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At the origins of art In the long period preceding the invention of writing, man finds different ways to express his emotions and his vision of the world. Before writing, music , painting , engravings and sculpture were born. ​ In addition to the use of the voice, the first musical instruments were probably percussion instruments (simple stones or sticks) and rattles, capable of accompanying the rhythm of the song, but soon instruments such as the rhombus (a rope attached to a piece of shaped wood that was rotated quickly and produced a hum), the whistle and the flute, made from hollow bird bones and the horn. VIDEO - Sounds and music of prehistory and antiquity VIDEO - experimental archeology - paleolithic bone flute VIDEO - experimental archeology - Paleolithic horn We now come to the testimonies that we can associate with the visual arts To help you on this journey, I have pre-arranged a map on Google Earth. You can keep it open in another window while you follow the story. The elements of the map follow the same order as in this exhibition. The places of prehistory on Google Earth The first use of color The most recent archaeological studies suggest that human beings belonging to the Stone Age used pigments for ritual purposes at least 400,000 years ago. Excavations carried out in the late 1990s at the Twin Rivers caves, in Zambia (Central Africa) have brought to light hundreds of fragments of pigments of various colors, probably used to paint the body ( source ) The use of pigments for body decoration is still alive today, for example among the Aborigines, one of the oldest peoples on earth. Ancient populations used red ocher for funeral or fertility rites. This substance probably represented blood and therefore the beginning and the end of life. The basic component of red ocher, hematite (Fe2O3), owes its name to the Greek word hema which means blood. 2. A recent study , published in 2021, highlights a testimony of the ritual use of color: we are in Spain in the Cueva de Ardales , where red pigment was used to paint stalactites and stalagmites by Neanderthal man. Focus - Painted stalactites 3. Magura Cave , north west of Bulgaria . The site has been frequented in different eras. The paintings found seem to be dated between 6,000 and 3,000 BC. C. Recent archaeological excavations have unearthed hearths from at least 50,000 years ago. ​ The pigment used is bat guano of which there was great abundance inside the caves. In the cave there are scenes of hunting , dancing and a great variety of animals . There are also many symbolic elements linked to the cult of the sun . If you want to learn more, you can watch this video (Bulgarian language with English subtitles). You will be able to discover other paintings present in the cave. (duration 7 minutes) VIDEO - Magura Cave - Bulgaria 4. The cave paintings found on the walls of some caves on the island of Sulawesi , in Indonesia date back to 40,000 years ago. More or less like the European ones. Europe is therefore not the only cradle of human creativity. Perhaps the first human groups that came out of Africa already had this ability . Scientists have established that the oldest paintings are those of the hands, made with the “stencil” technique 39,900 years ago; the paintings of a babirusa, a pig similar to a boar and a pig they are more recent and date back to 35,400 years. Focus - The oldest cave paintings are 40,000 years old 5. The Kakadu National Park is located in the north of Australia and contains one of the largest concentrations of sites (= places) of Australian Aboriginal art. Around 5,000 rock painting sites have been found in the area. ​ Many of these representations date back to recent times (about 1500 years ago) but there are some that are 20,000 years old . In the Ubirr site it is possible to observe a type of representation that we could define "x-ray" because in the silhouettes of the figures, internal anatomical details have been represented such as the vertebral column or the bones of the legs. 6. Serra da Capivara ; the Serra da Capivara National Park in northeastern Brazil is home to several rock shelters decorated with cave paintings. The paintings depict scenes of rituals and typical animals of the area (such as capivara) but also trees and other animals. Some archaeologists have dated the earliest paintings to around 25,000 years ago although this would question the officially attributed dating of the first human settlements in the Americas . Serra da Capivara - World Heritage List 7. The Cueva de las Manos , literally "the cave of the hands" was discovered in an isolated area of Patagonia , desert region and very cold in southern Argentina . The paintings can be dated between 13,000 and 9,500 years ago . ​ The depicted hands are a beautiful example of modular composition where the module is represented by the hand of the prehistoric man who performed it in numerous sequences. It is thought that they were made as a "stencil" by spraying colored pigment on the hand that once lifted left the imprint . Most likely the color was sprayed with the mouth. Cueva de las Manos - World Heritage List 8. Bhimbetka : located in central India , Bhimbetka is an archaeological area where it is possible to see about 600 rocky sites sheltered from the rains, decorated