Introduction: Prehistory and the Birth of Civilization

Professor Lauren Martilli

The Humanistic Tradition: The First Civilizations and the Classical

Legacy, Book 1

Paleolithic (“Old Stone”) Cultureca. 7 million-10,000 BCE

Coincides with the Ice Age (geological) Predecessors of Homo sapiens, the “self-

conscious, symbol-making” human species

Nomadic hunters and gatherers Cave Art

Cave “Art”: Lascaux Caves, France

Hall of the Bulls, cave painting, Lascaux (Dordogne), Francec. 15,000–13,000 BCE Left wall.

• Polychrome• Naturalistic

Wall Paintings: Lascaux Caves, France

Hall of the Bullsc. 15,000–10,000 BCE

Pech-Merle Caves, France

Spotted horses and negative hand prints. ca. 15,000-10,000 BCE.

• Polychrome• Naturalistic

Reconstruction of a mammoth-bone house, Mezhirich, Ukraine, ca. 16,000-10,000 BCE

Mother Earth

Woman (“Venus”) of Willendorfc. 25,000–20,000 BCE

4.25,” Danube River (Western Austria)

• Cultural Value of Paleolithic women?

• Mother/goddess statuettes

Neolithic (“New Stone”) Culture

ca. 8,000-4,000 BCE Transition: Hunters and gathers Herders

and farmers Domesticating animals, planting, plowing,

growing crops, cultivating the land enabled new sense of stability

Benefits of farming? Why was the Neolithic era so

revolutionary? Social development, communities Language, writing system, narrative quality of

cave paintings, signs of daily life, human expression

Female Cycladic idol, from Amorgos, 2700-2300 B.C.E. Marble, 4' 10 1/2" high.

Saharan Rock Painting

Saharan rock painting, Tassili, Algeria. 5th-4th millennium B.C.E.

What do the differences suggest about the transition from Paleolithic to Neolithic?

Neolithic Earthworks: Stonehenge

Stonehenge, Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, England, ca 3000-1800 BCE. Stone. 97 ft. diameter, 20 ft. highest point

Neolithic Architecture: Stonehenge

Stonehenge, Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, England.

Architecturef Megaliths (“large stones”)

Cromlech: circle of stones having a religious purpose

Henge: a circle of stones or posts

f Post and lintel structure (vertical posts supported by vertical lintels)

f Function/purpose? Sun clock or calendar,

summer & winter solstices Ritual space

The Birth of Civilization

The Evolution of Writing

Pictographs Ideogram Cuneiform

wedge-shaped characters incised in clay tablets

Cuneiform Tablet

Rosetta Stone

Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, “sacred signs”

Hieroglyphics = ideograms + phonograms

Thanks, Champollion, for deciphering the stone

http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/aes/t/the_rosetta_stone.aspx

The King of Lagash leads his phalanx into battle. Detail of Eannatum's Stele of Victory, Tello, formerly Girsu, ca. 2450 B.C.E. Limestone, 5 ft. 10-7/8 in. x 4 ft. 3-5/8 in. Louvre, Paris.

Chariot from Daimabad, Maharashtra, ca. 1500 B.C.E. Bronze, 8-5/8 x 20-1/2 x 6-7/8 in. The Prince of Wales Museum of Western India, Bombay.

Creation

Myths

Rig Veda

African

Mayan Popol Vuh

Native America

n

Discussion

Sympathetic Magic Ancient/Modern examples? Relationship between ritual and myth? How do rituals contribute to our well-being? To our

sense of “control” over time and nature? Possible roles of men and women in

prehistoric culture? What aspects of early human life left no records?

Development of community and community values?

Commonalities among 4 “creation myths” (pp. 14-15)? Other examples?

Study Questions

1. Compare/contrast: Paleolithic & Neolithic cultures

2. Purpose/function of early forms of sacrifice and ritual?

3. Distinguishing feature of Homo sapiens? 4. What is the Rosetta Stone and the

importance of its discovery ? 5. What makes the Neolithic Age

“revolutionary”?6. What is sympathetic magic?