Undiscovered Scotland

Most people have heard of Skara Brae, and most will have seen it in image and in imagination long before visiting. As a result we approached it with some trepidation.

Architecture from the Jomon era

Thatching is the craft of covering a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge, rushes and heather, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. It is probably the oldest roofing material and has been used in both tropical and temperate climates.

Barrier Canyon

We start our walk about the great south west where people have lived from about 9,000 B.C. The land is beautiful, it is dry (don’t forget to bring water). We don’t know just what it was like 9,000B.C. so we will have to go with what we have here.

Prehistoric Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka (2003), Madhya Pradesh

The Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka are located about 45 km south east of Bhopal on the road to Hoshangabad.

Australia 50,000 BCE

You might wonder why; just wait until you actually see the paintings. Please try to imagine yourself living in wild craggy mountains where there are thousands of caves.

Great Stag

One of the things is the curve of the stag from its nose to its back. The tiny head holding such an amazing weight in the antlers.

Prehistoric Cosqer

Is this not Eeyor from Winnie the Pooh?

The Lion Race

The painters of the cave know their animals very well. It was one of their survival skills and shows up on this cave wall. Although we do not really know why these beautiful drawings were done, we know that the painters had no problem drawing over some one else’s work. Look closely and find the lion with the curved head near the upper left hand corner of the image.

The Cave at Pech Merle

And here, I think, we have the same artist drawing a single mammoth.

Early Villages Japan

There is a certain cuteness in this one. Many cultures made small statues that were carried at certain times as protection against something that is feared.

Early Villages China

Over time the pots became more and more beautiful. The craftsmen more talented. The following are from the town of Yanshao produced the following four pots.

Catal Hoyuk

The world of Early Villages is a time when roaming people learned enough about how to plant the food they needed. The other thing they needed was a steady supply of meat. To accomplish this task they learned which animals they could control. Therefore a part of the people in the village had as their job the herding of animals.

Indus Valley Architecture

This shows you the downhill levels and the cantilevered places to protect the drainage. The entire village had drainage systems for all kinds of waste. He kept this ancient city cleaner then cities in Europe thousands of years later.

 

Introduction

Welcome to the world of art history. This is the place where you should come to play and learn. You will find pictures from around the world that you have never seen in any of your classes. You will also find as you read along that there are a lot of questions.

If possible create an a folder for Art History to keep pages you create with answers to the questions.

When you have finished the unit, have some paper to make a painting, or some clay, write a poem, or a reaction paper. Keep all of the things you create in folders on your desktop.

If you choose to do this you will never forget what you have just learned and should be able to apply the images now in your mind, to the related history courses.

Katherine Bolman, BS, MFA, MEd, MSW, EdD.