Chapter 1
Prehistoric people drew on the walls of caves. There may have been art made earlier than
30.000 years ago, but these may not have survived.
- Paleolithic era: Old Stone Age
During the paleolithic era, cultures were small, scattered and nomadic. Around 10.000 BCE,
agriculture began to replace hunting and gathering (ijskappen smolten).
- Neolithic: New Stone Age
- Civilisation: a social, economic and political entity distinguished by the ability to express
itself through images and written language
- Having an elite
- Wars
In the great river valleys of the Middle East, Egypt and Asia, more sophisticated civilisations
began to emerge → possible because the environments they lived in supported this lifestyle.
Larger populations → increased production of food and other goods (trade). An elite was
necessary to form and establish priorities. War has played a big role in acquiring goods and
organising themselves.
- Before writing, after 10.000 BCE: these cultures started creating myths and legends that
explained their origins and relation to the world.
- About 4000 BCE: Emergence of the Bronze Age → metallurgy developed → (durable)
objects were created. Metal tools and weapons emerged → begin of the Bronze Age
1.1
- Culture: values and behaviours shared by a group of people, developed over time, and
passed down through generations.
- Laws, customs, ritual behaviour, artistic production common to the group.
Scholars believe that the cave paintings were created to exert some power or authority over the
world of those who came into contact with them. For a long time it was believed that the
drawings were to help the hunt. But the animals portrayed were rarely or never hunted → now it
is believed that the caves served as ritual spaces.
- Ritual: a rite or ceremony habitually practised by a group, often in religious or
quasi-religious contexts.
- Maybe a gateway to the underworld or death.
- The Chauvet paintings are placed at the point with the best sound “system” of the cave
(music may have been an important part of the rituals).
- Naturalism: representations that imitate the actual appearance of the animals.
The old paintings of Chauvet showed this naturalism. The paintings show us that art does not
evolve in a linear progression. The lack of sophistication in later works were not due to the
incapacity of the artist but to a conscious (maybe culturally motivated) choice.
The earliest evidence of a culture coming into being is the stone artefacts of the homo sapiens.
- Evolved around 100.000-120.000 years ago.
- Buried their dead in ritual ceremonies.
,Homo sapiens were hunter-gatherers, their tools were far more sophisticated than those of their
ancestors.They also made music. We do not know what the music sounded like. Because we
didn’t begin to note them down properly until 1450 CE. These prehistoric people also carved
small sculptural objects. These were, along with the cave paintings, the first instances of what
we have come to call “art”.
- A lot of female figurines were found across Europe.
It is still unclear what the small sculptures meant or what they were used for. They were small
enough to be used in rituals and exaggerated breasts and bellies support a connection to fertility
and child bearing. The strong presence of female figurines suggests that women played a
central role in Palaeolithic culture. Palaeolithic culture may have been matrilineal and matrilocal.
- Matrilineal: descent is determined through the female line
- Matrilocal: residence is in the female’s tribe or household.
Sculptures may have also served as a form of nonverbal communication among groups.
In-between 10.000 and 8.000 BCE, the ice sheets covering the Northern Hemisphere began to
melt. Farming started to replace hunting and agriculture developed.
- 8000 CE: neolithic agricultural societies began to concentrate in the great river valleys of
the Middle East and Asia.
The great rivers of the Middle East and Asia provided a water source that allowed for the
development of irrigation techniques. Production became bigger than what was necessary, so
people began to occupy themselves in other skills.
- Complex food preparation
- Construction
- Military affairs
- Religion
Villages began to appear. Which later turned into cities.
Due to the emergence of agriculture, pottery vessels got used more often.
- Around 3.000 BCE: production of pottery in Europe
- Around that same time, in Egypt, the potter’s wheel had already come into life.
As the potter’s wheel is a machine, created to produce goods, it is in many ways the first
mechanical and technological breakthrough in history.
