This document summarizes key information from Chapter 1, which covers prehistoric and early civilizations from the Paleolithic era through Ancient Egypt. It provides an overview of the time periods, cultures, themes, forms of art, and important works discussed in the chapter. Learning objectives are outlined that focus on recognizing characteristics of art from these periods and cultures, as well as understanding key vocabulary. The bulk of the document then analyzes and describes important artworks from each culture, highlighting what they reveal about the people and their beliefs. Students are directed to review this information, take a quiz on Chapter 1, and respond to a discussion question relating ancient artists' religious beliefs to their artwork.

1. Chapter One:
Prehistory & First Civilizations
•Read chapter 1 in the textbook.
•The main ideas and vocabulary terms will be mentioned
in the presentation.
•If the image from the book does not appear in the
presentation, you will not be quizzed or tested on it.
•The time period and/or culture for each image is noted
at the top of the slide.

2. Chapter 1 Learning Objectives:
• Learn the main characteristics of the art and
belief systems of the following periods and
cultures: Paleolithic, Neolithic, Ancient Near
Eastern, Egyptian.
• Gain ability to recognize the major works of art
from each of these cultures and their individual
characteristics.
• Gain knowledge of key vocabulary addressed in
chapter 1 (the main vocabulary words are
italicized within the chapter).

3. Paleolithic Art
Major Themes:
• Survival
• Fertility
• Animals
Forms:
• Anatomical exaggeration
• Pictorial definition
• Twisted perspective

4. Paleolithic Art
• “old stone ages”
• oldest dates to 30,000
BCE
• variety of artworks
• Most artifacts found in
caves in Western
Europe
• Nomadic peoples
• Hunter-gatherers

5. Paleolithic
Venus of Willendorf:
• One of the oldest sculptures ever
discovered
• Portable, note the size (4.5
inches)
• Fertility figure
• Survival
• Exaggeration of female anatomy
• Sculpture in the round (see
definition in glossary).
• Doesn’t represent a specific
woman but womanhood
Nude Woman (Venus of Willendorf),
ca. 28,000-25,000BCE. Fig. 1-2.

6. Paleolithic
Le Tuc d’Audoubert:
• These are clay bison
reliefs
• This work is an example
of relief sculpture (see
glossary in text for
difference b/t relief and
sculpture-in-the-round)
• Note description of how
they were made in
textbook
• Shown in profile – very
common
Two bison, ca. 15,000-10,000BCE.
Fig. 1-3.

7. Paleolithic
Cave Painting:
• Hundreds of cave paintings
have been found
• Stone lamps were used for
light
• Mural paintings are wall
paintings
Pech-Merle Cave:
• Read about how these were made
• “Negative” had prints were added – read about this process –
meaning of images is unknown
Spotted horses and negative hand
imprints, Pech-Merle, ca. 22,000BCE.
Fig. 1-4.

8. 8
•
Look at this image and then proceed to next slide.Look at this image and then proceed to next slide.
Figure 1-4.Figure 1-4. Hall of the Bulls (left wall), Lascaux, Dordogne, France, ca.Hall of the Bulls (left wall), Lascaux, Dordogne, France, ca.
15,000–13,000 BCE. Largest bull approx. 11’ 6” long.15,000–13,000 BCE. Largest bull approx. 11’ 6” long.

9. Paleolithic
• Lascaux is best known Paleolithic cave
• Outlines and colored-in silhouettes are used
• Note the twisted perspective of the bull horns (see text)
• For a 3-D tour of the cave, follow this link:
http://www.lascaux.culture.fr/#/en/02_00.xml

10. Read “Art in the Old Stone Age” on page 20
Why might the cave paintings have been created?
•decoration?
•magical properties?
•teaching tools for new hunters?
•a more elaborate mythology?
•There was no writing at this time, so we may
never really know.

11. Paleolithic
This image is particularly interesting, look at the pictures on this wall,
read the text about it on page 21 and proceed to the next image.
Hall of the Bulls, Lascaux, France, ca. 15,000-13,000BCE. Fig. 1-6.

12. Paleolithic
Lascaux:
• Maybe the most perplexing
prehistoric image
• Deep in cave in a well shaft
• One of the first appearances
of man in prehistoric art
• New tools – a staff?
• Animals
• Signs and representations of
humans
• Narrative? Might a story be
being told here?
Rhinoceros, wounded man, and
disemboweled bison, Lascaux, France,
ca. 15,000-13,000BCE. Fig. 1-8.

13. Neolithic Art
• “new stone ages”
People:
• Settled in villages, no
longer just nomads
• Farmers and
townspeople
• Sedentary societies
• Complex rituals
Themes:
• Human activity
• Building for
community
Forms:
• Mud brick and stone
construction
• Post-and-lintel

14. Neolithic
Ain Ghazal:
• Near Amman, Jordan
• One of 3 dozen found
• Mark the beginning of
monumental sculpture
• Plaster, reeds, twine
• Ritually buried
• In planned town
Human figure, ca. 6750-6250BCE. Fig.
1-8.

