What is Scared? PDF

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Summary

What is scared in the Prehistoric
Take examples from each following to illustrates your points: Stonehedge
Cave painting
The Great Pyramid
one from the Prehistoric or Ancient Egypt...

Description

Vy Duong ART111 T-Th 4 – 5:20 pm Andrea Ciaston Midterm Essay From the early age, humankind already has a great desire to create beautiful artworks. According to researchers, the earliest painting ever found was painted in 40.000 BCE. Even though arts spread out evenly around the world during the Prehistoric and ancient Egypt periods, but we can recognize that they used the same permanent rules. The most noticeable thing is the colors rule, people usually use three main types of pigment: yellow, red which made from clays, and black. Stone was the primary materials to create arts, and to them, animals are represented gods. As what I gathered, and from what I understand, afterlife, souls, spirit, stone, and creatures are what sacred to the Prehistoric and ancient Egypt periods. About the Cave Painting in The Prehistoric. First of all, why people choose caves and not any other places? There are some several researches showed that cave is sacred to The Prehistoric people. "Although sacredness may have invested in many other natural forms and objects (such as trees, mountains, etc.) during the prehistoric period, the earliest known sacred places are naturally-formed caves, such as that at Lascaux in France" (Witcombe, witcombe.sbc.edu). Most of the cave paintings carved animals since animals are important in this period. One theory gave and supported by Edouard Lartet (1801-1871), Edouard Piette (18271906), Gabriel de Mortillet (1821-1898), and Edouard Cartailhac (1845-1921) that Cave paintings are merely just "art for art's sake" which painting is a hobby since people at any time all have feelings, and all have the needs for entertainment. But it hard to imagine that people went to the most profound place of the cave only to draw animals they saw on the ground which

is why it leads to another theory. In this theory, cave paintings connected with magic and involved with the spiritual world. It comes from the realistic fact that all the hunting-gathering societies have the general belief system based on magic even though it uses a different term from place to place. In their belief, there is more than one world which is why there are sorcerers who can communicate with spirits through "magical zones" or we can say dreams. In this zone, sorcerers can meet with an animal spirit which will guide, and give them strength. The cave can be seen as the way to leads to the other side; sorcerers search for animal's souls and other images on the cave wall which is the curtain that separated them with the underworld, by observing and looking. When sorcerers believed that they had captured an animal soul, it will be "drag" from the curtain, and by using their artistic skills, the spirit will be "stick" on the wall to show what they saw. Stonehenge was built between 3.000 and 1.400 BCE which is made up of massive stones that stacks stacked on top of each other and until now, we still do not know for sure what made the rocks firmly connected to each other. Stonehenge aligned with the stars and certain aspects of the universe (the sun) and used for religious purposes. When Stonehenge first appeared, it linked with the graveyard, "Not so many people know that Stonehenge was the biggest graveyard of England. Maybe the green stone circle is where people cremated before their ashes buried under it" (Pearson, Parker). One theory about Stonehenge is actually a sun calendar, villagers who lived near it based on Stonehedge to know about full day cycle. There was another "wooden" Stonehenge which located near where Stonehenge is found, considered to the myth wood is temporary, and stone is an eternity we can support the idea that Stonehenge was part of a spiritual ritual which involved with the resurrection of life. We all know that Stonehenge made up of circles, so what is the meaning of circles? Circle symbol meaning is universal; it represents

the infinite nature of energy and the symbol of the universe, it also symbolizes eternity as it has no beginning or end. The circulation shape of Stonehenge supports the theory of revival ritual which Stonehenge is a significant (sacred) place for people to complete the event. There is some similarity between The Great Pyramid and Stonehenge; they are both built in the same time frame and made of-of stones. The difference between them mostly because of the purpose of the two artworks, Stonehenge possibility built for ceremonies, but The Great Pyramids were built for tombs. These pyramids are said to be marvelous for a human being to make it which brought theories that The Great Pyramid created by aliens. The assumption was logical though since The Great Pyramid took a world tallest structure record which held for over 3,000 years and unlikely to be broken. The Great Pyramid built from a stack of stones each has 2.5 tons which were nearly impossible for people to carry it at that time without modern-day gears. "Although many theories persist as to the purpose of the pyramid, the most widely accepted understanding is that it was constructed as a tomb for the king." (Mark, Joshua) In the ancient Egypt culture, the pharaoh (the king) not only is the leader of the country but also present God, played the role of a sacred mediator. Pharaoh is the most important person that when they die, their bodies remain through mummification process, and their tomb must keep inside the private and holy (sacred) place like the pyramid. The other thing that might make people concentrate on the design, and carefully maintained the beauty of the monument because ancient festivals generally revolved around the temples (pyramid). Even though is mostly accepted by the majority that The Great Pyramid built for tombs, but up until now, there was no sight of mummy ever found in it. One of the oldest carving that human ever found contains an image of a woman who made of-of limestone in Willendorf (Austria). The artifact known as the Venus of Willendorf

dates to between 24,000-22,000 B.C.E, The strange thing about this carve is that its name is entirely different from what we can see about it. We all know that Venus is Roman's beauty goddess, it might be because of varying beauty standard between time, but I still not considered the Willendorf's woman pretty. Her shoulder is broad; her breast, bottom, and tummy are enormous which is different from Roman's healthy body goals. If we only see her in photos, Venus of Willendorf seem like a giant sculpture, but in reality, she is so small that can fit in a teenager's hands. Her tiny size which makes her fat seemed so gentle. Just only look at her makes us have a lot of confusing emotions, abstruse and amaze. Even now, there is still no answer for what is the purpose of this artifact; there is no small hole to make it go through any necklace or bracelet, it can not stand by itself since her feet it too small. The only thing that people can do with this is holding her in their hand and carry her around. She has no face, her face replaced by circles that been carved similarly to each other. There is one explanation that most accepted for this confusing, beautiful artwork. All of her body is a universe. Her shoulders, her breast, her body are all mountains and valleys which people live in, her feet are small, not so much necessary for the whole body because land is always under us, it will always be there. Lastly is her head, it represents the stars and galaxy upon the ground(body). With this explanation, Venus of Willendorf might have some spiritual meanings for the prehistoric people; they carry her to bring blessing for themselves and people around them.

Work Cites http://witcombe.sbc.edu/sacredplaces/caves.html http://www.bibnum.education.fr/sites/default/files/breuil-analysis.pdf/ http://legomenon.com/stonehenge-meaning-history-theories.html https://www.thoughtco.com/circle-symbolism-3454058 https://sacredsites.com/africa/egypt/the_great_pyramid_of_giza.html https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/prehistoric-art/paleolithic-art/a/venus-of-willendorf...