"Lion Man" Paleolithic, Germany c. 30,000 BCE
"Woman from Willendorf" Paleolithic, Austria c. 24,000 BCE
"Wall painting with horses, rhinoceroses, and aurochs" Paleolithic, Chauvet Cave, France c. 30,000 BCE
"Clay Bison" Paleolithic, Le Tuc d' Audoubert Cave, France c. 13,000 BCE
A self contained, three dimensional space
Sculpture in the round
exhibiting human features
Anthropomorphic
exhibiting animal features
Zoomorphic
expressing an idea by using formal elements such as colors, lines, and geometric shapes without attempting to create a naturalistic person or thing
Abstract
practice that involves a mediator reaching altered states of consciousness to perceive and interact with a spirit world
Shamanism
belief in which each human is thought to have a spiritual connection or a kinship with another physical being such as an animal or plant, aka "totem" or "spirit being"
Totemism
a sculpture in which the surrounding material is carved away to form a background that sets off the projecting image
Relief sculpture
architecture concerned with domestic and functional (rather than monumental buildings)
Vernacular architecture
"Reconstruction drawing of a house" Neolithic, Catalhoyuk (Turkey) c. 7400 BCE
"Megalithic passage grave?" Neolithic, Newgrange, Ireland c. 3000 BCE
protective, warding off evil
Apotropaic
"Stonehenge" Neolithic, England c. 3000-1500 BCE
constructed with horizontals and verticals (trabeated)
Post and Lintel
"center of the world" , connects heaven and earth
Axis mundi
"Votive figures" Sumerian, Iraq c. 2900 BCE
"Bull's head lyre" Sumerian, Ur (Iraq) c. 2500 BCE
"Lapis lazuli cylinder seal and impression" Sumerian, Ur (Iraq) c. 2500 BCE
"Stele of Naram-Sin" Akkadian, Iran c. 2254 BCE
upright stone slab
Stele
a composition in which the relative size of the figures indicates relative importance
Hierarchic scale
effort to promote or publicize a particular political cause, interest, or point of view
Propaganda
tells a story
Narrative
"Nanna Ziggurat" Neo-Sumerian, Ur (Iraq) c. 2100 BCE
a rectangular stepped tower surmounted by a temple
Ziggurat
"Reconstruction of citadel and palace complex of Sargon II at Dur Sharrukin (Iraq)" Assyrian c. 721 BCE
"Lamassu guardian figures at gate of Sargon II's citadel" Assyrian, Dur Sharrukin, Iraq c. 721 BCE
"Reconstruction of Processional Way and Ishtar Gate" Neo-Sumerian, Babylon (Iraq) c. 575 BCE
"Ishtar Gate" Neo-Sumerian, Babylon (Iraq) c. 575 BCE
"Pyramids at Giza" Egypt c. 2575 BCE
life force of the pharoah
Ka
"Model of Giza Plateau" Egypt c. 2575 BCE
"Ka statue of King Khafre" Giza, Egypt - from Khafre's valley temple c. 2520 BCE
"Great Sphinx" Giza, Egypt - funerary complex of Khafre c. 2520 BCE
"Menkaure and a Queen" Giza, Egypt c. 2490 BCE
"Seated scribe" Egypt c. 2450 BCE
"Painted relief of Ti watching a Hippopotamus Hunt" Egypt - Tomb of Ti c. 2450 BCE
"Hatshepsut kneeling" Deir el-Bahri, Egypt - from Hatshepsut's funerary temple c. 1473 BCE
"Funerary Temple of Hatshepsut" Deir el-Bahri, Egypt c. 1473 BCE
row of piers or columns supporting a lintel
Colonnade
"Colossal figure of Akhenaten" Egypt c. 1353 BCE
"Bust of Nefertiti" Egypt c. 1353 BCE
"Relief with Akhenaten and his Family" Egypt c. 1353 BCE
"Fish-shaped perfume bottle" (core-formed glass) Egypt c. 1353 BCE
"Judgement of Hunefer before Osiris" Illustration from a Book of the Dead (painted papyrus) Egypt c. 1285 BCE
"Figure of a woman" Cycladic, Cyclades c. 2600 BCE
Reconstruction drawing of
Reconstruction drawing of "palace" complex Minoan, Knossos, Crete c. 1700 BCE
Stairwell,
Stairwell, "palace" complex Minoan, Knossos, Crete c. 1700 BCE
column that tapers toward the bottom
Table leg column
"Bull-leaping fresco from 'palace' complex" Minoan, Knossos, Crete c. 1450 BCE
wall painting made by applying pigment to a wet plaster surface
Buon fresco
wall painting made by applying pigment to a dry plaster
Fresco secco
"Spring fresco" from Akrotiri, Thera (Cyclades) Minoan c. before 1630 BCE
"Lion Gate" Mycenaean, Mycenae, Greece c. 1250 BCE
"Reconstruction drawing of megaron of Pylos Palace" Mycenaean, Mycenae, Greece c. 1300 BCE
Mycenaean great room; architectural unit consisting of a large, axial room entered through a porch with columns and sometimes a vestibule
Megaron
"Plan of megaron of Pylos Palace" Mycenaean, Mycenae, Greece c. 1300 BCE
"Mask of Agamemnon" funerary mask Mycenaean, Mycenae, Greece c. 1600 BCE
metalworking technique in which an artist gently pushes up relief forms by hammering from the back of a thin sheet of gold
Repoussé