with prehistoric cave paintings made mainly in Red And White with the occasional use of green and yellow . Simple scenes of everyday life are depicted. The drawings are simple, but you can clearly recognize different types of animals including bison , tigers , lions And crocodiles . The oldest paintings date back to 12,000 years ago . Bhimbetka - World Heritage List 9. Laas Gaal is a complex of caves and rock shelters in Northwestern Somalia which preserve the oldest examples of primitive art of the entire African continent dated between 11,000 and 5,000 years ago. In these paintings we often find cows decorated for religious ceremonies accompanied by human beings , but they are also depicted dogs And giraffes . The cave paintings are well preserved thanks to the warm and dry climate that allowed the conservation of the features as well as of the pigment. 10. Tadrart Acacus is a mountainous area of the Sahara, in southwestern Libya . The rock paintings are datable from 12,000 BC, up to 100 AD The paintings document the flora and fauna of the time. The territory was very different from the present one: instead of the desert there were lakes, forests, elephants and ostriches . BACK TO PALEOLITHIC Up

Neolithic 6,000 - 4,000 a. C. sedentary (adj. sm) = who resides permanently in a place The men are now sedentary and live in villages where the activities and social situation of the inhabitants begins to be organized. Agriculture and livestock ensure better living conditions than in previous periods. Stone tools are more refined and clay is used not only to make everyday objects for processing and storing food, but also for making ritual objects, that is, objects to which magical powers are often attributed. polished stone tools from the Neolithic period Neolithic pottery Neolithic architecture The megaliths Towards the end of the Neolithic, the first examples of megalithic constructions arise: buildings built with colossal boulders, distributed over a very large area, from the British Isles to France, up to the coasts of North Africa and the whole Mediterranean basin. It seems that the megaliths were intended for worship , burial and astronomical observation . ​ The construction of these architectures depends on a social evolution , that is, on the creation of tribes or groups able to divide the work; the division of work results in a certain specialization , which in turn leads to technical improvements in the processing, transport and arrangement of the boulders ; it is an evolution that still creates great admiration, especially if we consider that, until the Bronze Age, there were no metal tools to use. ​ megalith (sm) comes from the union of two Greek words: μέγας, | mégas |, that is "great" and λίθος, | líthos |, which means "stone" The megaliths are divided into: menhir (from Breton; means "long stone"). They are the simplest constructions and consist of large boulders planted vertically in the ground whose function is still unknown, although probably connected to funeral rites. They are found in France, in Great Britain, but also in Sardinia, Puglia and Sicily.​​ Alignments of menhirs, Carnac, France dolmen (from Breton; means "stone table"); these are triliths , that is structures formed by three stones of which the two vertical ones ( piers ) support the third ( architrave ), horizontal. It could have been a collective tomb , a sacred place or a site for making sacrifices . Most of the dolmens are located in Northern Europe, there are examples also in Southern Italy. Il trilite può essere considerato lo schema architettonico più semplice ed è ancor oggi alla base dell'architettura. dolmen of Chianca di Bisceglie (Puglia) cromlech (from Breton; it means “curved stone.” It is a complex of menhirs (in some cases also dolmens ) arranged in a circle . It was probably a sacred place linked to the cult of the sun , the star that regulates the cycles of day and night and that of the seasons. The best preserved cromlechs are found on the Iberian Peninsula and in Great Britain. Stonehenge Stonehenge The most famous megalithic complex of antiquity is that of Stonehenge (= "suspended stone" , in Breton), in southern England. It is a cromlech , that is a set of dolmens and menhirs arranged to form concentric circles . The construction of Stonehenge , as scientific studies and archaeological finds have shown, covered a time span of almost fifteen hundred years, from about 3000 to 1500 BC , during which the site was a sacred area dedicated to the sun , an astronomical observatory . and a calendar of the seasons linked to the fertility of the earth . Every year, on the occasion of the summer and winter solstices, thousands of people gather around the cromlech of Stonehenge, in the south of England, to witness a unique spectacle in the world: the alignment of the first ray of sunshine with some special stones . ​ The original structure was made up of a circle of 30 monoliths connected by architraves, which perhaps represented the days of the month. Each monolith is about 4 meters high and weighs 30 tons, as much as 6 elephants. The material used is gray-blue sandstone taken from a quarry about 30 kilometers from the place and worked in huge blocks of stone in the shape of a parallelepiped. The stones are arranged in a double concentric formation , inside which there is a semicircle of stones