PPT 2 - Exam 1 Flashcards
(51 cards)
Prehistoric settlements and megalith constructions
Prehistory- the period before the appearance of written language (35,000 BC - 3,500 BC)
Note 3,500 - Sumerian written language appears
Ukraine (Russian plane) 14,000 BC
Mammoth bones and pine poles, lining of animal skins, a central hearth
The framework of the largest dome shaped hut constrained skeleton elements form approximately 100 mammoths, structure is probably used for rituals and ceremony
At Mezhirich in 1965, a farmer dig up the lower jaw bone of a mammoth while in the process of expanding his cellar, further excavations revealed the presence of four huts, made up of a total of 149 mammoth bones
Between Novgorod and Moscow (12,000 BC)
Cluster of skin covered huts
The largest hut had an irregular shape , 39 ft by 13 ft , formed by 3 interlocking cons of tree branches, opening at the top to allow smoke to escape from the 3 fireplaces
Jericho, Israel (ca 8,000 BC)
Fortified settlement
Stone wall 27 ft thick
Area = 10 acres
Earliest dwellings - circular mud huts with conical roofs
Catal Huyuk, Anatolia, Turkey (6,500 - 5,700 BC)
KNOW THIS
Densely packed rectangular dwellings, with a post and lintel timber framework
Walls made of mud-bricks with high opening for ventilation and light
The walls of the house adjoined the walls of the neighboring house, forming a perimeter twin wall
Intermingles with the houses were smaller windowless worship units (shrines) decorated with cult statues of deities and decorative motives
No streets (access through roofs)
Precursors is the urban developments establish in the Fertile Crescent 3 millenniums late around 3,000 BC in Mesopotamia
Western Europe - megalith constructions (mega=great, life=stone)
Tombs: constructed to protest the remains of the ancestors, show reverence and to mark territories were building on important, visible locations
Spain and France
< 4000 BC
chambered tombs
Dry wall masonry (stones laid without mortar) with corbelled roofs
Stabilized with an earth covering
Ireland
Has more than 500 megalith tombs
Decorated boulders around the mound
Interior stone work decorated with engraved rhombs and spirals
Trilithons
Two upright stones supporting a lintel stone
Tenons
Knobs left on the top of the upright stones of the trilithons
To fit into socket holes carved into the underside of the lintel stone
Mortises
The holes carved into the underside of the lintel stones
Trilithons are assembled through mortise and tenon joint
Stone hedge- used to establish solstices, solar eclipses and Luna eclipses
Significance of these settlements
Building and orienting megalith tombs provided the scientific knowledge and work experience to produce one of the most astonishing architectural works of all time
Stonehenge - culmination of construction skills and scientific observation of the prehistoric era
Bluestones of Wales transporter by water 190 miles and dragged over land
Sarsen stones were probably dragged from about 15 miles
Ancient Mesopotamia
In Greek means between two rivers
Meso= Middle , potamia = river
No definite boundaries
Covers nowadays Iraq, NE Syria, SE Turkey, SW Iran
Euphrates and Tigris (rivers)
Origin - Taurus mountains of eastern Turkey
Ends - Persian gulf
Euphrates more navigable with a unifying effect on the communities developed along its banks
Unite near Basra
More about ancient Mesopotamia
Use rivers for irrigation
Fertile lands and cultivated crops and created surpluses
Large urban population that specialized in different fields
Sumerians (4000 BC - 2350 BC)
Considered the worlds 1st civilization
Located in southern Mesopotamia- present day Middle East (Iran and Iraq)
Mastered irrigation using Euphrates river
Mastered the art of cultivating land (barley and wheat) and domesticated animals (sheep, goats, donkeys, and oxen)
Developed in independent urban communities city states
Biggest invention - cuneiform writing on clay tablets developed around 3500 BC to record governmental transactions and account for inventory of grain and other products
This ended the prehistoric era
Sumerians continued
Believed in gods of natural elements and in a mutual inter-dependence between people and the gods Anu- god of sky Enlil- god of earth Ea -god of water Utu- god of sun Nanner- god of moon Inanna - goddess of fertility Religious shrines - temples of gods and excess food storage area- were at the center of the urban communities
Eridu
The earliest settlement in the region, founded close to the Persian gulf, near the mouth of the Euphrates river
Originally had a small shrine with a brick alter and a small niche (wall recess) surrounded by dwelling houses
Successive improvements to the original shrine ended in a temple enclosed in buttressed walls built on a plant form
Buttress
Masonry reinforcement applied to walls to provide additional strength
Sumerian cities
Tepe Gawra- a city 500 miles north of eridu
Had an acropolis = the location of most important temples and religious shrines
2 temples, one shrine, and family dwellings
Facades reinforced with buttressing pilasters
Facade
The front exterior of a building
Pilaster
Rectangular column, enhanced in a wall, which is sometimes articulated as an order
Sumerian cities continued
Uruk - the largest settlement in southern Mesopotamia, if not the world
White temple (3500-3000 BC) Built on a 40 ft high platform Rubble of previous buildings Earth and sun dried bricks Covered with water resistant white wash
Temple had a sanctuary flanked by additional side rooms build on each side of a hall
Sumerian cities continued
Eanna- two groups of temples flanking a courtyard
Decorated with a mosaic of small terra-cotta cones
Base dipped in black, white, and red glaze
Tip inserted into the clay of the wall
Developed an alternating pattern of circular elements
Mosaic
A floor, wall, ceiling decoration composed of small pieces of colored glass or stone that form designs
