APAH: Unit 1 - Prehistoic, Egyptian, & Mesopotamian Art

Apollo 11 stones

25,000-23,000 BCE; southwest Namabia

charcoal on stone

• Broken on purpose, mostly likely for ritual/religious use

• portable

• named bc discovery coincided w/ Apollo 11 landing

• found in rock shelter

• brought to cave where it was discovered

Running Horned Woman

Tassil n’Ajjer, Algeria; 6,000-4,000 BCE

paint on stone

• Unknown, theories include for rituals, representing myth, initiation, lost religion

• realistic & abstract humans & animals

Lascaux, France; 28,000-10,000 BCE

pigment on rock

• Ensure luck on a hunt? Not meant to be seen by anyone other than painter

• collection of 600 paintings & 1500 engravings of animals

• lifelike animals

• painted by moss wick candlelight & animal hair candle

Beaker with Ibex Motifs

Susa (SW), Iran; 4,200-3,500 BCE

terracotta & paint

• Ritual purpose bc found buried under man-made mound?

• shows use of pottery wheel

• abstract images of animals from early agrarian societies

Camelid Sacrum

Tequixquiac, Mexico; 14,000-7,000 BCE

bone

• Held religious value

• based off the Mesoamerican idea that sacrum = second skull

Anthropomorphic Stele

Arabian Peninsula; 4,000-3,000 BCE

sandstone

upright slab to mark a grave; has a human appearance, abstract (geometric) style

Jade Kong

Longzhu, China; 3,300-2,200 BCE

jade

• cylinder & circle represent realms of life and death?

• jade is hard & translucent

• found at grave sights

Ambum Stone

Papua, New Guinea; 1,500 BCE

greywacke (variety of sandstone)

• pestle used to grind

• depicts an echidna embryo

Tlatilco Female Figurine

Tlatilco, Mexico; 1,200-900 BCE

ceramic clay

• blessing for fertility or religious burial

• hallmarcked by tiny waist & huge thighs

• some have double heads = duality of life & death

Terracotta Fragment

Solomon Islands, North of Australia; 1000 BCE

terracotta

• used to serve & store food?

• incised lines linked to early tattoos

Stonehenge

Salisbury Plain, England

bluestone & sarsen stone

• burial site

• complex building process lasting from Neolithic Period to Bronze Age

• made of post & lintels

• lots of mystery around it

Palatte of Narmer

Egypt; 3,100 BCE

siltstone

• Essentially a ritual makeup palate (like for kohl) that represented the unification of Egypt

• depicted Narmer defeating enemies

• composite pose = composition of the body in most visible angle

• from Hierakonpolis

• Narmer is 1st pharaoh to unite Egypt

Three Pyramids at Giza

Giza, Egypt; 2770-2470 BCE

limestone & granite

• Angled sides represent slanting sun rays?

• Tomb, burial site, & site of ritual mummification of 3 Egyptian pharaohs

• Each connected to a temple

• built for Khufu (oldest & largest), Khafre (2nd oldest & 2nd largest), and Menkaure (youngest & smallest)

• no one knows exactly how they were constructed

• connected to the Nile

• Top part of pyramid is called benben

• West of the Nile

The Sphinx

Giza, Egypt; 2520-2494 BCE

limestone

• Spiritual guardian for the tombs of the 3 pharaohs in the Giza pyramids

• located behind Kafre’s temple/pyramid

• West of the Nile

Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut

Luxor, Egypt; 1490-1460 BCE

limestone, sandstone, and granite

• Used in funeral rites and commemorative ceremonies

• Across the valley from Karnak

• Built by/for prominent female pharaoh

• Hatshepsut was depicted as a male king

• She is not buried here

Temple of Amun-Re and the Hypostyle Hall

Luxor, Egypt; 1550-1190 BCE

sandstone and red granite

• Temple dedicated to the worship of Amun-Re; used for royal coronations?

• Built at Karnak, long standing Egyptian sacred site

• hypostyle hall = vast hall filled with columns; inner are taller, outer is shorter, indirect light

• the columns are covered in pictorial sunken reliefs and inscriptions

• pylon gate entrance

Seated Scribe

Egypt (south of Cairo); 2552-2528 BCE

painted limestone with inlaid eyes of rock crystal, calcite, and magnesite mounted in copper

• Most likely placed in a tomb so whoever was buried there could take a scribe with them to the afterlife

• Found near tomb of Kai, Saqqara

• no movement in Ancient Egyptian sculpture

• scribe sitting on ground (showing he is a worker)

• sagging breasts/belly fat

• frontal view

Menkaure and Queen

Giza, Egypt; 2490-2472 BCE

graywacke with traces of red and black paint

• Used to ensure rebirth for the pharaoh and his queen in the afterlife

• Found in Menkaure’s valley temple, near his tomb

• all Egyptian art based off Ka (spirit/soul), afterlife, and death

• frontal view

• engaged (attached) limbs

Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and Three Daughters

Tell el-Amarna, Egypt; 1350 BCE

painted limestone

• made for a home altar

• inspire piety in his court/depict the royal family?

• New Egyptian style emerged as the reign of Akhenaten began

• Found in Akhetaten

Last Judgement of Hunefer

Thebes, Egypt; 1275 BCE

painted papyrus

• Guide the dead through to the afterlife past the tests and judgements

• part of the “Book of the Dead”

• set proportions and scale for all human figures

Tutankhamun’s tomb, innermost coffin

Valley of the Kings, Egypt; 1323 BCE

gold inlaid with glass and semiprecious stones

• Encase the sarcophagus of King Tut

• Glass work was recent invention

• Shown with crook and flail

Standard of Ur

Southern Iraq; 2600-2500 BCE

shells, lapis lazuli, red limest

• use unknown

• 3 scenes depicting success in battle

• Sumerian techniques

• standard = flag

• peace side & war side

White Temple and Ziggurat

Warka, Iraq; 3400-3200 BCE

whitewashed mud brick

• Temple for worship to Inanna (goddess of love & war) & Anu (sky god)

• 40ft tall ziggurat

• overlooked city of Uruk in Mesopotamia (Sumer)

• resembles a mountain

• white temple was on top but bc made of mud brick it eroded

Votive Figures

Tell Asmar, Iraq; 2900-2600 BCE

limestone, alabaster, & gypsum

• Served as stand in for a person so they would always be praying for fertility & abundant crops

• found in the Square Temple, Eshnunna lining a room

• Sumerian religious art

• wide eyes bc eyes window to the soul

• bigger figures = priests

Stele of Hammurabi

Sush, Iran; 1792-1750 BCE

basalt

• Served as the written form of Hammurabi’s Code (Babylon’s laws) to guarantee fair treatment across his kingdom

• Emphasized accomplishments of the king

• probably from Sippar & found at Susa

• where “an eye for an eye” comes from

• written in cuneiform

• made of durable hard stone so the laws would last

Lamassu from the Citadel of Sargon II