The document provides an overview of prehistoric and ancient architecture and art from various periods and civilizations, including: - Stonehenge and its megalith construction from around 3100 BCE. - Early Sumerian architecture like ziggurats and statuettes from Tell Asmar from 3500-2400 BCE. - The Standard of Ur showing the earliest representation of a Sumerian army from around 2600-2400 BCE. - Akkadian victory steles and Babylonian law codes like the Stele of Hammurabi from the 2nd millennium BCE. - Assyrian sculptures depicting war and hunting scenes from the 9th century BCE. - Persian

1. AP Art History Summer Slides

9. The Standard of Ur A mysterious object with one of the earliest representations of a Sumerian army From Ur, southern Iraq, about 2600-2400 BC This object was found in one of the largest graves in the Royal Cemetery at Ur, lying in the corner of a chamber above the right shoulder of a man. Its original function is not yet understood. Leonard Woolley, the excavator at Ur, imagined that it was carried on a pole as a standard, hence its common name. Another theory suggests that it formed the soundbox of a musical instrument. When found, the original wooden frame for the mosaic of shell, red limestone and lapis lazuli had decayed, and the two main panels had been crushed together by the weight of the soil. The bitumen acting as glue had disintegrated and the end panels were broken. As a result, the present restoration is only a best guess as to how it originally appeared. The main panels are known as 'War' and 'Peace'. 'War' shows one of the earliest representations of a Sumerian army. Chariots, each pulled by four donkeys, trample enemies; infantry with cloaks carry spears; enemy soldiers are killed with axes, others are paraded naked and presented to the king who holds a spear. The 'Peace' panel depicts animals, fish and other goods brought in procession to a banquet. Seated figures, wearing woollen fleeces or fringed skirts, drink to the accompaniment of a musician playing a lyre. Banquet scenes such as this are common on cylinder seals of the period, such as on the seal of the 'Queen' Pu-abi, also in the British Museum.

11. Detail Victory Stele of Naram-Sin

18. Audience Hall at Persepolis (c. 500 BCE)

29. Minoan Vessels Tossed in dump sites c. 1800 BCE c. 1500 BCE

34. Harvester Vase (c. 1550-1500 BC) Carved in low relief – note overlapping to depict space

36. Mycenaean Art on the mainland of the Greek peninsula Mycenaean civilization was overwhelmed and destroyed around 1100 BCE – a time in which Greece entered a period known as the Dark Ages