around a single horizontal slab called "altar stone" How did they do it? The construction of Stonehenge is still a mystery. There is no certain evidence, but several hypotheses have been made about how the site was built. Of course, at Stonenge there are 44 bluestone , blue sandstone stones, which come from quarries at least 240 kilometers away . It has been calculated that it would take 14 years to travel this distance by sliding boulders onto tree trunks. To straighten each block and place the horizontal stones on it, the strength of 600 men is required. ​ This makes us understand the great technical skills achieved by this people and asks us questions about why so much effort has been put into the creation of this site . Burial remains of individuals who were reportedly transported here from South Wales have been found in the area (the area of origin of the bluestones) which would prove that Stonenge would have been conceived as a center of worship for several groups of different origins ( ancestor worship ). The graphics, taken from Didatticarte , are a plausible hypothesis of how the large vertical stones ( piers ) were erected. The architrave was probably slid into position by building inclined embankments and filling the space between the piers with materials. Another hypothesis is that of gradual lifting with the construction of layers of logs until the desired level is reached. In this figure, the coupling system between architrave and piers: two tenons are visible on the piers (elements obtained by sculpting the top of the vertical stone). On the architraves there are grooves (mortises) which correspond perfectly to the tenons. Note also the sliding joints between the two architraves. To know more ARTICLE- National Geographic Torna a Classe Prima Torna all'indice della Preistoria

Eneolithic (Age of Metals) Towards the end of the Neolithic, around 4,000 BC. C. , man learns to melt metal to build ever more effective tools and weapons. In this first period, lithic tools (= stone) continue to be used alongside those in metal. This period of transition and new technical achievements is called ENEOLITHIC. The term is a compound of the Latin adjective aenĕus 'of bronze' and the -litic suffix 'of stone' and is therefore used to identify the period in which, alongside the stone, man introduces the production of metal tools, first in copper and later in bronze . The age of metals is divided into three periods, linked to the technological progress of smelting : as furnaces are built capable of reaching ever higher temperatures, we move from the use of metals with a low melting point to metals with a melting point higher and higher. ​ copper age : (4,000 - 3,000 BC). Copper (Cu) has a melting temperature of 1,085 ° C. copper edged weapons; the first forms of writing appear in Mesopotamia Bronze Age : (3,000 - 1,200 BC) Bronze is an alloy of copper (Cu) and tin (Sn), two metals with a low melting temperature. The bronze casting takes place between 880 and 1020 ° C. The resulting metal is harder than copper and more resistant to corrosion. Iron Age : (1,200 - 500 BC). Iron (Fe) is an even stronger metal than bronze. Its melting point is 1,538 ° C, so it is necessary to invent ovens capable of reaching these high temperatures. The advantage of iron over bronze is given above all by its lower weight which makes it suitable for making more manageable weapons and tools. The stele statues anthropomorphic [from gr. ἀνϑρωπόμορϕος, comp. of ἄνϑρωπος «man» and -μορϕος «-morph»]. - adj. Which has the appearance of a man, or is depicted in human form The statues-steles (or statue-menhirs) are anthropomorphic stone monuments, which fall within the phenomenon of megalithism, common to the pre-protohistoric populations of Europe starting from the third millennium BC. C. The stele-statues are present in many European cultures, from central-eastern Europe to Spain, in the Alps (from Aosta to Trentino), in Corsica and in Sardinia. In Italy, the oldest stele-statues are located in an area on the border between Liguria and Tuscany (the Lunigiana) as well as in northern Puglia. Stele Statue Museum, AC Ambrosi di Pontremoli The nuragic civilization Wonders - The giants of Mont'e Prama

Inizio pagina Paleolitico - alle origini dell'arte Paleolitico-grotte Paleolithic ( 1.8 million years ago - 10,000 years ago ) The term paleolithic it is formed by the union of two Greek words: pàleo , which means 'ancient' and lithòs , which means 'stone'. The word, therefore, means: period of ancient stone men are nomads they live in caves they build stone tools they live by hunting and gathering spontaneous plants ​​ Towards the end of this period, rock art was born (painting and engraving on rocks) and small sculptures were made. CHOPPER This is the oldest type of man-made instrument. It is a chipped pebble at one end; is a simple, yet versatile tool that can be used for cutting, scraping and crushing. Its name comes from the English verb to chop , which means 'to break'. This, in particular, is located at the Archaeological Civic Museum of Bologna . VIDEO - experimental archeology - chopper This instrument is definitely more worked: it has been chipped on the whole surface and on both sides (double- sided ). The term 'amygdala', with which it was called, comes once again from the Greek and means 'almond': its shape