ideas beyond immediate speech.

Prehistoric Europe: Known Excavation Sites (continued)

• A broader roster of sites across Europe illustrating the distribution of Paleolithic to Neolithic finds, including:
  • Kostienki, Mezine, Kapova, Monte Carmelo, Hayonim, and other named sites (as listed on the slide).

More sites and cross-cultural connections (Europe-wide overview)

• The map shows a network of landscapes where early art and material culture emerged, including Upper Paleolithic caves, habitation sites, and megalithic complexes.

What is a picture? (revisited) and Art as communication (summary)

• Images function as conveyors of meaning, enabling shared understanding across time and space.
• Visual evidence supports the study of human cognitive development, symbolic thought, and social organization.

Paleolithic and Neolithic: time-designation framework

• Timeline framework:
  • BCE / BC and AD / CE conventions, and the understanding that these designations demarcate past, present, and future directions in time-tracking.
  • The slide emphasizes understanding BCE and CE as time designations.

Paleolithic: Old Stone Age; Neolithic: New Stone Age

• Definitions and time spans:
  • Paleolithic: old stone age (Paleo- meaning old; lithic meaning stone) ca. $35{,}000\ to\ 11{,}500/3{,}000\ \text{BCE}.$
  • Neolithic: new stone age (Neo- meaning new) ca. $11{,}500/3{,}500\ \text{BCE}$.
• Each period is divided into lower, middle, and upper phases in many traditional frameworks.

Timeline snapshot (Key dates and units)

• Approximate timeline markers (from the slide):

  • $40{,}000$
  • $200{,}000$
  • $25{,}000$
  • $100{,}000$
  • $70{,}000$
  • $1{,}500$
  • $50{,}000$
  • $30{,}000$
  • $1{,}500$
  • $15{,}000$
  • $12{,}000$
  • $4{,}500$

• These numbers correspond to major milestones in human evolution, artistic development, and archaeological periods, presented in a single timeline exercise on the slide.

Hominin timeline (Paleolithic to early historical contexts)

• Major hominins referenced: $Homo\ sapiens$, $Homo\ neanderthalensis$, and $Homo\ erectus$.
• Associated approximate time ranges (as commonly taught in introductory archaeology, aligning with the slide's sequence):
  • $Homo\ sapiens$ – broadly dated to around $2{,}00{,}000\text{–}$present in some regions; highlighted here as a major marker in late Paleolithic to modern periods.
  • $Homo\ neanderthalensis$ – range commonly discussed across the Middle to Late Paleolithic, overlapping with early Homo sapiens in various regions.
  • $Homo\ erectus$ – an earlier archaic human species spanning a long range from the Pleistocene into later periods.

Paleolithic excavation sites (Europe): known locations and significance

• Notable sites listed on the slide (illustrative sample):
  • $Kostienki$, $Mezine$, $Kapova$, $Monte\ Carmelo$, $Hayonim$, among others.
• These sites demonstrate the geographic spread of early human habitation and art across Europe and adjacent regions.

What is a picture? (conceptual takeaway)

• A picture is a medium of communication that encodes symbolic meaning, social information, and cultural knowledge, enabling transmission across generations.

European and global prehistoric site clusters (summary list)

• Skimming through the slide’s lists, clusters include: Newgrange, Stonehenge, Durrington Walls, Avebury, Carnac, Altamira, Lascaux, Pech-Merle, Brassempouy, La Mouthe, Cantabrian Mountains, Brassempouy, Laussel, Niaux, Latrone, Maltravieso, Lose, Casares, Las Grajas, Parpalló, La Pileta, Cuciulat, Levanzo, Mezzine, Dolní Věstonice, Willendorf, Hohlenstein-Stadel, Gagarino, Lepenski Vir, Circeo, Matera, Malta-Gozo, and others.

Altamira: a representative site

• Altamira Cave, Cantabrian Mountains, northern Spain, ca. $12{,}500\ \text{BCE}$.

Closing conceptual frame

• Art as a tool of communication across vast spans of time requires careful attention to context, materiality, and metaphorical language.
• The slides emphasize connecting artifacts to their archaeological contexts, recognizing patterns across works, and understanding the ethical and practical challenges in interpreting the past (e.g., looting, forgery, lack of written records).

End of notes