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Art History > Unit 1 - Global Prehistory > Flashcards

Unit 1 - Global Prehistory Flashcards

1
Q

Apollo 11 Stones: Identifiers

A

Style: Paleolithic
Location: Wonderwerk Cave, Namibia
Date: c. 25,500 BCE

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2
Q

Apollo 11 Stones: Form + Function

A

Form: charcoal on 2 pieces of cave stone, maybe used mineral based pigment bc they found ostrich egg painted
Function: unknown, small enough to fit in hand, taken from place to place?

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3
Q

Apollo 11 Stones: Content

A
  • supernatural, part-animal, part-human creature?
  • originally a feline & human legs added later?
  • therianthrope
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4
Q

Apollo 11 Stones: Context

A
  • found in Hun’s Mnts. of Namibia
  • 7 other tablets that contained animal figures
  • found during the Apollo 11 moon landings
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5
Q

Great Hall of Bulls: Identifiers

A

Style: Paleolithic
Location: Lascaux Caves, France
Date: 15,000 BCE

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6
Q

Great Hall of Bulls: Form

A
  • hall of bulls can hold up to 50 people
  • stone tools
  • holes from tree limb scaffolding
  • organic lines, naturalistic
  • colors of brown red, yellow, white, from ocher
  • twisted perspective
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7
Q

Great Hall of Bulls: Function + Content

A

Function: telling a story, hunting strategy, memorializing their kill, offering imagery for future hunt, importance of survival, used for religious rituals, storytelling and preserving history
Content: animals of importance (bulls, horses, cattle, deer), human vs animals

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8
Q

Great Hall of Bulls: Context

A
  • one of 350 sites
  • discovered in 1940, opened to public in 1948, closed in 1963
  • created over centuries
  • stone age
  • replica built to preserve artwork
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9
Q

Camelid Sacrum in the Shape of a Canine: Identifiers

A

Style: Paleolithic
Location: Central Mexico
Date: 14,000 BCE

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10
Q

Camelid Sacrum in the Shape of a Canine: Form

A
  • made from fossilized remains of sacrum-triangular pelvic bone of a camelid (extinct)
  • sacrum = sacred bone at base of spine
  • camelid- camel, alpaca, llama, etc.
  • holes for eyes, nostrils
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11
Q

Camelid Sacrum in the Shape of a Canine: Function

A
  • unknown but prehistoric artisans drew/painted/sculpted what they saw in their everyday life, so choice to render image of canine makes sense
  • spiritual significance of sacrum, pelvic bone is fulcrum of the body and central to internal organs
  • could be a symbol of fertility or connection to ancestry and posterity/ hunting
  • mask?
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12
Q

Camelid Sacrum in the Shape of a Canine: Context

A
  • lost to scholars for 60 years, privately owned
  • discovered 40 ft below surface in Mexico City by a drainage worker in 1870
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13
Q

Running Horned Woman: Identifiers

A

Style: Neolithic
Location: Algeria
Date: c. 6,000 BCE

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14
Q

Running Horned Woman: Form

A
  • hierarchal scale
  • pigment on rock (pictograph)
  • illusion of movement
  • twisted perspective, woman profile, horns frontal
  • conservation issues: walls often sponged with water to enhance image
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15
Q

Running Horned Woman: Function

A
  • emphasized importance of survival
  • recognition of importance animal and human relationship
  • representation of a deity
  • role and importance of women
  • size = importance
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16
Q

Running Horned Woman: Content

A
  • very remote and difficult to access location, assume figure is important
  • dancing and action and interaction
  • her size and horns indicate importance- largest and most elaborate, hunter gatherers did not typically wear horned helmets, figures in bg are smaller
  • white dots = grain
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17
Q

Running Horned Woman: Context

A
  • found in area with high elevation and unique topography
  • hunter gatherer society
  • thousands of paintings were found in the area
  • found in Algeria, Africa
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18
Q

Beaker with Ibex Motifs: Identifiers

A

Style: Neolithic
Location: Susa (Present Day Iran)
Date: c. 4,200 BCE

19
Q

Beaker with Ibex Motifs: Form

A
  • handmade
  • 1 ft tall, 8 lbs
  • registers- birds, dogs, ibex
  • animals reduced to geometric forms
20
Q

