‫عائشة نبيل فاضل‬

PREHISTORIC WESTERN EUROPE

The Stone Age scholars divide the Stone Age in Western Europe into three peri- ods :

1. Paleolithic

(from the Greek words palaios, meaning "old," and lithos, meaning "stone") is the earliest and the

longest. It lasted from c. 1,500,000 to c. 8000 B.c.

2. The Meso- lithic

("middle stone") period

extended from around 8000 to 6000 B.C. in southeastern Europe and c. 8000 to c. 4000 B.C. in the

rest of Europe.

3 . The Neolithic

("new stone") period dates from c. 6000/4000 B.C. to c. 3000 B.C. and

continued for another thousand years in northwestern Europe . The designation of these periods

as Stone Age derives from the use of stone tools and weapons . As technology developed, metal

replaced stone for many purposes .

- By about 50,000 BC in Europe our own lineage, Homo sapiens sapiens (literally "wise man") has
replaced

Homo sapiens, who developed complex cultures we can gain some understanding of Paleolithic
society

through Interpretation of the physical record

Where are we going?

The people of the Paleolithic era are nomadic hunters and The collectors, who

lived en masse, built shelters at the entrances to caves, under the rocky sidewalks Tents were made of
animal skins, and their huts were made of clay, plant fibres, stone and bone. fire was used for About

600,000 years-

Sculpture

Perhaps the most famous Paleolithic sculpture is the so-called Venus of Willendorf, an amazing statue

carved from limestone, and its history is different from 25,000 BC to 21,000 BC, although this figure
can

be carried in the palm of the hand. It's a massive being with a sense of organic form, dumping more

attention on the front. Enlargement of the breasts and pelvis has led some scholars to conclude that

Venus of Willendorf as the goddess of fertility enhancing this reading is a red-tinted traces that may
be associated with childbirth

- TECHNIQUE Carving

Carving is a subtractive technique in which a sculptor uses a sharp instrument

such as a knife, gouge, or chisel to remove material from a hard substance such as bone, wood, or

stone. After an image is shaped, it can be sanded, filed, or polished. The Venus of Willendorf was

not polished, although some Paleolithic sculptures were. It is made of limestone, which does not

polish as well as other types of stone.

- TECHNIQUE Modeling

Modeling, unlike carving, is an additive process, and its materials (such as

clay) are pliable rather than hard. The primary tools are the artist's hands, especially the thumbs,

although various other tools can be used. Until the material dries and hardens, the work can still
be reshaped. Clay that has been heated (fired) in a kiln (a special oven) is more durable and

waterproof than clay that has not been so treated. A Paleolithic kiln for firing clay statues of

women and animals has been found in Eastern Europe, and a variety of finely crafted, decorated

clay vessels were made in Western Europe during the Neolithic period

- The Chauvet Cave

In 1994, three speleologists (cave explorers) found the entrance to an

underground cave complex in the Ardèche Valley, in southeast France. They came upon an interior

chamber, later named for Jean- Marie Chauvet, a member of the team .

The Lascaux Cave ther is famous wall paintings at Las- caux, in the Dordogne region of France

nearly fifteen hundred years later than the Chauvet paint- ings.

Mesolithic
 - Menhirs

Menhirs (from two Celtic words: men, meaning “stone,” and hir, meaning “long”) are unhewn or

slightly shaped single stones (monoliths), usually standing upright in the ground. They were

erected individually, in clusters, or in rows as at Carnac (fig. 3.8) in Brittany (in northern France),

probably an important Neolithic religious center. Menhirs have been interpreted as representing

phallic fertilizers of Mother Earth.

Dolmens

Dolmens (from the Celtic word dol, meaning “table”) are chambers or enclosures consisting of two

or more verti- cal stones supporting a large single stone, much as legs support a table (fig. 3.9).

The earliest dolmens were tombs. Later additions turned them into passageways. Some inte- rior

dolmen walls were decorated with carvings; others were painted. Occasionally a pillar stood at the

center of a burial chamber. Dolmens, like menhirs, were imbued by Neolithic people with symbolic

associations. In contrast to the impermanence of houses built for the living, stone burial

monuments functioned as a link between present and eternal time .