is very reminiscent of that of this seed. TWO-SIDED AMYGDALA Also this tool could have different uses, depending on the size. It could therefore have been an ax, but also a knife, a scraper, a spearhead or arrow. VIDEO - experimental archeology - double-sided amygdala THRUSTER VIDEO - experimental archeology - propeller Since we are talking about tools, a decisive invention in the race for survival is certainly the propeller: a tool that allowed you to launch a spear with great force. In this way the hunters were more likely to kill their prey with a single blow because the power, with which it was launched, made it penetrate deeply. ​ In the photo, a beautiful example found in France in the cave of Mas D'Azil and which dates back to 13,000 years ago. Made of reindeer horn, it represents a fallow deer with two birds on the tail that make up the push hook. Valuable object of prehistoric art, it must have been a ceremonial or representative object of the power of a leader or a shaman. ​ At the origins of art In the long period preceding the invention of writing, man finds different ways to express his emotions and his vision of the world. Before writing, music, painting, engravings and sculpture were born ... Keep reading Let's now take a closer look at three particularly important and famous European sites that contain paintings of excellent quality. THE CHAUVET CAVE France Explore THE ALTAMIRA CAVE Spain Explore THE LASCAUX CAVE France Explore EARLY PALEOLITHIC SCULPTURES Venus of Willendorf , 23,000-19,000 BC, limestone, height 11 cm. Vienna, Naturhistorisches Museum (photo by Don Hitchcock) T his statuette was found in 1908 near Willendorf (Austria). Its discoverer named it Venus, borrowing the name of the Roman goddess of beauty, love and fertility. ​ It represents a woman with highly highlighted feminine attributes. The legs, without feet, are short and fat; the small arms rest on enormous breasts and the curly head is faceless. ​ The statuette is certainly linked to female fertility and was probably used in the course of propitiatory rites . The lack of feet - in this one as in other figurines of the same type - indicates that it was probably driven into the ground in order to transmit fertility . It is speculated to be a representation of the Great Mother , the primordial deity who gives life. ​ This figurine is far from today's beauty standards but, in a time when survival was very difficult, the abundant shapes indicated those of a well-fed woman and therefore able to carry a pregnancy to term and breastfeed her baby, thus guaranteeing him a greater chance of survival. Female head called " the Lady of Brassempouy " or "Lady with the hood", ivory, about 21,000 BC . Musée d'Archéologie Nationale, Saint-Germain-en-Laye. ​ This head is much better defined than the previous one: the face features the nose and superciliary arches and a graceful oval shape while the hair is styled with numerous braids. Bisons , clay sculptures , Upper Paleolithic (13,000 years ago). Le Tuc d'Audoubert cave, France (photo © B radshaw Foundation ) . ​ The shapes of the boulders protruding from the wall suggested to the artist how to complete the extremely plausible image of two bison with clay. Sculptures of ancient bison ... (article) BACK TO PREHISTORY GO TO MESOLITHIC

ART HISTORY FIRST CLASS Period index Prehistory The artistic manifestations of man before the invention of writing Home River civilizations This is a Paragraph. Click on "Edit Text" or double click on the text box to start editing the content and make sure to add any relevant details or information that you want to share with your visitors. Home The Greek civilization This is a Paragraph. Click on "Edit Text" or double click on the text box to start editing the content and make sure to add any relevant details or information that you want to share with your visitors. Home The Etruscan and Roman civilization This is a Paragraph. Click on "Edit Text" or double click on the text box to start editing the content and make sure to add any relevant details or information that you want to share with your visitors. Home Paleochristian art This is a Paragraph. Click on "Edit Text" or double click on the text box to start editing the content and make sure to add any relevant details or information that you want to share with your visitors. Home Byzantine art This is a Paragraph. Click on "Edit Text" or double click on the text box to start editing the content and make sure to add any relevant details or information that you want to share with your visitors. Home The Early Middle Ages This is a Paragraph. Click on "Edit Text" or double click on the text box to start editing the content and make sure to add any relevant details or information that you want to share with your visitors. Home

Art history third class Period index NEOCLASSICISM GO TO THE SECTION POST-IMPRESSIONISM GO TO THE SECTION ROMANCE GO TO THE SECTION AVANT-GARDE GO TO THE SECTION IMPRESSIONISM GO TO THE SECTION CONTEMPORARY ART GO TO THE SECTION Section Title This is a Paragraph. Click on "Edit Text" or double click on the text box to start editing the content and make sure to add any relevant details or information that you want to share with your visitors. Slide Title This is a Paragraph. Click on "Edit Text" or double click on the text box to start editing the content.