Not long after, clay modelling started to emerge. Back in the Palaeolithic times, clay sculptures
were never fired. In the Neolithic period, this changed.
- Megaliths: “big stones”, a distinctive kind of monumental stone architecture from the late
Neolithic period.
Megaliths represent the most basic form of architectural construction. Scholars have different
opinions on the significance of some of these megaliths.
- May have marked a ritual procession route
- May have symbolised the body and the process of growth and maturation
- Maybe they symbolised the strength of the leaders responsible for the creation.
Whatever the case, they were designed to be permanent structures.
,1.2
- Oral cultures: cultures that developed without writing, only through speech
Oral cultures have given us most of our understanding of prehistoric cultures. In these cultures,
myths and histories have been passed down from generation to generation, by word of mouth.
- Myth: a story that a culture assumes to be true.
Myths also embody the culture’s views and beliefs about its world, they provide an explanation
for otherwise mysterious natural phenomena. Myths have been one of the most important forces
driving the development of culture. Myths aren’t pure fantasy, but instead are grounded in
observed experience. They are created to rationalise the unknown and explain to people the
nature of the universe and their place within it. Myths reflect a community’s ideals, its history
and its aspirations. They also mirror the culture’s moral and political systems, its social
organisation, and its most fundamental beliefs.
- Creation myth: a story of a people’s origin.
Three general beliefs of most Neolithic peoples:
- Animism: belief that the forces of nature are inhabited by living spirits.
- Anthropomorphism: belief that nature’s behaviour can be compared to human behaviour,
explaining what otherwise would remain inexplicable.
- Belief that humans can communicate with the spirits of nature
- Religion: a culture’s understanding of the divine.
- Closely tied to and penetrated by mythical elements.
1.3
- A ziggurat: a pyramidal temple structure, consisting of successive platforms with outside
staircases and a shrine at the top.
- Mesopotamia: the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
- Uruk: by 3200 BCE probably the largest settlement in the world.
To the Mesopotamians, human society was merely part of the larger society of the universe
governed by the gods and a reflection of it. The Mesopotamian ruler, often believed to possess
divine attributes, acts as the intermediary between the gods and humankind. His ultimate
responsibility is the behaviour of the gods.
To the people of Ur, religion was central.
- Social perspective/hieratic scale: the most important figures are represented as larger
than the others.
The Akkadians from the city of Akkad became the region’s most powerful city-state, under
Sargon I. After conquering the rest of Mesopotamia, Sargon named himself “king of the four
quarters of the world.” Legends about Sargon and his might and power survived in the region for
thousands of years. The legend of his birth gave rise to what amounts to a narrative genre
(rags-to-the-riches).
- Narrative genre: a class or category of story with a universal theme.
Stories of abandonment, orphanhood, and being a foundling raised by a foster parent, were to
become the standard feature in the narratives of mythic heroes.
Although Akkad was arguably the most influential culture of Mesopotamia, few artefacts survive.
- 2350-2200 BCE: Akkadian rule over Mesopotamia
, - 1595 BCE: fall of Babylon (invasion of Hittites from Turkey).
Only the Assyrians weren’t disturbed by the Hittites. They managed to maintain a continuing
cultural identity. Their power increased, and in 883 BCE they dominated the entire region. They
used their power to preserve Mesopotamian culture.
The epic of Gilgamesh preserves the historical lineage of all Mesopotamian kings. The tale
embodies their own heroic grandeur. Gilgamesh was the fourth king of Uruk (somewhere
between 2700-2500 BCE). The epic of Gilgamesh was the first example of its kind.
The central figure of an epic is a legendary or historical figure of heroic proportion. The
supernatural world of gods and goddesses usually play a role in the story, as do battles in which
the hero demonstrates his strength and courage. The poem’s language is suitably dignified,
often consisting of many long, formal speeches.
Most importantly, the epic illuminates the development of a nation or race, it celebrates its
cultural identity. They’re often compilations of pre-existing myths and tales handed down (often
orally) generation to generation.