Beaker with Ibex Motifs: Function + Content

A

Function: Unknown/ funerary? found in burial ground
Content: various animals

21
Q

Anthropomorphic Stele: Identifiers

A

Style: Neolithic
Location: Arabian Peninsula
Date: c. 4,000 BCE

22
Q

Anthropomorphic Stele: Form + Function + Content

A
  • Form: 3 ft. high, geometric forms, flat
  • Function: grave marker
  • Content: face w/ 2 eyes, flattened nose, necklace, 2 chords, wide belt with double bladed dagger
23
Q

Anthropomorphic Stele: Context

A
  • prehistoric Saudi Arabia was fertile & lush
  • domesticated animals, lived in mountainous regions linked to others by caravan trails
  • temporary sites
  • communication between different groups
  • art history for this region does not begin with Islam
24
Q

Jade Cong: Identifiers

A

Style: Neolithic
Location: Liangzhu, China
Date: c. 3,000 BCE

25
Jade Cong: Form
* cong - tube with a circular inner section and squarish outer section * Jade * Bi - round disks w holes in the center
26
Jade Cong: Function + Content
Function: unknown, represent the earth & heavens?, funerary? Content: Taotie
27
Jade Cong: Context
* neolithic China * found near grave sites * sometimes broken or burned, indicating a possible funerary purpose
28
Stonehenge: Identifiers
Style: Neolithic Location: United Kingdom Date: 2,500 BCE
29
Stonehenge: Form
* henge * megaliths * built in 3 phases * post & lintel- 2 or more vertical elements used to support a bridging horizontal one * mortise & tenon- a conical projection from one piece fitting into a hole in the next
30
Stonehenge: Function
* evident that the 2nd stage of construction, Stonehenge was used as a burial site - important figures * horseshoes of trilithons frames mark both mid-summer solstice and midwinter sunset
31
Stonehenge: Content
* 3 phases * concentric circles of huge stones- lintel stones carved to create the curved lines of a circle * huge pits dugged which allows stones to stay upright
32
Stonehenge: Context
* 1st phrase started around 3100 BCE concurrent w first dynasties of ancient Egypt, construction continued next 500 years * used machinery to get lintel stones on top of post stones
33
The Ambum Stone: Identifiers
Style: Neolithic Location: Papua New Guinea Date: c. 1,500 BCE
34
The Ambum Stone: Form/Function/Content
Form: 8 in. greywacke (sedimentary stone), stylized Function: mortar and pestle? ward off danger Content: animal, likely an echidna, possibly a baby echidna
35
The Ambum Stone: Context
* used for rituals up until 1960s by Enga people, supernatural potency * 1930s Christian missionaries show up, many embrace new religion
36
Tlatilco Female Figurine: Identifiers
Style: Neolithic Location: Central Mexico Date: 1,200 BCE
37
Tlatilco Female Figurine: Form
* small scale, 4 inches high * ceramic * many are doubled faced and women * sharp edged eyes nearly closed * painted, detailed hairstyles * emphasis on waist and hips not on hands of feet * made by hand
38
Tlatilco Female Figurine: Function + Content
Function: found in tombs, fertile or religious/ double faced shaman Content: abnormalities suggest access to supernatural, some with details showing social status
39
Tlatilco Female Figurine: Context
* people of Tlatico flourished 2,000-3,000 years before the Aztec came to power in this Valley * we cannot learn more about their settlements because it is beneath modern day Mexico city * male figures are rare- usually wear costumes and masks
40
Terra Cotta Fragment: Identifiers
Style: Neolithic Location: Solomon Islands Date: c. 1,000 BCE
41
Terra Cotta Fragment: Form
* hand shaped * low open fire (no kiln) * incised geometric patterns * anthropomorphic face * mix of sand and clay
42
Terra Cotta Fragment: Function + Content
* Function: used to serve and store food (bowls) Content: repeat of patterns- strict system, as they moved farther across the islands, designs simplified
43
Terra Cotta Fragment: Context
* sophisticated seafarers, traveling from island to island via canoe: diaspora- the dispersion of any people from their original homeland * pottery sherds left behind

Art History (9 decks)

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