Unit 2 - Prehistoric Art (Chapter 1)

-separate images or earliest known narrative
-gory tale of a hunt, or a shaman's encounter with his spirit creatures
-male stick figure w birdlike head likes b/w wooly rhinoceros & disemboweled bison, bird-headed stick/staff nearby
-composite image

Largest bull approximate length 11'6"; located @ bottom of 16ft well shaft; viewers contend with precarious path, eerie flickering lights, echoing sounds, & muty smells --> all add texture to viewing process
luminated - rock lamps w fat/marrow
-used scaffolds, prepared wall by scraping w stoane tools-brings out white chalkiness for background
-deep in cave-ritual/religious purpose?
-magico-religious-naturalistic animals within outlines-control them, unnaturalistic human to avoid same control

-suggest obstetrics tool/aid, documenting different stages of preg. to educate women towards healthy birth; may indicate artist was a woman
-abstract quality-streses potent fertility, no facial features-covered w schematically rendered hair (covers entire head)
-emphasis on figure's reproductive qualities-diminitive arms on large breasts, extended belly, large buttocks, genetalia b/w larg thighs
-fertility object?
distorted view of body may suggest woman artist

-first known large-scale sculptures
-large size-motivating factor-led to flat, shallow appearance
-plaster applied to bundles of fresh reeds, w cordage, kept horizontal during assembly, legs added later
-paint applied, cowrie shells for eyes, darkened w bitumen (black tar-like substance) for pupils
-once plaster dry-stood fragile figures upright & probably added wigs & clothing
-like Jericho, heads may have represented ancestors, some had 2 heads - mythical function?

-Traded in ore - mainly obsidian
-lacked streets
-mud-brick & timber houses
-no doors @ ground level - accessed by hole in roof
-each house shared wall(s) with neighbours
-advantages:
-structural, saved on building materials & heating
-defensive-attacker had to scale walls & met with resistance on roof
-rooms accomodated workiing, cooking, sleeping (on wall platforms)
-burials beneath floor
-plastered walls often painted

-possibly first lanscape painting
-of Catal Huyuk w volcano
-rows of irregular blocklike houses (town?) & above it a bright red feature spotted w black & topped iwth black lines & dots may represent Hasan Dag, a twin-peaked volcano in view of town
-may indicate a sense of community in this early ssettlement, w inhabitants specifially identifying themselves w place

-plaster covered walls often painted
-depicting animal hunts w small human figures running around disproportionately large bulls/stags
-paintings were static, unlike earlier cave paintings that embodied motion
-most ornate rooms - shrines?
bulls' horns & plaster breasts may have signified fertility

-megaliths in a chromlech (circle)
-like Menec, may mark the passing of time
-may have had a ritual function, perhaps assoc w burial-arrangement supports this-circles central to rituals in many societies
-many medieval observers to believed K. Arthur's magician created it
-like Menec-took tremendous organization of labour & engineering skill
-largest trilith @ centre of horseshoe, 24ft, supports a lintel 15ft long and 3ft thick
-the sarsen (sandstone) blocks weigh up to 50tons & travelled 37km fr Marlbourough Downs
-the bluestones originated 320km away in Welsh Preseli Mountains --> meticulous stone working
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