The Neolithic Era

Neolithic culture developed some four thousand years earlier in the

Near East than in Europe. As with Neolithic Western Europe, the Near

East made the transition from nomadic hunting and gathering to a

more settled life centered on agriculture and animal herding .

- Jericho

The Neolithic settlement of Jericho located in West Bank, one of the oldest fortified sites in the world.

she was Originally built c. 8000-7000 BC when it was cordoned off by a moat and walls 5 to 12 feet
thick,

which rises a tower about 30 feet high protecting

Hüyük (modern Turkey) Similar home burials were found at the Katal site in Anatolia

Dating from c 6500-5000 BC This is the largest Neolithic site so far discovered in the ancient Near East

Archaeologists have found evidence of a culture of agriculture and trade

Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia (in modern Iraq) was the center of the ancient Near Eastern civilization whose name is

derived from the Greek words mesos (middle) and potamos (river) Mesopotamia is literally “the land

between the two rivers.” Tigris and Euphrates.

Its inhabitants learned to irrigate to make the land fertile. The southern terrain was open and devoid
of

nature. As a result, the cities of Mesopotamia were subject to conquest but also within reach of trade.

The Uruk Period (c. 3500–3100 b.c.)

The city of Uruk (known as Erech in the Bible and Warka in

present-day Iraq) has given its name to a period sometimes

known as Protoliterate, when the earliest known writing

developed.
 - Ziggurats

A ziggurat - a term derived from the Assyrian word for "raised" or "elevated" architectural form - is

unique in Mesopotamia. The people of Mesopotamia believed that each city was under the protection

of a deity whom the inhabitants served and built the imitated mountains, or ziggurats. As platforms
for

deity, mountains are believed to embody the intrinsic forces of nature and as a symbolic mountain, t

ziggurat satisfies one of the The basic requirements for sacred architecture are to create a transitional
space between people and their gods

- Cylinder Seals

The earliest examples of cylinder seals were produced and are examples of glyptic art from the Greek

word Which means "carved" during the Urk period is a small stone cylinder in which the glyptoy was

carved In a process known as intaglio printing From Pictures to Words The use of impressions of seals
to

designate property in the development of writing during the Aroc period, about 3500 to 3000 BC

Abstract wedge-shaped figures began to appear on pottery and stone tablets

The Epic of Gilgamesh, the oldest surviving epic poem, preserved on cuneiform tablets from the
second

millennium B.C. He-she It chronicles Gilgamesh's search for immortality as he undertakes perilous

journeys through forests and the underworld, confronting deities and moral conflict.

Gilgamesh finally reaches immortality as the builder of Uruk walls establishing urban civilization and

laying its foundations from historical progress The poem also refers to his “retelling of his works in a

stone tablet .

- Sumer: Early Dynastic Period

(c. 2800–2300 b.c.)

Tell Asmar Many small cult figures were produced dur- ing the Early Dynastic period, such as those

from Tell Asmar (fig. 4.8), a Sumerian site about 50 miles (80 km) northeast of modern Baghdad, in

Iraq. It is not known whether these figures were originally a unified group, but most hold a cup.

The men are bare-chested, and the women wear robes over one shoulder. All the figures are made

of pale stone, with their features emphasized in black pitch. The eyes are shells, and the pupils are

inlaid with black limestone. The largest male statue is thought to rep- resent an important person

dedicating himself to the god Abu. Probably the statues represent worshipers of vary- ing status,

and the size of a statue was determined by the amount of money its donor paid for it. Thus these

figures are rendered with so-called hierarchical proportions, a convention equating size with

status.

The statues are cylindrical, reflecting the Mesopotamian preference for rounded sculptural

shapes. Also charac- teristic is the combination of stylization—visible here in the horizontal ridges

of the males’ hair and beards—with suggestions of organic form in the cheeks and chin. The

frontal poses and vertical planes of these figures endow them with an air of imposing solemnity.