The Epic of Gilgamesh was also the first known literary work to confront the idea of death, and
thus the unknown. It acknowledges the limitations and powerlessness in the face of death of
Mesopotamian kings.
- 2000 BCE: the Hebrews were forced out of their homeland in the Mesopotamian basin.
According to their tradition, Adam and Eve were created in the Garden of Eden located in the
delta of the Tigris and Euphrates. In that same place, Noah survived the same great flood that
Utnapishtim survived in the Epic of Gilgamesh. There are a lot of stories like this in the Hebrew
Bible. The stories represent the Hebrew’s attempt to maintain their sense of their own history
and destiny.
- Monotheistic: worship of a single god.
Unlike other Near Eastern cultures, the Hebrews had a monotheistic religion. They believed that
they were the “chosen people”. They (the Jews) were chosen by God to set an example of a
higher moral standard.
- Genesis: first book of the Hebrew bible → tells the story of the creation of the world out
of a formless void.
This God also gave Moses the ten commandments, which the Hebrews basically breathed.
Because of this, their religion was also an ethical and moral system. These commandments
were the centrepiece of the Torah, or Law. The Hebrew laws treated the lowest members of
society as human beings, perhaps because they themselves were once slaves.
- 1000 BCE: Saul/King David becomes king of Israel.
- King David reigned until 961 BCE.
King David captured Jerusalem from the Canaanites and made it the capital of Israel.
After king Solomon's death, Israel split into two. In this era, Hebrew culture was dominated by
prophets.
- Prophet: served as mouthpieces and interpreters of Yahweh purposes, which they
claimed to understand through visions.
Hebrew culture would have a profound impact on Western civilisation. They provided the
essential ethical and moral foundation for religion in the West, including Christianity and Islam.
In the Torah, we find the basis of the law as we understand and practise it today.
- Ethical monotheism: the idea that there is only one God and that that God demands that
humans behave in a certain way, and rewards and punishes accordingly
Prehistoric people drew on the walls of caves. There may have been art made earlier than
30.000 years ago, but these may not have survived.
- Paleolithic era: Old Stone Age
During the paleolithic era, cultures were small, scattered and nomadic. Around 10.000 BCE,
agriculture began to replace hunting and gathering (ijskappen smolten).
- Neolithic: New Stone Age
- Civilisation: a social, economic and political entity distinguished by the ability to express
itself through images and written language
- Having an elite
- Wars
In the great river valleys of the Middle East, Egypt and Asia, more sophisticated civilisations
began to emerge → possible because the environments they lived in supported this lifestyle.
Larger populations → increased production of food and other goods (trade). An elite was
necessary to form and establish priorities. War has played a big role in acquiring goods and
organising themselves.
- Before writing, after 10.000 BCE: these cultures started creating myths and legends that
explained their origins and relation to the world.
- About 4000 BCE: Emergence of the Bronze Age → metallurgy developed → (durable)
objects were created. Metal tools and weapons emerged → begin of the Bronze Age
1.1
- Culture: values and behaviours shared by a group of people, developed over time, and
passed down through generations.
- Laws, customs, ritual behaviour, artistic production common to the group.
Scholars believe that the cave paintings were created to exert some power or authority over the
world of those who came into contact with them. For a long time it was believed that the
drawings were to help the hunt. But the animals portrayed were rarely or never hunted → now it
is believed that the caves served as ritual spaces.
- Ritual: a rite or ceremony habitually practised by a group, often in religious or
quasi-religious contexts.
- Maybe a gateway to the underworld or death.
- The Chauvet paintings are placed at the point with the best sound “system” of the cave
(music may have been an important part of the rituals).
- Naturalism: representations that imitate the actual appearance of the animals.
The old paintings of Chauvet showed this naturalism. The paintings show us that art does not
evolve in a linear progression. The lack of sophistication in later works were not due to the
incapacity of the artist but to a conscious (maybe culturally motivated) choice.
The earliest evidence of a culture coming into being is the stone artefacts of the homo sapiens.
- Evolved around 100.000-120.000 years ago.
- Buried their dead in ritual ceremonies.
,Homo sapiens were hunter-gatherers, their tools were far more sophisticated than those of their
ancestors.They also made music. We do not know what the music sounded like. Because we
didn’t begin to note them down properly until 1450 CE. These prehistoric people also carved
small sculptural objects. These were, along with the cave paintings, the first instances of what
we have come to call “art”.
- A lot of female figurines were found across Europe.
It is still unclear what the small sculptures meant or what they were used for. They were small
enough to be used in rituals and exaggerated breasts and bellies support a connection to fertility
and child bearing. The strong presence of female figurines suggests that women played a
central role in Palaeolithic culture. Palaeolithic culture may have been matrilineal and matrilocal.
- Matrilineal: descent is determined through the female line
- Matrilocal: residence is in the female’s tribe or household.
Sculptures may have also served as a form of nonverbal communication among groups.
In-between 10.000 and 8.000 BCE, the ice sheets covering the Northern Hemisphere began to
melt. Farming started to replace hunting and agriculture developed.
- 8000 CE: neolithic agricultural societies began to concentrate in the great river valleys of
the Middle East and Asia.
The great rivers of the Middle East and Asia provided a water source that allowed for the
development of irrigation techniques. Production became bigger than what was necessary, so
people began to occupy themselves in other skills.
- Complex food preparation
- Construction
- Military affairs
- Religion
Villages began to appear. Which later turned into cities.
Due to the emergence of agriculture, pottery vessels got used more often.
- Around 3.000 BCE: production of pottery in Europe
- Around that same time, in Egypt, the potter’s wheel had already come into life.
As the potter’s wheel is a machine, created to produce goods, it is in many ways the first
mechanical and technological breakthrough in history.
Not long after, clay modelling started to emerge. Back in the Palaeolithic times, clay sculptures
were never fired. In the Neolithic period, this changed.
- Megaliths: “big stones”, a distinctive kind of monumental stone architecture from the late
Neolithic period.
Megaliths represent the most basic form of architectural construction. Scholars have different
opinions on the significance of some of these megaliths.
- May have marked a ritual procession route
- May have symbolised the body and the process of growth and maturation
- Maybe they symbolised the strength of the leaders responsible for the creation.
Whatever the case, they were designed to be permanent structures.
,1.2
- Oral cultures: cultures that developed without writing, only through speech
Oral cultures have given us most of our understanding of prehistoric cultures. In these cultures,
myths and histories have been passed down from generation to generation, by word of mouth.
- Myth: a story that a culture assumes to be true.
Myths also embody the culture’s views and beliefs about its world, they provide an explanation
for otherwise mysterious natural phenomena. Myths have been one of the most important forces
driving the development of culture. Myths aren’t pure fantasy, but instead are grounded in
observed experience. They are created to rationalise the unknown and explain to people the
nature of the universe and their place within it. Myths reflect a community’s ideals, its history
and its aspirations. They also mirror the culture’s moral and political systems, its social
organisation, and its most fundamental beliefs.
- Creation myth: a story of a people’s origin.
Three general beliefs of most Neolithic peoples:
- Animism: belief that the forces of nature are inhabited by living spirits.
- Anthropomorphism: belief that nature’s behaviour can be compared to human behaviour,
explaining what otherwise would remain inexplicable.
- Belief that humans can communicate with the spirits of nature
- Religion: a culture’s understanding of the divine.
- Closely tied to and penetrated by mythical elements.
1.3
- A ziggurat: a pyramidal temple structure, consisting of successive platforms with outside
staircases and a shrine at the top.
- Mesopotamia: the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
- Uruk: by 3200 BCE probably the largest settlement in the world.
