Prehistoric AP Art History

(1) (1) Apollo 11 stones. Prehistoric African. Charcoal on stone. 25,500 – 25,300 BCE. Namibia. 5” x 4.5”. Prehistoric.

Content, Form, Function, Context

Form: 

• Positive vs negative space

• Stones were painted in charcoal (black), ochre (red/browns), and white

• Earliest example of representation 🡪 figurative (derived from real sources)

• Animals are displayed in twisted perspective (profile + frontal)

• Slabs were found broken in pieces

Function:

• Likely focused on animal fertility and life cycles, given the prominence of genitalia

  • Hope for reproduction

• Likely prized objects because they were moved into these caves

  • Portable object; small

    • Edges are discolored, meaning it was handled frequently

  • Stone used is not the same as the natural stone found in the caves

• Therefore, likely for animal ritual/worship?

Content:

• Animal figures painted on the rocks

  • Multiple animals; not always identifiable to species level

• This slab has some kind of cow or bull with genitalia prominently emphasized

Context:

• One of the oldest known rock paintings; 7 slabs in total

• Between 1969 and 1972, W.E. Wendt (German archaeologist) found slabs in cave

  • Named after 1969 NASA moon landing

• Paleolithic migratory community 🡪 brought these slabs into the cave from elsewhere

  • Hunters and gatherers have to carry with them whatever they deem of greatest importance

  • Humans follow animals who follow plants that grow according to the seasons

  • For humans to survive, animals have to thrive 🡪 rituals often focused upon guaranteeing that outcome

• Buried in domestic debris in caves

  • Caves were temporary shelters

Learning Objective: Earliest example of representation

Themes: animals; ritual; fertility; cycle of life

Museum: 

(1) (2) Great Hall of the Bulls. Prehistoric European. Rock painting. 15,000 – 13,000 BCE. Lascaux, France. Large bull: 17’. Prehistoric.

Content, Form, Function, Context

Form: 

• Paint made from natural materials: charcoal, ore, plants, berries; then mixed with animal fat and saliva

  • Sprayed on through tubes of bone, or swabbed on with fur or brushes (reeds/sticks)

• Scaffolding was made to reach the tops of the caves (holes have been found in the walls)

• No ground or horizon line – animals float in space (negative space surrounds them)

• Animals are in profile but also twisted perspective (heads in profile, horns from front)

• Natural contours of the walls help to create a 3D feel

• Animals were painted with naturalism: there is attention to anatomical details/unique characteristics

• Superimposed figures: “herd of beasts” was not artist’s intent; result of new artists painting over old works

Function:

• Site-specific: made specifically for this place; artist considered the setting in its creation

• Older interpretation: didactic, teach new hunters and young boys how to hunt; ensure a successful hunt

  • Explains the variety of animals on ceiling, and the wide range of life cycles shown

  • Does NOT take into account archaeological evidence on the floor

• Current/new interpretation: used for animal worship/rituals

  • Likely for animal fertility and natural bounty

    • For humans to survive, animals have to thrive 🡪 rituals often focused upon guaranteeing that outcome

    • This is why the images are of prey 🡪 these are the species humans will be hunting

  • Likely an example of shamanism (religious practice that says forces of nature can be contacted by a shaman/intermediary)

  • Likely explains why they were tucked into the back of the cave; they are powerful and thus needed to be protected

Content:

• Hall of the Bulls is one room in the cave complex

• 650 paintings throughout entire cave; 36 different animals

  • Almost all prey, not predators: mostly cows, bulls, horses, deer, stags, bison

  • All animals have been identified to species level (even extinct species)

  • Phases of animal life shown; some are even pregnant

• Abstract designs and handprints included

Context:

• Caves discovered in 1940 when an 18-year old’s dog fell into a hole and he went to rescue him

• Caves were not permanent dwellings; peoples were migratory (Paleolithic)

  • Paintings were deep and recessed into the caves

  • Likely a space groups came to annually

  • For humans to survive, animals have to thrive 🡪 rituals often focused upon guaranteeing that outcome