ART HISTORY SECOND CLASS This is a Paragraph. Click on "Edit Text" or double click on the text box to start editing the content and make sure to add any relevant details or information that you want to share with your visitors. Button Section Title THE GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE Next THE GOTHIC PAINTING Next Small Title This is a Paragraph. Click on "Edit Text" or double click on the text box to start editing the content and make sure to add any relevant details or information that you want to share with your visitors. Next Small Title This is a Paragraph. Click on "Edit Text" or double click on the text box to start editing the content and make sure to add any relevant details or information that you want to share with your visitors. Next Section Title This is a Paragraph. Click on "Edit Text" or double click on the text box to start editing the content and make sure to add any relevant details or information that you want to share with your visitors. Slide Title This is a Paragraph. Click on "Edit Text" or double click on the text box to start editing the content.

Mesopotamia ​ In this region many civilizations developed with similar characteristics both in social organization and in artistic production. Sumerians (from 4.000 / 3.500 BC to 1.700 BC Babylonians (1,800 - 600 BC) Assyrians (1.100 - 612 BC) Persians (539 - 331 BC) ​ With the conquest of the Persian empire, Alexander the Great, these territories will become part of the Hellenistic world. ​​ Museo Egizio di Torino - virtual tour Nell’affrontare lo studio della produzione artistica degli egizi, l’indicazione è quella di leggere il capitolo del libro, facendo particolare attenzione alle immagini e alle didascalie che le accompagnano. In questa sezione, invece, troverete gli argomenti principali di interesse più propriamente artistico che è necessario conoscere bene: questi argomenti ritorneranno anche in futuro e ci permetteranno di osservare i cambiamenti. PITTURA Dove veniva utilizzata la pittura? - su pareti e colonne di edifici - sulle strutture in legno di mobili e sarcofagi - sui papiri - sui manufatti in terracotta La gomma arabica è la resina ottenuta dagli alberi di acacia. Ancor oggi è alla base della composizione degli acquerelli ed è utilizzata anche in campo alimentare come addensante per preparare le caramelle gommose. TECNICA: tempera Pigmenti + gomma arabica + albume d’uovo I colori erano preparati miscelando i pigmenti ottenuti dalla macinazione di terre colorate, cui veniva aggiunta una sostanza collosa formata da acqua, lattice di gomma e albume d’uovo. ​ I pennelli erano ricavati dalle fibre di palma. Testa maschile dalla tomba TT52 (tomba di Nakht) nella necropoli di Tebe (1.400 -1.300 BC. Gli egizi stendevano i colori utilizzando la campitura: una stesura uniforme dentro una forma delimitata da un contorno. Nei dipinti egizi non ci sono sfumature e non esistono ombre perché tutto è immerso nella luce di Ra. Nell’ombra si potrebbe annidare il male, legato a Seth. Il colore Nell'antico Egitto, il colore (Iwen ) era parte integrante di ogni aspetto della vita quotidiana. Era, infatti, un indizio della sostanza di cui erano fatte le cose o del significato associato ad un aspetto del soggetto rappresentato. Per esempio, quando Amon veniva ritratto con la pelle blu, era in riferimento al suo aspetto cosmico. La pelle verde di Osiride, invece, era un riferimento al suo potere sulla vegetazione e alla sua resurrezione. Osiride, dipinto murale dalla Tomba di Sennedjem Il verde (wadhj) era il colore della vegetazione e della nuova vita. Nel linguaggio quotidiano fare "cose verdi" indicava un comportamento positivo. Come già accennato, Osiride era raffigurato spesso con la pelle verde ed era anche denominato Grande Verde. La malachite verde era un simbolo di gioia e la terra dei morti era descritta come il "campo di malachite". Nel libro dei morti si legge che il defunto diventerà un falco "le cui ali sono di pietra verde". L'occhio di Horus era un amuleto di pietra verde. Questo colore era anche associato alle divinità Hathor, Wadjet e Osiride. Il pigmento verde probabilmente veniva preparato come una pasta ricavata da ossidi di rame e di ferro mescolati con silice e calcio. Poteva anche essere estratto dalla malachite, un minerale naturale di rame. Ra e Imentet, dea delle necropoli occidentali dell'Egitto. Tomba di Nefertari, Tebe

Mesopotamia ​ In this region many civilizations developed with similar characteristics both in social organization and in artistic production. Sumerians (from 4.000 / 3.500 BC to 1.700 BC Babylonians (1,800 - 600 BC) Assyrians (1.100 - 612 BC) Persians (539 - 331 BC) ​ With the conquest of the Persian empire, Alexander the Great, these territories will become part of the Hellenistic world. ​​ Ziggurat the Sumerian term 𒅆𒂍𒉪 means 'to be high'; stepped construction (overlapping platforms) of decreasing size (increasingly smaller) with shoe walls (= sloping walls) - religious service - astronomical observatory - residence of the priests - real warehouses The art of Mesopotamia is an expression of power and spirituality The art of the Mesopotamian peoples is mainly manifested in the decorations of the royal palaces and urban walls with human and animal figures represented in profile and in schematic forms . ​ The Sumerians were responsible for the foundation of the first large cities (Susa, Ur, Lagash and Uruk) and the invention of clay brick , an abundant material along the banks of the rivers, with which the ziggurats were built, large stepped structures with predominantly religious. The term means 'to be high'. The ziggurat is formed by several quadrangular platforms placed one on top of the other, of decreasing sizes and with scarp walls , that is, inclined inwards to improve the stability of the building. The ziggurat is basically an artificial mountain, a building that allows you to get closer to the gods, like so many are built in ancient times and in different parts of the world. The temple is located in the upper part and on the last platform you could also observe the celestial vault: therefore it also had the function of an astronomical observatory. In the floors below were the apartments of the priests and in the lower tier the royal warehouses where resources were accumulated that could be distributed to the population in case of need. The Babylonian kings Hammurabi (lived around 1800 BC) and Nebuchadnezzar II (around 634 BC - around 562 BC) instead dedicated themselves to the construction of large palaces, walls and city gates covered with the glazed ceramic technique. Art and architecture become a tool to show the power of the king . ​ The blue color used for the background is Egyptian blue , a pigment invented by the ancient Egyptians as a substitute for the rarer and more precious ultramarine blue that was obtained from lapis lazuli with a long and complicated procedure. Egyptian blue is basically very finely ground blue glass. Applied to the terracotta bricks, it melted when they were fired again in the oven, forming a thin layer of glass. VIDEO - how is Egyptian blue made? In the images alongside we see the Gate of Ištar and two of the animals with which it is decorated. ​ The Ishtar Gate was the eighth gate to the inner city of Babylon, a city discovered by the German archaeologist Robert Koldewey in 1899. The city of Babylon is located in present-day Iraq . ​ The gate was built around 575 BC. C. during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II and consecrated to the goddess Istar. It is 14 meters high and 10 meters wide. The door led to the most important religious and administrative buildings. ​ Since 1930 the door is located at Pergamonmuseum in Berlin. VIDEO - THE GATE OF ISHTAR Ishtar Gate, 600-500 BC, glazed and glazed earthenware, height 14.73 m, width 15.70 m, Pergamon Museum, Berlin The façade is decorated with the Bulls sacred to Adad, god of bad weather. The royal figures are in relief and their amber color definitely stands out against the glossy blue background of the terracotta. Other fantastic animals alternate with the Bulls, are the sacred Dragons of Marduk, the greatest Babylonian deity. These animals are called the Mushushu, and are represented with four legs and a snake head. Frieze of the Archers, from the palace of Darius I in Susa, 510 a. C. ca. Height of each archer 147 cm approx. Glazed bricks, Paris, Louvre Museum. The Assyrian kings Sargon II and Ashurbanipal founded new cities, with palaces adorned with large sculptures and refined bas-reliefs, in which the kings themselves appear as protagonists of heroic deeds. The Persians, in turn, build palaces decorated with bas-reliefs in the Assyrian-Babylonian style. Observing the frieze of the archers, we can observe that the human figures are always represented in profile ; one foot is placed in front of the other to give the idea of movement; in the face, the eye is represented in front . urban (adj.) = the term comes from the Latin noun urbs which means city. The adjective therefore means 'of the city'. glazed ceramic = these are objects made of terracotta on which a thin layer of glass is applied. Mesopotamian peoples also make small statues in the round in alabaster, a fairly soft stone that is easy to carve. They are figures of praying : men in prayer, represented schematically with their hands folded to their chests, large eyes wide open and the typical sheep's wool skirt. The blue pupils, made with the precious lapis lazuli, give the prayers a sense of spirituality Statue of Ebil-il, high priest of the Ištar temple, a place among whose ruins the statue was found, in the city of Mari . Dating back to the 25th century BC, it is now housed in the Louvre Museum in Paris. The priestly state of Ebil-il (the name is engraved on the statue) emerges from the "bald" head, typical of temple priests. Ebil-il, dressed in a sheepskin skirt, sits on a basket of reeds, his hands clasped indicating his "praying" posture. The statue, in alabaster, is 53 cm high. The Lamassu is a beneficial deity: in sculpture it is represented in the form of a winged bull with a human head. It was placed, in pairs, to protect the entrance doors of buildings and cities. It also performed an architectural function, as it supported part of the weight of the overlying structure. The head, the only part sculpted in the round, represents a bearded man with finely chiseled features. The body is rendered with anatomical precision; it has five legs, so as to appear stationary when viewed from the front, moving when viewed from the side. One of the Lamassu from the Khorsabad Palace of the Louvre (c. 713-707 BC) Side view. The invention of the mosaic The mosaic is one of the earliest documented artistic expressions in antiquity. ​ The first examples date back to the Sumerians , in the 4th millennium BC The 'tessere' consisted of cones in marble or colored terracotta (white, black, red) which were placed in a plaster base on walls or columns in order to create geometric decorative motifs . . ​ Testimonies have come to us from the city of Uruk , founded around 3,000 BC by the Sumerians and then conquered by the Babylonians. Ancient Uruk is located in Iraq , 20 kilometers east of the Euphrates River, in a swampy region about 230 kilometers southeast of Baghdad. By clicking on the underlined term you will instead see an example of a mosaic made with stone cones from the White Temple of Warka near Uruk. The fragment is kept in the Sulaimaniya Museum, in Iraq. The function of these mosaics was obviously decorative, but it also served to protect the walls of the buildings which were made of raw clay bricks dried in the sun. Portion of mosaic cladding in terracotta cones from the temple of Eanna (Warka) in the Uruk area. This portion of the wall is now preserved in Berlin at the Pergamonmuseum. The banner of Ur Technique: mosaic and inlay Materials: wooden structure bitumen as an adhesive lapis lazuli (background) from Afghanistan mother of pearl red limestone (possibly from India) Bitumen is a hydrocarbon, it is part of the oil 'family' . In the image you can see a natural bitumen lake that still exists today in Trinidad. The ancients used this material that emerged from the ground in some areas. The Sumerians used it as 'glue' to attach the mosaic tiles of the Banner of Ur, the Egyptians used it in the mummification process. Video - Lapis Lazuli (English language) The cuneiform writing The first form of writing appears in the Mesopotamian area around 4,000 BC. C. and more precisely in Uruk. ​ It is a pictographic type of writing, in which the signs are a stylized representation of real objects. ​ The subsequent evolution leads to a further simplification of the pictographic signs. The processed signs are of two types: logograms and phonograms. Logograms indicate whole words. Phonograms indicate sounds. Cuneiform inscription on the right shoulder of a statue from Adab (Bismaya). The inscription mentions the name of the king of Adab, Lugal-dalu, and states that the statue is dedicated or offered to the god Esar. (2.800 - 2350 BC) Museum of the Ancient East, Istanbul, Turkey. Article with images - Wall Street International Since the nineteenth century excavation campaigns have been carried out in the Middle East which have brought to light entire libraries made up of dried raw clay tablets . ​ What can be found in an Assyrian - Babylonian library? ​ warehouse documentation official documents laws chronicles of history recipes poems literary texts In 1964 Paolo Matthiae, archaeologist of the La Sapienza University of Rome, discovered the city of Ebla , near the current Tell Mardick, in Syria. The excavation campaigns continue every year and in 1975 the state archive of the city is discovered: a veritable library containing thousands of documents, all written in cuneiform characters on sun-dried clay tablets. ​ I have no recent news on the continuation of the excavations, but I fear that, as in the case of other archaeological sites, also in the case of Ebla, the excavations have been interrupted due to the long and bloody war that has hit Syria in recent years. One of the consequences of Daesh's seizure of power was the destruction of artifacts