Upper Paleolithic Culture

Looking at an artifact’s physical attributes is always the first step to uncovering the archaeological significance

The Harvester’s Vase was rediscovered in the ruins of the Hagia Triada, (a Minoan settlement near Knossos) by British Archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans in 1902, the Harvester’s Vase, is a beautiful and rare artifact of Minoan culture, the artist is unknown, but it is believed to have been created around 1500 BCE at the apex of Minoan civilization. But this isn’t any old vase, in fact, it is not a vase at all, according the art historian John Forskyse, but a stone sculpture made up of steatite or soapstone, (a metamorphic rock made up talc and magnesium) a very common medium for carving during this

The Beaker with Ibex Motifs is a prehistoric pottery art work, found in near-perfect condition during a 1906-1908 excavation of a Susian necropolis in Susa, Iran. The Beaker with Ibex Motifs is a large vessel with dimensions at 28.90 x 16.40 cm. Used by the first inhabitants of Susa, this beaker is a the first example of a funerary item. The identity of artist is unknown, however, it is thought the beaker was created sometime between 4200 and 3500 B.C.E.

This study is focus on the 11th Unnamed Cave in Tennessee. This cave was the first of its kind because this cave is the only one that was found to contain pictograph, petroglyph, and mud glyph all in one site. The article explain that the site is significant because there are evidence to showed that the site underwent a series of diverse but interrelated uses. The first out of all the cave sites to contain all three different form of rock art. Also, because the site was found in the eighteenth century which had some form of documentations on the uses of the cave. The authors believes that since the cave showed many different kind of activities, it is possible that the activities reflect a complex behaviors more elaborated and sacred than

And then transitioned to the Neolithic with the sculpture of the women and the physical remains of the Otzi caveman. The sculpture showed how they expressed and recorded their ways through art and Otzi showed how important personal items were.

This article talks about the study of the Dunbar Cave in Montgomery County, Tennessee to learn more about the varied ways that the cave was used by people. Many of the artifacts that was in the cave linked its usage time to be from the Late Paleo-Indian to the Mississippian period. The article define dark-zone cave art as “the decorations in the areas of the caves that is beyond the reach of external lights”. Mug Glyph Cave art was found in the 12th Unnamed Cave in Tennessee and since then sixty-nine other caves that had dark-zone cave art were found. The artifacts and chronological data from these sites indicates that the tradition of cave art began 6000 years ago.

with painted large ceramic pots from the Neolithic period. This exhibit will take you on a

The Cobb Institute Museum at Mississippi State University displays items from the Old World and the New World. When I visited the museum I noticed a wide variety of artifacts. The Old world side contained pieces from many Old World countries, while the New World side featured a lot of pieces that are from local areas. Since there was such a vast number of artifacts at the Cobb Museum, I have decided to focus on the clay vessels and etchings in the Old and New World.

The idea that Prehistoric Aboriginal culture is averse to change or is static is a belief shared by the minority. Although it can be said that Indigenous culture and our ancestral peoples share many similar or unchanged basic behaviour patterns, each society or culture can be distinguished from others by the certain configurative patterns or directives for why the Prehistoric peoples did or did not achieve things and how they were or were not achieved. This willingness to change and not be opposed to innovation and holding traditional values all the time, suggests that Prehistoric Aboriginal Culture was constantly changing. This essay discusses the concept that Prehistoric Aboriginal culture adopted a willingness to learn, change and grow through forms of art and culture, for both aesthetic and useful purposes. Secondly, the developing cultural intricacies will be deliberated, how hunter gatherer societies affected Prehistoric Aboriginal culture and how these complexities are the source of change for many Indigenous peoples through time.

Some surprising discoveries reveal aesthetics and abstract thought in Neanderthal cultures that predate the arrival of H. sapiens. These finds include the engraving and signs of feather use from Gorham's Cave. In fact, artifacts of this nature have been discovered at archaeological sites across Europe. At the Grotta di Fumane in Italy's Veneto region, archaeologists found evidence of feather use and the fossil of a snail shell which had been collected from at least 100 kilometers away that had been stained red, suspended on a string and worn as a pendant at least 47,600 years ago. The sites of Cueva de los Aviones and Cueva Antón in southeastern Spain have also yielded seashells bearing traces of pigment. Some seem to have served as cups for

Many different types of art were found in both excavations of the palace of Nestor and the recently discovered tomb. These findings tell us how advanced their civilization was because of the tools, utensils, and jewelry that archeologists found. At the Palace of Nestor, many kitchen utensils were found. This includes 1,325 shallow bowls, 1,325 teacups, and 425 dippers, other known as a spoon. These appliances tell us that this civilization, which was believed to be Mycenean, was somewhat developed. They were able to have basic appliances and they were able to make a lot of them. Archeologists were also able to find a great abundance of beauty appliances and jewelry in the tomb. They were able to uncover 14,000 items next to the man’s

The Sarcophagus of the Spouse and the Doryphoros (Spear Bearer) bear several differences due to the distinctions between the culture and the time period in which they were made. However, similarities between each sculpture are present as well. For example, both sculptures display several curved, rounded lines and any harsh lines are indiscernible. In the Sarcophagus of the Spouses, curved lines can be seen in the edges of the coffin and in the bodies while in the Doryphoros they’re seen through the “gradual S-motion” (pg #150) of the body. Though, the reason for such lines differs greatly for each sculpture and helps reveal the cultural concerns of the Etruscans and of the Ancient Greeks. As the Etruscans were concerned with living a fulfilling,

Their purpose is to bring attention to the necessary conservation of 2000-year-old mummies in the Russian, Mongolian, Chinese and Kazakh Alti Mountains that are thawing due to climate change. Emphasis is made on the conservation of the organic remains found in the Scythian tombs such as wooden objects, food and especially the bodies of the mummies - of which many exhibit tattoos. Although slightly dated this article provides an in-depth account of the problems involved in mapping, excavating and preserving mummified remains, and the measures being taken to overcome them. The conservation of the tombs will ensure the cultures of the Eurasian steppe - including their practice of tattooing - can be

The origin of modern human behavior is a subject in anthropology that accumulates much debate. Cognition is the dominant factor in such behavior, therefore raises the question, “when did this separation of intelligent or modern thought from the primitive come to daily behavior for our genus?” There are two such answers that hold experts in the field captive in debate: the rapid “imagination revolution” in the European-centrailized Upper Paleolithic, and the steadiness of cognitive growth provided first in Africa during the Middle Paleolithic. Although each argument provides supportive evidence for their perspective claims, the more naturally convincing shows this creative revolution taking place much earlier than the Upper Paleolithic. This explanations human cognition developing with no brisk advantageous revolutionary response, and instead by gradual means. This metamorphosis follows the pattern of biological human evolution. My argument combats the “imagination revolution” claim to the origins of creativity using specific artifacts dated earlier than those of European restrictions. Furthermore, it is the lack of excavation in Africa and the conditions of the terrain itself that pose problematic preservation of artifacts, unlike in Europe, to exonerate this innovative exclusivity. These pieces of evidence in Africa exemplify a higher process of thinking, commonly those showing deliberate means of bead and rock art used for both personal functions of expression. If art

Within this essay I will try to provide information that explains what “Ouroborus” is, investigate and include text that links the Ouroborus to many different carving cultures that the Ouroborus has had or still does have an effect on, and cover some of the many different impacts this symbol has an those cultures.