  • Seems to be a bountiful area that groups fought to control

• Completed by many artists over 2,000 years

  • Area was constantly fought over due to its natural abundance of animal life and plant life

  • Sign of dominance (one group paints over another’s art), rather than a single artist trying to show a heard of animals

  • Artists used stone lamps with fat and fur to light caves

Learning Objective: Prehistoric cave art

Themes: animals; ritual; site-specific; fertility; cycle of life; ceremony; changing interpretations

(1) (3) Camelid Sacrum in the shape of a canine. Prehistoric American. Bone. 14,000 – 7,000 BCE. Tequixquiac, central Mexico. Prehistoric.

Content, Form, Function, Context

Form: 

• Bone was an ample available resource (found object)

  • Carved from the sacrum (pelvic bone) of a now extinct American relative of the camel called a camelid

• Used natural contours of the bone and continued to carve/manipulate 

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

• Sculpture-in-the-round

Function:

• Related to ceremonies regarding fertility of nature/bounty

  • For humans to survive, animals have to thrive 🡪 rituals focused on guaranteeing that outcome

• Original use remains unknown 

  • May reflect sexual beliefs/rituals for regeneration or fertility

    • Spinal column was believed to have biological date necessary for reproduction; passed along in sexual reproduction

    • Thus, the sacrum bone was believed to be the seat of that biological information

  • Reflect significance of canines as partners/food to Paleolithic humans

    • Why carved into the shape of a dog’s head? Shows significance of dogs

    • Dogs were partners of humans; dogs kept humans safe, dogs eat more frequently when with humans 

Content:

• Represents a canine (ears, eyes, snout)

Context:

• Discovered in 1870; one of the earliest cultural artifacts in Mesoamerica

• Paleolithic community – care was taken to use all parts of the animal’s body; art was often made with bones

• Dogs were critical components of Paleolithic human lives: hunting partners, companionship, safety

• For humans to survive, animals have to thrive 🡪 rituals often focused upon guaranteeing that outcome

Learning Objective: Prehistoric Mesoamerican fertility object

Themes: animals; ritual; fertility; cycle of life; materials with significance

Museum: 

(1) (4) Running Horned Woman. Prehistoric African. Pigment on rock. 6,000 – 4,000 BCE. Tassili n’Ajjer, Algeria. 20’ x 9’. Prehistoric.

Function, Content, Form, Context

Form: 

• Wall painting in a cave

• Face is featureless – common element of prehistoric art

• White parallel patterns represent flowing fabric/raffia, exhibit movement

• Horns are in twisted perspective

• Superimposition – result of new groups using the cave, rather than trying to show a crowd of people

• Paint has faded tremendously over time

• Stylized body: breasts are evident

Function:

• Most likely cave was used as a place of ritual

• Image used for some kind of fertility ritual or religious ceremony

  • Goal was likely human fertility given the emphasis on the female body

Content:

• What is being depicted?

  • Female figure – breasts are evident, swollen abdomen

  • Option #1: Running woman with body paint, raffia skirt, horned headgear / mask / helmet – participant in ceremony?

  • Option #2: Horned hybrid female deity? Perhaps fertility goddess?

• Dotted marks on shoulders, legs, torso indicate she is wearing body paint applied for a ritual 

• Smaller figures surround – later groups painted this on

Context:

• Caves were used as domestic spaces; this group was not agricultural yet, but likely stayed in this cave for prolonged periods of time for safety/shelter

• Discovered in 1933-1940 by French army officers in Algeria

  • Archaeologists returned in 1956 to study the rock art

• One of the earliest surviving examples of rock art in the Sahara

• At first, believed to be Egyptian – why?

  • Not because it looks Egyptian (it doesn’t)

  • Believed Africans were not advanced enough to create art, so any art must have been at the fringes of Egyptian civilization

Learning Objective: Prehistoric African rock painting

Themes: ritual; deities; masks; stylized bodies; ceremony; fertility

Museum: 

(1) (5) Beaker with Ibex Motifs. Prehistoric Middle East. Painted terra cotta. 4,200 – 3,500 BCE. Susa, Iran. 1’ tall. Prehistoric.