15. Neolithic
Çatal Höyük:
• One of first urban
settlements, people
lived in planned
houses
• this scene is a mural
found in one of the
houses
• Note how it was
made in text
Deer Hunt, ca. 5750BCE. Fig. 1-7.

16. Neolithic
Stonehenge, ca. 2500-1600BCE. Fig. 1-9.

17. Neolithic
Stonehenge:
•Intriguing stone circle, the
largest of many in England,
Scotland, and Ireland
•Post-and-lintel
construction
•Monumental architecture
•Megaliths (great stones)
•Astronomical observatory
Stonehenge, ca. 2500-1600BCE. Fig. 1-9.

18. Ancient Near Eastern Art
Dates and Places:
• 3500-330BCE
• “Fertile Crescent” of
Mesopotamia
People:
• City-states and empires
• Agriculture
• Specialized labor and social hierarchies
• Writing system
• Complex religions

19. Ancient Near Eastern Art
Themes:
• Offerings
• Gods
• Warfare and hunting
• Rulers
Forms:
• Mud brick construction
• Natural and conceptual treatments of
figures
• Registers of space
• Hierarchy of scale

20. Ancient Near East: Sumerian
White Temple and ziggurat, Uruk (modern Warka), Iraq, ca. 3200–3000
BCE. Fig. 1-10.

21. Ancient Near East: Sumerians
Fig. 1-10. White Temple and ziggurat,
Uruk, 3200-3000 BCE.
• Sumerians developed earliest known
writing, using wedge-shapes called
cuneiform
• Composed of city-states

22. Ancient Near East: Sumerians
Fig. 1-10. White Temple and ziggurat,
Uruk, 3200-3000 BCE.
White Temple, Uruk:
• Example of temple to the city-state’s god
• Formed nucleus of city
• Religious, administrative, and economic center of city
• Made of mud-brick, little access to stone
• Stands on a ziggurat – or high platform

23. Ancient Near East: Sumerians
Ziggurat, Ur:
• Best preserve ziggurat
platform
• Monumental mud-brick
construction
• Temple for god on top
• Cella for priests
• Votive offerings placed
inside
Ziggurat at Ur, ca. 2100BCE. Fig. 1-11.

24. Ancient Near East: Sumerian
Warka Vase:
•use of narrative to tell
complex stories
•relief sculpture
•divided into bands called
registers
•read about the narrative in
textbook
Presentation of Offerings to Inanna (Warka Vase),
ca. 3200-3000. Fig. 10-12.

25. Ancient Near East: Sumerian
Standard of Ur:
• Rectangular box
• Example of a burial good,
found in the Royal Cemetery at
Ur
• Historical narrative on two
sides
• Offerings and ritual
• Warfare
• Registers of space
• Hierarchy of scale
Standard of Ur, ca.
2600BCE. Fig. 1-14.

26. Ancient Near
East: Akkadians
Head of an Akkadian
ruler, ca. 2250-
2200BCE. Fig. 1-15.
Akkadian Portraiture:
• Akkadians were united
under an absolute
monarchy
• Enemy gouged out eyes
and beheaded statue
• Has a degree of
naturalism – interest in
the appearance of the
figure
• Life-sized, hollow cast
metal sculpture

27. Ancient Near East: Akkadian
Naram-Sin Stele:
• Divine kingship and its
attributes
• Warfare
• Cuneiform
• Hierarchy of scale (!)
• Composite view
• Organization versus
disarray in prehistoric art
• Landscape
Victory Stele of Naram-Sin, ca.
2254-2218BCE. Fig. 1-16.

28. Ancient Near East: Babylon
Hammurabi:
• What is a stele?
• Law code
• Cuneiform
• King Hammurabi and god
Shamash
• Symbols of authority
• Composite view with some
foreshortening
Stele of Hammurabi,
ca. 1780BCE. Fig. 1-17.

29. Ancient Near East: Assyria
Ashurbanipal hunting lions, ca. 645-640BCE. Fig. 1-19.

30. Ancient Near East: Assyria
Nineveh:
• Low relief sculpture
• In palace citadels
• Narrative scenes
• Naturalism
• Controlled hunt
• Warfare and hunting to show ruler’s
power
• Period of constant warfare
Ashurbanipal hunting lions, ca. 645-
640BCE. Fig. 1-19.

