Integrated Humanities

Beginnings in Prehistory
Earliest sculpture?
The Venus or Woman
of Wallendorf, 11.1 cm
high, was discovered in
Austria in 1908. It is
estimated to be between
23-28,000 years old.
Since its discovery, many
similar statues have
been found.
Their significance has
been the subject of
much speculation, but
no firm conclusions.
Earliest paintings
Lascaux, France
and
Altamira, Spain:

Cave sites dating

c. 15,000-10,000 BCE
(before the Common
Era)

Pre-agricultural hunter-
gatherer groups
Lascaux wall & Altamira ceiling
 Does art have a
function?
Scholars continue
to debate the meaning
and purpose of the
paintings. Are they
magical, part of a ritual,
or commemorative: who
knows their expressive
purpose?
Neolithic Revolution
Hunter-gatherer groups created the art of the previous
slides. These groups were necessarily small and
mobile, hunting animals and gathering edible plants.
Around 10,000-8,000 BCE, settled agriculture and
domestication of animals occurred in a few specific
parts of the world with fertile lands and sufficient
pasturage.
In roughly chronological order, the primary areas are
the Tigris-Euphrates delta, the Nile delta, and the
Indus-Sarasvati delta.
The Fertile Crescent
This includes the Tigris-
Euphrates delta to the
right and the Nile delta
to the left.
The emergence of small
cities in the Tigris-
Euphrates delta in the
Sumerian kingdom in
the 6th millenium BCE
(ca. 5,300 BCE) is
considered a dividing
line between prehistory
and history. What
makes the difference?
Agricultural surplus
Domesticating plants and
socially cooperating to farm
more efficiently led to
agricultural surpluses,
which in turn make possible
social differentiation not
everybody need be directly
involved in production.
Social and occupational
hierarchies begin to emerge
from peasant to merchant
to warrior to priest to
royalty.
Early cities
Mesapotamian Babylon Harrapa in the Indus Valley
Next week: Gods, Epics,Laws
Gilgamesh Hammurabis Code