Form, Function, Content, Context

Form: 

• Beaker/Bushel: cylindrical earthenware pot

• Hand thrown terra cotta (clay) vessel with thin walls 

• Dominated by simple shapes, triangles, horns

• Representational (based on real life) but certainly highly stylized

• 3 registers: top, middle, bottom; black bands of varying sizes delineate the registers

  • Helps space be separate rather than think space goes backwards

• Registers show us the ground line

Function:

• Utilitarian object: used for the storage of food or water; practical purpose

• Bowls and containers were indications of prosperity and wealth

• Important and prized object 🡪 found in burials (this one was)

• Vase reveals group/family/clan status

Content:

• Includes a number of animals that are all native to the region

• Top register: Frieze with aquatic birds; parallel lines of neck (highly stylized)

• Second register: Running dogs; long and thin; elongated

• Bottom register: highly stylized body of ibex (goat)

  • Within the horns is a circular stamp: this is a clan-related sign or the artist’s individual stamp

Context:

• Neolithic era: 🡪 settlement of men 🡪 beginning of agriculture 🡪 surplus of food 🡪 specialization of labor

  • Surplus of food means you need things for storage of food

  • Specialization of labor means someone can make pots/storage items

• Susa is in modern day Iran, one of the earliest cities before the great Mesopotamian civilizations arrive

  • No writings exist from Susa (pre-literate)

    • Funerary objects are how historians learn about the inhabitants of Susa

      • This was found in a cemetery 

Learning Objective: Prehistoric Middle Eastern utilitarian object

Themes: animals; utilitarian; funerary; ceramics; status

Museum: Louvre

(1) (6) Anthropomorphic stele. Prehistoric Middle East. Sandstone. 4,000 BCE. Arabian Peninsula. 3’ tall. Prehistoric.

Context, Function, Content, Form

Form: 

• Anthropomorphic: having characteristics of the human form, though the form itself is not human

• Stele: upright stone slab, often to mark grave or site

• Both sides are sculpted, emphasis on the front 

• Closely-spaced eyes; flattened nose; no mouth

• Highly stylized sculpture in the round

Function:

• Probably associated with religious practices and burial practices related to ancestor worship

• Likely a grave marker and a guardian to watch over the deceased

  • Important because the deceased are scattered due to community being migratory

  • If families wanted to honor the dead, they needed to have grave markers to find them

Content:

• Doesn’t look human because it isn’t human 🡪 not a portrait

• Probably a generic representation of a spirit/guardian figure

• Necklace hangs around neck

• Two straps cross the body with an awl (small pointed tool) tucked underneath

• Belted robe and a double-bladed sword tucked in the belt 🡪 shows the defensive or guardianship nature of the figure

Context:

• Among the earliest known works from the Arabian Peninsula

• Region is full of traders and pastoral nomads; people are highly mobile

  • Burials are haphazard and done wherever the deceased passed away

• Findings are significant 🡪 historians thought here were no artistic representations from this region for many years

• We also know this community believed in an afterlife, and that the dead need shepherding to get there

Learning Objective: Prehistoric Middle Eastern funerary object

Themes: funerary; stylized bodies; deities; guardian; ancestors

Museum: 

(1) (7) Jade cong. Prehistoric China. Carved jade. 3,300 – 2,200 BCE. Liangzhu, China. 1’ diameter. Prehistoric.