31. Ancient Near East:
Achaemenid Persia
Persepolis, ca. 521 465BCE.
Fig. 1-21.
Persepolis:
• Citadel complex
• Home to king and court
• Fortified and elevated
• Monumental gateway
• Audience hall (apadana)
• Relief sculpture of processions
• Influence of Greek art through trade
• Destroyed by conqueror Alexander the Great

32. Egyptian Art
Dates and Places:
• 3500-1000BCE
• Nile River Valley
People:
• Divine rulers
• Agriculture
• Hieroglyphic writing system
• Polytheism
Themes:
• Gods
• Rulers
• Life and death
• Offerings
Forms:
• Stone and mud brick
construction
• Natural and
conceptual
treatments of figures
• Registers of space
• Hierarchy of scale

33. Palette of King Narmer:
• Unification of Upper
and Lower Egypt
• Divine ruler and gods
• Symbols of authority
• Hieroglyphs
• Hierarchy of scale
• Composite view
Egypt: Predynastic Period
Palette of King Narmer, ca.
3000-2920BCE. Fig. 1-22

34. Egypt: Early Dynastic Period
Imhotep, Stepped Pyramid and
mortuary precint of Djoser,
2630-2611BCE. Fig. 1-24.
Imhotep and Djoser:
• Funerary precinct
• Burial pyramid and
temples
• Pyramid based on
mastaba (bench)
• Symbol of king’s godlike
power
• First named artist in
recorded history

35. Egypt: Old Kingdom
Great Pyramids, ca. 2551-
2528BCE. Fig. 1-1.
Great Pyramids:
• Funerary precinct with
burial pyramids and
temples
• Pyramid symbol of god
Re
• Testifies to king’s power
• Masonry construction
with internal chambers
• Stone facing reflected
sun

36. Egypt: Old Kingdom
Great Sphinx:
• Carved from existing
rock
• colossal statue
• probably depicts Khafre
• sphinx= a lion with a
human head, associated
with sun god
•Combo of animal
strength and human
intelligence
Figure 1-25. Great Sphinx (with Pyramid of Khafre in the background at left),
Gizeh, Egypt, ca. 2520–2494 BCE. Sandstone, approx. 65’ high, 240’ long.

37. Figure 1-25. Great Sphinx (with Pyramid of Khafre in the background at left),
Gizeh, Egypt, ca. 2520–2494 BCE. Sandstone, approx. 65’ high, 240’ long.
Read “Building the Great Pyramids” on p. 37

38. Egyptian: Old Kingdom
Khafre enthroned:
•example of ka statue
•Typical Egyptian statue: compact
and lifelife, expressing strength
and permanence
•Wearing typical royal costume
Fig. 1-26. Khafre enthroned, ca. 2520-
2494.

39. Egypt: Old Kingdom
Menkaure and Khamerernebty(?):
• Sculpture for king’s temple
• Home for king’s ka
• Symbols of rulership
• Ideal proportions of godlike
king
• Timeless double portrait
• Typical Egyptian pose
• Queen’s pose indicates
marriage
Menkaure and
Khamerernebty(?),
ca. 2490-2472BCE.
Fig. 1-27.

40. Egypt: New Kingdom
Hatshepsut:
• First great female
monarch in history
• Huge terraced funerary
temple
• Highly decorated
Fig. 1-29. Mortuary temple of
Hatshepsut, 1473-1458 BCE.

41. Egypt: New Kingdom
Temple of Amen-Re,
Karnak:
• Temple complex for god
Amen-Re
• Along Nile River
• Symbolic architecture
and landscape design
• Pylon temple on
symmetrical axis
• Restricted access to
hypostyle hall
Restored view of the temple of
Amen-Re, Karnak, begun 15th
century BCE. Fig. 1-31

42. Egyptian New Kingdom
Akhenaton:
•initiated a religious revolution
that went against tradition
•he had himself portrayed
with androgynous
characteristics
•united Egypt under one king
– the sun god Aton
Akhenaton, ca. 1353-1335. Fig. 1-
33.

43. Egypt: New Kingdom
Nefertiti:
• Brief period of monotheism
and political change
• Influential queen
• Named sculptor
• Rejection of artistic tradition?
• Ideal beauty over true
likeness
• Inlaid eyes Thutmose,
Nefertiti, ca.
1353-1335BCE.
Fig. 1-34.

44. Fig. 1-35. Innermost coffin of Tutankhamen, ca. 1323 (at left)
Fig. 1-36. Death Mask of Tutankhamen, ca. 1323 (at right)

45. Egypt: New Kingdom
Tutankhamen:
• Probably a son of Akhenaton
• Died at age 18
• Famous for his mostly unplundered tomb
• Innermost coffin of beaten gold with
precious stones
• Luxurious portrait mask over face

46. This completes chapter 1 review.
•There is an excellent summary of the cultures
covered in this chapter on page 45.
•When you have finished reading the chapter,
reviewing the PowerPoint, and studying the
information, you should take chapter 1 quiz.
•For this chapter you must also respond on Moodle
to the following discussion question:
Discuss at least one way that artists from ancient
times displayed their religious beliefs in their
artwork. Support your answer with an example.
•The deadline for these tasks is Monday, July 8 at
11:55 p.m.