To the Mesopotamians, human society was merely part of the larger society of the universe
governed by the gods and a reflection of it. The Mesopotamian ruler, often believed to possess
divine attributes, acts as the intermediary between the gods and humankind. His ultimate
responsibility is the behaviour of the gods.
To the people of Ur, religion was central.
- Social perspective/hieratic scale: the most important figures are represented as larger
than the others.
The Akkadians from the city of Akkad became the region’s most powerful city-state, under
Sargon I. After conquering the rest of Mesopotamia, Sargon named himself “king of the four
quarters of the world.” Legends about Sargon and his might and power survived in the region for
thousands of years. The legend of his birth gave rise to what amounts to a narrative genre
(rags-to-the-riches).
- Narrative genre: a class or category of story with a universal theme.
Stories of abandonment, orphanhood, and being a foundling raised by a foster parent, were to
become the standard feature in the narratives of mythic heroes.
Although Akkad was arguably the most influential culture of Mesopotamia, few artefacts survive.
- 2350-2200 BCE: Akkadian rule over Mesopotamia
, - 1595 BCE: fall of Babylon (invasion of Hittites from Turkey).
Only the Assyrians weren’t disturbed by the Hittites. They managed to maintain a continuing
cultural identity. Their power increased, and in 883 BCE they dominated the entire region. They
used their power to preserve Mesopotamian culture.
The epic of Gilgamesh preserves the historical lineage of all Mesopotamian kings. The tale
embodies their own heroic grandeur. Gilgamesh was the fourth king of Uruk (somewhere
between 2700-2500 BCE). The epic of Gilgamesh was the first example of its kind.
The central figure of an epic is a legendary or historical figure of heroic proportion. The
supernatural world of gods and goddesses usually play a role in the story, as do battles in which
the hero demonstrates his strength and courage. The poem’s language is suitably dignified,
often consisting of many long, formal speeches.
Most importantly, the epic illuminates the development of a nation or race, it celebrates its
cultural identity. They’re often compilations of pre-existing myths and tales handed down (often
orally) generation to generation.
The Epic of Gilgamesh was also the first known literary work to confront the idea of death, and
thus the unknown. It acknowledges the limitations and powerlessness in the face of death of
Mesopotamian kings.
- 2000 BCE: the Hebrews were forced out of their homeland in the Mesopotamian basin.
According to their tradition, Adam and Eve were created in the Garden of Eden located in the
delta of the Tigris and Euphrates. In that same place, Noah survived the same great flood that
Utnapishtim survived in the Epic of Gilgamesh. There are a lot of stories like this in the Hebrew
Bible. The stories represent the Hebrew’s attempt to maintain their sense of their own history
and destiny.
- Monotheistic: worship of a single god.
Unlike other Near Eastern cultures, the Hebrews had a monotheistic religion. They believed that
they were the “chosen people”. They (the Jews) were chosen by God to set an example of a
higher moral standard.
- Genesis: first book of the Hebrew bible → tells the story of the creation of the world out
of a formless void.
This God also gave Moses the ten commandments, which the Hebrews basically breathed.
Because of this, their religion was also an ethical and moral system. These commandments
were the centrepiece of the Torah, or Law. The Hebrew laws treated the lowest members of
society as human beings, perhaps because they themselves were once slaves.
- 1000 BCE: Saul/King David becomes king of Israel.
- King David reigned until 961 BCE.
King David captured Jerusalem from the Canaanites and made it the capital of Israel.
After king Solomon's death, Israel split into two. In this era, Hebrew culture was dominated by
prophets.
- Prophet: served as mouthpieces and interpreters of Yahweh purposes, which they
claimed to understand through visions.
Hebrew culture would have a profound impact on Western civilisation. They provided the
essential ethical and moral foundation for religion in the West, including Christianity and Islam.
In the Torah, we find the basis of the law as we understand and practise it today.
- Ethical monotheism: the idea that there is only one God and that that God demands that
humans behave in a certain way, and rewards and punishes accordingly