Form, Function, Content, Context

Form: 

• Positive vs negative space

• Cong 🡪 Square outer section around a circular inner section with a circular hole inside that

• Made of jade (usually milky green color) which is extremely hard

  • Ancient Chinese didn’t have anything harder than jade to cut jade with; jade cannot just be split like other stones

  • Therefore, jade was “cut” by rubbing sand on it over and over and over again

  • Jade is extremely expensive

• Stylized faces on the corners

Function:

• $$ = status

• Found in graves in large numbers for people of high rank (status)

• Presence of spirits/deities indicates its use for ritual

• No idea what they actually mean (no writings have been found that explain it)

Content:

• Corners have stylized faces of spirits

  • Hybrid figures (man/beast)

• Based on common Chinese symbolism, here is what historians have surmised:

  • Round interior is a symbol of the sky

  • Hard edges/squares are a symbol of the earth

  • Circular channel in between might symbolize passage

• Thus, the cong not only represents duality (earth and sky together), but it also symbolizes the passage between the two caused by death

Context:

• Found around the Yangtze River Valley during the Chinese Neolithic period

  • Humans have settled along rivers

  • Grand burials were common for the elite

  • Stone workers were employed to make jade objects (status of jade was high due to expense)

• Ancestor worship was a prominent practice in China, as was artwork that depicted the passage to the afterlife

  • We also know this community believed in an afterlife, and that the dead need shepherding to get there

Learning Objective: Prehistoric Chinese funerary object

Themes: funerary; materials with significance; ritual; status; duality; deities; ancestors

Museum: 

(1) (8) Stonehenge. Prehistoric Europe. Sandstone. 2,500 – 1,600 BCE. Wiltshire, UK. Circle: 320’ diameter; stones: 30; tall. Prehistoric.

Function, Form, Content, Context

Form: 

• Post-and-lintel: two posts support a horizontal beam

  • The most foundational and basic form of architecture

• Mortise and tenon: mortise (stones with holes) and tenon (a tongue or rounded extension on other stones) are fitted together (think of Legos; one piece has a protrusion; the other piece has a hole for that protrusion)

• Henge: circular ground plan of stone

• Megalith: a large, uncut stone 

• Construction is a mystery with hundreds of stones (if you count entire site and surrounding stones)

  • Some stones weigh over 50 tons; most are 25 tons

    • (Adult horse weights 2,000 pounds = 1 ton; largest stones = 50 horses)

  • All are from over 20 miles away

  • Moved via rolling logs or wooden sled on animal fat; community had no knowledge of pulleys

  • Vertical stones raised upwards using holes in the ground that they fit into

  • Horizontal stones raised upwards with wood platforms

Function:

• Site specific – sacred space tied to fertility of the land

  • How do we know? Abundance of remains of deer/stag; naturally abundant area

• Astronomical observatory; remarkably accurate

  • Oriented toward sunrise on the longest day of the year (summer solstice)

    • This signaled when to harvest

    • The sun was visible directly over the heelstone

  • Used to predict eclipses

Content:

• A circle of megaliths and other stones

  • Bluestones: smaller stones

  • Heel stone: a stone on the outer edge of the cromlech that marks the point at which the sun rises at the summer solstice

• NO BURIALS within the center of the cromlech; there are cremations that surround the site

Context:

• Took 1,000 years to build; each generation added and built in more stones

  • Pass knowledge down from generation to generation

• Site originally contained wooden buildings, shrines, and more monuments of stone

• Since the stones were imported from 20 to 200 miles away, it implies a great social organization by this community

Learning Objective: Prehistoric European architecture

Themes: religion; architecture; site-specific; ritual; community; nature; fertility

(1) (9) The Ambum Stone. Prehistoric Oceania. Greywacke. 1,500 BCE. Ambum Valley, Enga Province, Papua New Guinea. 8” tall. Prehistoric.