Their frontality is emphasized by the prominence of large, wide-open eyes, indicating awe in the
 - Akkad (c. 2300–2100 b.c.)

Sargon I The founder of the Akkadian dynasty, Sargon I, reigned for over half a century, from c. 2300
to

2250 b.c. and gaining control of most of Mesopotamia and the lands beyond the Tigris and Euphrates

rivers. Naram-Sin Sargon I’s grandson, Naram-Sin, recorded his victory over a mountain people, the

Lullubians, in a commemorative stele .

- Neo-Sumerian (c. 2100–1800 b.c.)

After flourishing for about a century, the Akkadian dynasty was defeated. Following a period of
turmoil,

there was a revival of Sumerian culture , Gudea is the best-known king of Lagash, a thriving

NeoSumerian city-state His extensive building programs were made possible by his ability to maintain

peace in his own territory , despite continual political upheavals surrounding Lagash

The Ziggurat of Ur

The Neo-Sumerian period reached a peak under UrNammu the first king of its last important dynasty,

the Third Dynasty of Ur. He supervised the construction of the great ziggurat at Ur , which is more

complex than the one in Uruk. Three stages were constructed around a mud-brick core and Leading to
a
vertical gate, which provided the only point of entry to the upper levels, were three long stairways,
each composed of one hundred
steps

Babylon (c. 1900–539 b.c.)

Continuing warfare between Mesopotamian city-states led to the frequent rise and fall of different

civilizations. Some two centuries into the second millennium b.c., the first dynasty of Babylon was

established. And Babylon gained control of Mesopotamia. Today, Hammurabi is best known for his
law

code inscribed on a black basalt stele

Anatolia: The Hittites

(c. 1450–1200 b.c.)

The Hittites were an Anatolian people whose capital city, Hattusas, was located in modern Boghazköy
in
central Turkey. Like the Mesopotamians, the Hittites kept records in cuneiform on clay tablets which

were stored on shelves, systematically catalogued and labeled as in a modern library

Assyria (c. 1300–612 b.c.)

A northern Assyrian city-state emerged as the next unifying force in Mesopotamia. Located along the

Tigris in modern Syria, its capital city was named for Ashur, the chief Assyrian deity. At the end of

Hammurabi’s reign, c. 1750 b.c , Ashur had become a prominent fortified city

The Neo-Babylonian Empire

(612–539 b.c.)

By about 850 b.c., the Assyrians had taken control of Babylon. They ruled until the early seventh
century

b.c. when Nebuchadnezzar restored some of its former splendor. The only extant example of

monumental architecture from the reign of Nebuchadnezzar

Iran (c. 5000–331 b.c.)

To the east of Mesopotamia lay ancient Iran, named after the Indo-European Aryans, who may have
entered the Near East from the steppes of present-day Russia.
 The Scythians

(8th–4th century b.c.)

The influence of early Iranian art persists in the much later

animal art of the Scythians from southern Russia. Because

the Scythians were nomadic, their art was portable. It is

characterized by vivid forms and a high degree of techni cal skill. A stag from the seventh century b.c.
(fig. 4.24) is a

typical Scythian gold object. The artist has captured a natu ralistic likeness of the animal, while at the
same time form ing its antlers into an abstract series of curves and turning

its legs into birds. Such visual metaphors, in which forms

of one animal are transformed into those of another, are

characteristic of Scythian animal art. They also enhance the

illusion of motion; although it is clear from the folded, bird shaped legs that the stag is not moving,
there is a sense of

movement in the curvilinear patterning

Achaemenid Persia (539–331 b.c.)

By the late seventh century b.c., the Babylonians and the Medes had united against the Assyrians.
Cyrus

the Great led the Persians against Lydia, in Anatolia, in 546 b.c. and against Babylon in 539 b.c. Under

Cyrus, the Medes and the Persians united, and the Persians rose to dominance in the Near East They

created an empire that was even larger and more powerful than that of the Assyrians.