...ARTH 1380 Art & Society Prehistory to Gothic MWF 10:00 -11:00 a.m. FA132- Dudley Recital Hall Instructor: Dr. Sarah Kielt Costello Office: FA104A Office Hours: M/W 9:30 – 10:00 a.m. or by appointment e-mail: skcostello@uh.edu Graders: (to be determined) Course Description: An introduction to the history of Western art through a survey of painting, sculpture, architecture and crafts from the prehistoric era through the medieval period. Emphasis will be on understanding art as an expression of the culture that produced it, and as a means of understanding historical context. We will follow a historical progression, studying a number of cultures and periods in turn. The best way to succeed is to read the textbook before each class, attend every lecture, take good notes, and study each week. Be advised that you simply cannot learn this material at the last minute. Learning Outcomes: Students will attain, through lectures & reading, and will demonstrate through three exams and two papers knowledge about the art and cultures of the western civilization (from prehistory through the Medieval period). Students will develop observation, analytical & writing skills through the writing of two papers on works of art. Grading: Exams: The exams will consist of multiple choice questions based on slides, assigned reading, and lecture notes. You will be provided with a list of images & terms that you need to know for the exam. No other...
Words: 1629 - Pages: 7
...toys. A large number of female figurines were made using terracotta. These figurines are beaded with heavy headgear and ornaments. Most of them had thin waists, broad hips and big breasts. The nose is pinched, the mouth is a slit and clay pellets were used to indicate eyes. In contrast is the sleek and slender limbed ‘Dancing Girl’ in bronze, just 10.5 cms high. Said a surprised John Marshall in the following quotation: When I first saw it I found it difficult to belive they were pre historic. it seemed to so completely to upset all established ideas about early art. Modelling such as this was unknown to the ancient world up to the Hellenistic age of Greece. The technique use to make this sculpture is called the ‘lost wax method’. This is a technique in whichthe desired form is modelled in clay and then this is coated in wax. This is then covered with an outer layer of clay, with one or more apertures piercing it. Molten bronze is the poured through the apertures and the wax evaporates, allowing the bronze to coat the clay core. The outer layer of clay is then broken and discarded. The ‘Dancing Girl’ was also British archeologist Mortimer Wheeler’s favorite, in his words: She’s about fifteen years old I should think not, not more, but she stands there with bangles all the way up her arm and nothing else on...A girl perfectly confident of ...
Words: 461 - Pages: 2
...his time George Mylonas 1952 found tablets Maria Amalia Christine (1738-1768) JJ Winklemann Father of Archeology History of the Art of antiquity Unpublished relics of antiquity Paleolithic age –old stone age Neolithic age- new stone age Bronze Early- 3000-2100 BC Middle- 2100-1550 Late- 1550-1100 Pelos was attacked and destroyed 1230 Whether the economy had trashed or they neglected their defenses Mycenian greeks worshiped the same gods as the later greeks No temple has been found for them Historians consider the Mycenaeans to be the first ancient Greeks, connected to the future Greek civilization by language and religion. Mycenaean period (starts with late Bronze age) 1. 1550-1500 2. 1500-1230 3. 1230-1100 golden age Possible reasons for the destruction of the Mycenaean 1. Internal 2. 1230 Egypt was attacked by the sea people (palasets) later a group of these people settled in Israel 3. Dorian - northern Greeks, used many of these people as mercenaries, armed forces, therefore may have known the sources of weakness, wanted to attack to get the wealth of the palace and then they left Dark Age 1150-750 1. New people arrive, Dorians believe they were descendants of Hercules. Argos, Sparta, Messenia – 3 most important states in Greece 2. Alphabet- invented by the Phoenicians (region now known as Lebanon) Greeks added vowels 3. first forms of writing 4. Calendar 776BC first Olympics They were united by a common language and...
Words: 516 - Pages: 3
...CLAR 120: GLOSSARY UPDATED: 8/18/15 absolute dating: The determination of age with reference to a specific time scale, such as a fixed calendrical system. Anatolia: The western Asian peninsula bordered by the Black Sea, the Aegean, and the Mediterranean, with the eastern border variously defined; today the western part of Turkey. Also called Asia Minor, especially when referring to the Greek and Roman periods. anthropology: The study of humanity - our physical characteristics as animals, and our unique non-biological characteristics we call culture. apsidal: building type with one rounded end, found especially in mainland Greek Early Iron Age contexts. archaeological survey: Recording remains visible on the surface, without recourse to excavation. archaeology: A subdiscipline of anthropology involving the study of the human past through its material remains. artifact: Any portable object used, modified, or made by humans; e.g. stone tools, pottery, and metal weapons. ashlar masonry: masonry style with smoothed rectangular cut blocks. assemblage: A group of artifacts recurring together at a particular time and place, and representing the sum of human activities. band: A term used to describe small-scale societies of hunters and gatherers, generally less than 100 people, who move seasonally to exploit wild (undomesticated) food resources. Kinship ties play an important part in social organization. Big-Man society: A type of socio-political organization where an influential...
Words: 2055 - Pages: 9
...history and prehistory | ↑ before Homo (Pliocene epoch) | Prehistory (three-age system) | Stone AgeLower Paleolithic * Homo * Homo erectusMiddle Paleolithic Early Homo sapiensUpper Paleolithic Behavioral modernityNeolithic Cradle of civilizationBronze Age * China * Europe * India * Near EastIron AgeBronze Age collapse * China * Europe * India * Japan * Korea * Near East * Nigeria | Recorded history | Ancient historyEarliest recordsPostclassical eraModern history * Early * Later * Contemporary | ↓ Future | * v * t * e | Prehistory means literally "before history", from the Latin word for "before," præ, and historia. Human prehistory is the span of time since behaviorally and anatomically modern humans first appear, and until the appearance of recorded history following the invention of writing systems. Since both the time of settlement of modern humans, and the evolution of human civilisations, differ from region to region, prehistory starts and ends at different moments in time, depending on the region concerned. Sumeria in Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt were the first civilisations to develop their own scripts, and to keep historical records; this took place already during the early Bronze Age. The neighbouring civilisations of the Ancient Middle East were the first to follow. Most other civilisations reached the end of prehistory during the Iron Age.[citation needed] ------------------------------------------------- efinition:...
Words: 980 - Pages: 4
...This is just another example of how even though these people lived nine thousand years ago people today are still living in the same ways. I think that has been the most interesting part of the beginning of chapter one; our society still has many of the same values and practices of our ancient ancestors. The next section of chapter one focuses on the Old Stone Age or Paleolithic era. (3) The people of this era lived before written history existed, around 3000 B.C.E. However, they were tool-makers and artists. The cave paintings at Lascaux act as a type of history as do the finely made tools and jewelry that historians have discovered. (3) The Paleolithic people were known to be hunters and gatherers, they did not have domesticated animals, they had few material possessions, and disparities in wealth were unlikely. (3) They lived in a very egalitarian society which leads me to believe perhaps simple is better. Today’s people do not live equally and have many possessions; did the Paleolithic era people know something we don’t? After climate changes occurred the people of the Old Stone Age transitioned to the New Stone Age, or...
Words: 3078 - Pages: 13
...As I enter my first college class, my attention goes to Professor Feldman, a tall, slender woman in a loose pearl blouse with black dress pants. The combination of her graceful stance and scholarly presence distinguishes her already from the chaos of the lecture room. The calm demeanor spreads through the room as she gradually turns the lights down low, signaling the beginning of lecture, and gives life to the art historian’s companion, the slide projector. Her slow and steady speech is punctuated by inflections at nearly every other word and reflects her scholarly presence. She picks her words carefully and you can sense the moment’s thought before each. Her precisely chosen words make each one valuable as I frantically try to catch them all. Feldman incorporates her elevated vocabulary in daily speech and lecture, requiring that I form my own vocabulary list: mélange, koine, cache, lingua franca, etc. In spite of being intimidated by Professor Feldman’s scholarship, the fellow human being, Marian Feldman, shows through at times. She does not hesitate to admit “When did those excavations take place?” or “Who was that guy who ruled Babylon? I never remember that one.” At one point she might exclaim, “Well, it doesn’t matter anyway” followed by a signature chuckle. She welcomes corrections or additions by students, and some questions lead her to guiltily admit, “You caught me. I was trying to avoid that one because, well, we just don’t...
Words: 3397 - Pages: 14
...The Bronze Age was during the time of the Mesopotamia, in the late Ur period, traversing the “Early Dynastic” time of Sumer, the Akkadian Empire, the Babylonian and Assyrian periods and the time of Kassite dominion. The Bronze Age people extensively use metal to developing trade networks between 3000 to 1200 BCE (Matthews et al., 2014). Human beings learned how to mine and use copper and tin to produce bronze. The bronze was harder and more durable than copper, which made bronze a better metal for tools, weapons, and jewelry; however, the earliest bronze was produced by artisans transmitted to Egypt, Greece, and everywhere else in the Middle East (Matthews et al., 2014). The Bronze Age inventors hammered mild bronze into the shape of body armor and helmets. The Bronze Age produced a host of technologies; however, writing started it all with Egyptians putting words on papyrus, which is a flat writing surface made from pressed reeds, and Mesopotamians incising words on clay tablets (Matthews et al., 2014). The invention of the wheel was created for horses to carry chariots and wagons making it easier for people to transport heavy objects and materials around from place to place (Hood, 2013). The chariots, body armor, and helmets made of bronze were also used during the time of war to help the Mesopotamian armies outfitted themselves with bronze spears, arrows, swords, and shields. Bronze Age culture was...
Words: 557 - Pages: 3
...Bronze Age Oppression The Bronze Age is largely seen as the time when metal first came to use. It wasn’t just all at once that the world just started to use this new technology, that transformed life. It slowly came to be in all different parts of the world. A common misunderstanding of the Bronze Age is that it started in the Middle East. However, discoveries that were made near Ban Chiang, Thailand, indicate that bronze technology was known there as early as 4500 bc (Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia). This came after the working of bronze in the Middle East by several hundred years (Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia). The slow spread of the bronze age came in phases, early, middle, and late. (Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia)....
Words: 1241 - Pages: 5
...any place where physical remains of past human activities exist2. A site can be as small as some stone tools with the human skeletons or as large as the Indus valley civilisation. These sites are broadly classified under two categories. The first ones are, based on the archaeological culture such as proto-historic, historic and pre-historic. The prehistoric archaeology is the study of past before the historical records began. The artefacts found here are mostly the stone tools including spear points, arrowheads, knives, stone axes etc. The Stone Age and the hunter- gathers are the examples of the pre-historic sites. It begins with the human behaviour of manufacturing the stone tools and ends with the fully modern human hunting and gathering socities3.The Protohistoric archaeology refers to the study of regions or periods using the archaeological methods where only a partial or very limited historic record is available4. The late Iron Age and the roman periods may be considered as Protohistoric sites. The historic archaeology refers to the study of the people with a written record. The second one are based on the function of the sites, such as habitation sites, burial sites, mound sites, underwater sites, kill sites, ceremonial sites, trading sites and quarry sites. These sites are the...
Words: 1720 - Pages: 7
...the car, and airplanes. There are other more useful forms of technology such as the computer, telephone and other forms of communication. Telephones have become more advanced over the years; the cell phone is an example of this. These also became more advance, making a more interactive, hand held, touch screen device. This advancement led to Skype, a program that allows you to talk to other people face to face, long distance. These are the most fundamental of technology that we use often today. But before this, life was different. Before the modern technological advancements, people used stone tools to defend themselves, cook, and discover. This is what led to the Iron Age, where people discovered the technology of smelting iron, which replaced bronze. As technology advanced even more, they used iron and bronze to make weapons to go to war with other countries. As nations grew larger, it led to people having more ideas for making life easier. Science has led to the discovery of medicine, so people could live longer thus, increasing the birth rate rather than the death rate. Today, the birth rate is much higher than it used to be considering it was lower than the death rate at the time. Unfortunately, we still haven’t found a reliable...
Words: 481 - Pages: 2
...The social history of England evidences many social changes over the centuries. These major social changes have affected England both internally and in its relationship with other nations. The themes of social history include demographic history, labour history and the working class, women's history, family history, the history of education in England, urban history and rural and agricultural history. The topic generally excludes politics, diplomacy and intellectual and constitution. Prehistoric society The distant past does not offer us much information on the structures of society, however, major changes in human behaviour make it likely that society must have changed dramatically. In common with much of Europe, the switch from the hunter-gatherer lifestyle to farming around 4000 BC must have heralded an enormous shift in all aspects of human life. Nobody knows what changes may have occurred, and recent evidence of permanent buildings and habitation from 3,000 years ago means that these may still have been gradual shifts. One of the most obvious symbols of change in prehistoric society is Stonehenge. The building of such stone circles, burial mounds and monuments throughout the British Isles seems to have required a division of labour. Builders would have needed to dedicate themselves to the task of monument construction to acquire the required skills. Not having time to hunt and farm would make them rely on others to such an extent that specialised farmers would emerge...
Words: 273 - Pages: 2
...uma205Louvre art museum Gold band with sphinxes and stylized tree ( Egyptian jewelry ) * Late bronze Age ( 1400-1230 BC ) * Tomb, Enkomi * 2- dimensional * Gold * Melt gold to thin sheet, curve symbols * Shape of a band, gold to show wealth, priceless * Every Egyptian is buried with everything they own including wealth it’s to be used in the after world * The message of this art is to show the tree of life or sacred tree as so the dead may move on into the after life and to live forever * Sacred tree, tree of life * Who ever crafted this were a artist that used his skill to pay respects to the culture back then to keep tradition. Egypt from long ago had traditions where they always honored their dead and they make sure the dead take with them everything they own. So they buried it with them. This art work fits in that time period as it was the time of kings and pharaohs Refernces: http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/553907?rpp=20&pg=1&rndkey=20140223&ao=on&ft=*&when=2000-1000+B.C.&pos=7 http://museum.unl.edu/research/entomology/Egyptian_Sacred_Scarab/egs-text.htm http://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/gold-band-sphinxes-and-stylized-tree?selection=44892 The metropolitan museum of art Scarab * new kingdom * dynasty 18 * ca. 1150-1295 B.C. * country of origin Egypt * faience * 3-dimensional work of art * Made from limestone ...
Words: 394 - Pages: 2
...Collapse of the Hittite Empire Nowadays, there are a lot of theories and inferences that what caused the collapse of the civilization such as environmental, ecological, political, and economic etc. I am going to introduce and analyze of the Hittite civilization which belongs to the period of the Bronze Age. There are some aspects of the collapse of civilization people have defined. What is collapse exactly? As said by the article from the National Geographic, “Collapse has specific implication of ‘imploding’ under its own weight or mismanagement or something”. For instance, while the Spanish conquered the post-classic Maya, the classic Maya may have collapsed. Even then, to have a civilization conquered is not necessarily to have it end. Chris Thornton, moderator, said there’s no such a thing as a sudden collapse. People do not disappear, and they move and they change. Giorgio Buccellati said collapse can be defined as a broken tradition. More specifically, Archaeobotanist, Dorian Fuller, stated about little tradition such as folksongs, and huge traditions such as architecture of temple. “Little traditions are more likely to persist,” he said. “Big traditions, more likely to collapse.” In that frame, good parts of the culture can continue, and probably direct to the revival of the rest of it after a latency period. “But if it doesn’t come back, that’s collapse.” On the other hand, Richard Hansen said that even the rural populations are leaving in the case of the Maya (end...
Words: 1841 - Pages: 8
...Something called the Danish Twin Study established that only about 10 percent of how long the average person lives, within certain biological limits, is dictated by our genes. The other 90 percent is dictated by our lifestyle. So the premise of Blue Zones: if we can find the optimal lifestyle of longevity we can come up with a de facto formula for longevity. But if you ask the average American what the optimal formula of longevity is, they probably couldn't tell you. They've probably heard of the South Beach Diet, or the Atkins Diet. You have the USDA food pyramid. There is what Oprah tells us. There is what Doctor Oz tells us. The fact of the matter is there is a lot of confusion around what really helps us live longer better. Should you be running marathons or doing yoga? Should you eat organic meats or should you be eating tofu? When it comes to supplements, should you be taking them?How about these hormones or resveratrol? And does purpose play into it? Spirituality? And how about how we socialize? Well, our approach to finding longevity was to team up with National Geographic, and the National Institute on Aging, to find the four demographically confirmed areas that are geographically defined. And then bring a team of experts in there to methodically go through exactly what these people do, to distill down the cross-cultural distillation. And at the end of this I'm going to tell you what that distillation is. But first I'd like to debunk some common myths when it comes...
Words: 3223 - Pages: 13