Content, Function, Form, Context

Form: 

• Figurative detail; representational

• Sculpture in the round

• Greywacke: hard gray stone

• Weeks spent chipping and hammering at the surface with stone tools

Function:

• Utilitarian: used as a grinder to prepare food or offerings 

• Likely also used in a ritual context

  • Based on the subject matter, the work is perhaps tied to fertility and reproductive rituals

Content:

• May depict the embryo of a long-beaked echidna (spiny anteater) in the fetal position

  • Anteaters were significant because of fat deposits; made them excellent to hunt

• May also be a masked human (a sort of hybrid figure) – perhaps one participating in a ritual

Context:

• Discovered in a Pacific cave in the early 1960s

• One of the earliest Pacific works of art discovered

• Neolithic Pacific community

  • Agricultural community; any fertility rituals would have been important to ensure harvest

Learning Objective: Prehistoric Oceanic ritual object

Themes: animals; ritual; fertility; cycle of life; utilitarian

Museum: 

(1) (10) Tlatilco female figurine. Prehistoric American. Ceramic. 1,200 – 900 BCE. Tlatilco, Central Mexico. 4” tall. Prehistoric.

Form, Function, Content, Context

Form: 

• Sculpture in the round

• True nude: no jewelry, headgear, clothing (i.e. Running Horned Woman)

• Figure is completely nude

  • Stylized; exaggerated sense of proportion

  • Heavy thighs, wide hips; thin waist

  • No hands or feet given

• Stylized face – two noses and mouths; but only two ears and three eyes

• Made of clay with a sharp tool that was used to incise detail

Function:

• Large women implied healthy/fertile bodies 🡪 interest in reproduction/fertility

• Found in burials – why? + Two faced – why?

  • These are connected

  • May depict an extremely rare form of conjoined twins called diprosopus conjoined twins (literally means “two-faced”)

    • These figures would have been seen as otherworldly, literally mixed up in our world, and demon-like.

    • They seemed to straddle life and death, this world and the next

      • They were guaranteed to die, which meant to this community that they did not belong here in our world and that they belonged to another world

  • Because these figurines were in burials, they probably:

    • Relate to the idea of duality/life and death/ this world and the next

    • Shepherd the dead to the afterlife (they got “mixed up” by being born in our world, so they can shepherd the dead because they “know the way”)

• Symbolism of duality:

  • One body / two heads

  • Present in this world / from the underworld

  • Born alive / will be dead

Content:

• Female figurine who is severely deformed and exaggerated

Context:

• Tlatilco, Mexico is well-known for its distinctive figurines

  • All seem to have some sort of deformity, if not conjoined twins, then at least exaggerated proportions or stylization of the body

  • Not necessarily evidence that this community has an unusually larger than average amount of conjoined twins – but rather that in this community, conjoined twins became an important symbol of other social attitudes and cultural concerns

  • We also know this community believed in an afterlife, and that the dead need shepherding to get there

• This was an area that flourished 2,000 years before the Aztecs

• Hundreds of burials have these figurines

Learning Objective: Prehistoric Mesoamerican funerary artwork

Themes: stylized bodies; ritual; funerary; duality; death; fertility

Museum: 

(1) (11) Terra cotta fragment. Prehistoric Oceania (Lapita). Incised terra cotta. 1000 BCE. Solomon Islands, Reef Islands. Prehistoric.

Function, Content, Form, Context

Form: 

• Sunken relief: a type of carving where the design is set into the material, rather than cutting away material 

• Patterns were incised (cut into the surface) into the pots before firing with a stamp-like tool used to make designs in the clay

• Sand was mixed into the clay to make the vessels more durable during the firing process (it will thicken up the clay, and make it sturdier)

Function:

• Utilitarian: Likely a ceramic vessel for cooking, serving, or the storing of food

• Also, given the decoration, likely a sign of status

• Broken: which seems to mean it was frequently used, in addition to being very old

Content:

• Geometric and elaborate patterns

• Occasionally, stylized faces are made

Context:

• Lapita is an Oceanic seafaring community

  • Common ancestors of modern-day Polynesia, Micronesia, and Melanesia

  • Skilled with navigation and hunted in the seas

  • Clay boxes were used to collect fish and other ocean food items

• Lapita art is best known for its ceramics 

  • This work reveals the geometric patterning that will become traditional in the Oceanic region

Learning Objective: Prehistoric Oceanic utilitarian object

Themes: utilitarian; status

Museum: