1. Global Prehistory
30, B.C.E.

2. B.C.E. WTH is BCE? BEFORE The COMMON ERA
It replaces BC (not, BS unfortunately) in discussions of time. Why change?
--What does A.C.E. mean?

3. Themes Relationship of imagery to the artist
Importance of fertility and renewal
Magic and ritual.
Influences of
geography,
Economy
politics
and agriculture on art.

4. Lithic Lithic= stone (no relation to stoner or stoned)
Paleolithic (Old Stone Age)
Mesolithic (________Stone Age)
Neolithic (New Stone Age)
Pre-history- Time before the written record
Human artifacts are influenced by the geologic and meteorological changes

5. Art Macrocosmic to the Microcosmic
Early art showed that humans were aware and interested in their surroundings form the
Macrocosmic to the Microcosmic
Into what category do the following fall:
Astronomical cycles
Locally available stones
Awareness of the solstices
Which animals migrate

6. Paleolithic Sites

7. The Earliest Human Groups
Hunter-Gatherers- First groups in AFRICA 77,000 years ago
Radiate outward- following the herds
What types of objects do you think that they created? Why?
What was the first “art”?
How did they create it?
Neolithic humans created mostly practical tools and some symbolic objects
Rock paintings and carved natural materials
Natural dyes and media- associated with food production and daily activities

8. Apollo 11 Stone Namibia- Charcoal on Stone
25,500-25,300 (How did we discern this date?)
What kind of animal do you think this charcoal figure represents? Some people believe the hind legs are human. This stone plaque is one of several carried into Apollo 11 Rock Shelter in Namibia where they were discovered in 1969 (when the first spacecraft - Apollo 11 - landed on the moon). Radiocarbon and other dating methods confirm that the cave layer that contained this plaque is between 60,000 and 40,000 years old. Charcoal on stone

9. Shamanism
Widely accepted as the 1. earliest and 2. most persistent worldwide spiritual approach
Shaman (What is the plural of this? Shamen?) are intermediaries or messengers between the human world and the spirit worlds.
Shamen are said to treat ailments/illness by mending the soul

10. Radiocarbon Dating
Radio and Carbon sitting in a tree?
No!

11. Stratigraphic Archaeology

12. Great Hall of the Bulls Lascaux Cave, France 15,000-13,000 BCE

14. Camelid Sacrum in the Shape of a Canine
Central Mexico
14,000 to 7,000 BCE

15. Running Horned Woman
This early rock painting is thousands of years older than the first African sculptures.
It represents a running woman with body paint, raffia skirt, and horned headgear, apparently in a ritual context.
Tassili n’Ajjer, Algeria
6,000- 4,000 BCE

16. Sand and rocks, Tassili n’Ajjer, Algeria

17. Bushel with Ibex Motif
Susa, Iran
4,200-3,500 BCE
Funerary Object

18. Anthropomorphic Stele
Arabian Peninsula
~4,000 BCE

19. Çatalhöyük (A TOWN!)

20. Not the oldest site of the Neolithic era or the largest, but it is extremely important to the beginning of art.  
Located near the modern city of Konya in south central Turkey, it was inhabited 9000 years ago by up to 8000 people who lived there…
Çatalhöyük is a site whose history is about one of man’s most important transformations: from nomad to settler. 

22. Art is everywhere among the remains of Çatalhöyük, geometric designs as well as representations of animals and people. 
Seated Woman of Çatalhöyük (head is a restoration), The Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, Ankara, Turkey (photo: Nevit Dilmen, CC BY-SA 3.0)

23. Bull bucrania, corner installation in Building 77, Çatalhöyük (photo: Çatalhöyük, CC: BY-NC-SA 2.0)

24. Hmmm…

25. Jade Cong China 3,300-2,200 BCE

26. Stonehenge Wiltshire, UK Neolithic Empire

27. 2,500- 1,600 BCE

28. Stonehenge built during…
Neolithic Revolution- Humans begin to settle down
Plant and Harvest crops
Domesticate Animals (Animal Husbandry)
Why does art become bigger and more substantial in this period?
Stonehenge
320 ft. in diameter
some stones 50 tons
some stones quarried 450 miles away

29. https://www. khanacademy
Ancient Pestle?
Ambum Stone, c B.C.E.
Ambum Valley, Enga Province, Papua New Guinea (Australia National Gallery, Canberra)

30. Tlatilco figurines Central (present day) Mexico c. 1200–600 B.C.E.
Ancient Mexico!
Tlatilco figurines
Central (present day) Mexico
c. 1200–600 B.C.E.