of great historical and artistic value and the sale of 'salable' artifacts on the black market to finance the war. EBLA - Official site of the Italian mission Very famous is the epic poem The Epic of Gilgameš (2600 - 2500 BC) which contains the oldest tale of the universal flood. The text, of which six versions are known, was found in the royal library of Ur. ​ By following the link you will be able to see the version of the text which is kept at the British Museum in London. Very particular are the letters , which have sometimes been found still inserted in their 'envelopes' Tablet with envelope Clay envelope with tablet enclosed inside. The envelope contains a memorandum relating to a quantity of refined copper, certified by several individuals, for which the patronymic is also provided. Kanesh Paleo-Assyrian origin (19th century BC) Clay 5.1 x 6 x 2.9 cm .® Ligabue Collection The name of the archaeologist Khaled el Assad is now known all over the world due, unfortunately, to his heroic death during the Syrian war. ​ In 2015, Khaled el Assad was captured by Isis (Daesh) militiamen and tortured to reveal where the precious treasures found in the archaeological excavations of the city of Palmyra were. The archaeologist will be beheaded, without having revealed the location of the treasures. ​ The city of Palmyra , a UNESCO site since 1980, which was in an extraordinary state of conservation, was almost completely destroyed by Isis. To ensure that the contents of the letter were not violated by prying eyes, the envelope was sealed using an engraved cylinder that matched the writer's 'signature'. Mesopotamian cylinder seal in limestone and relative impression; Shamash adoration scene, (Louvre) Cylindrical seal and modern impression: hunting scene. 2200-2100 BC Mesopotamia. The MET (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York THE CUNEIFORME AND ARNALDO TOMODORO WRITING It often happens that contemporary artists are fascinated by ancient art and culture and this is precisely the case of the sculptor Arnaldo Pomodoro whose sculptures are found all over the world. Here beside you see The arrow (1993-1995) which is located in Paris at the UNESCO headquarters, but its spheres are very famous: perfect geometric shapes that reveal mysterious mechanisms within them. Arnaldo Pomodoro, Sfera Grande , 1971, Piazza della Libertà, Pesaro (PU) After having studied in depth the Mesopotamian civilizations, Pomodoro creates works in which the cuneiform writing, imprinted in the clay, inspires him a very personal way of sculpting the material. We see it very well in the Labyrinth , a sculpture you can enter ... Right here, in the first room, we find a huge cylinder of engraved stone - a seal with inscriptions that look just like cuneiform characters; on the floor and on the wall, a writing in relief seems to be produced by the movement of the seal. Of course it is not really the language of the ancient Babylonians, but a contemporary work of art in front of which we cannot help but think of the ancient texts, mysterious and incomprehensible to us, but full of charm. ​ By following the last link you can play games, see the Labyrinth with virtual reality and book a visit, when you can ... Discovering the Labyrinth of Arnaldo Pomodoro to learn more - write in cuneiform Arnaldo Pomodoro, The arrow, 1993-1995 bronze, 198 × 468 × 167 cm Paris, UNESCO

MESOLITHIC The Mesolithic, or Middle Stone Age, is generally located between 8,000 and 6,000 BC. C., but if this is true for the Mesopotamian area, in Europe it begins as early as 10,000 BC. C. and continues, even here, up to 6,000 a. C. ​ The novelties of the Mesolithic subsistence (sf) = existence, survival ​ ceramic (sf) = (from ancient Greek κέραμος | kéramos | which means «clay», «potter's earth») is an inorganic and plastic material (easily workable) which becomes rigid after firing. ​ ceramography (sf) [comp. of the gr. κέραμος «clay» and -graphy] = technique of painting and decoration of vases. In Europe the climatic and environmental conditions are similar to the current ones: men gradually pass from a subsistence based on hunting and gathering to breeding . They also learn to cultivate the land and begin to settle near waterways. Villages are born. ​ The stone tools are more refined and new ones are created with stone chips: arrows and bow are born. Furthermore, the invention of ceramics is fundamental, with which resistant vases and containers are made, also suitable for the preservation of food. Ceramics are often decorated with paintings or engravings . Ceramography was born, that is the art of decorating vases. Fragments of pottery with graffiti decorations from the Mesolithic site of Kabbashi Haitah (South Sudan) (quote from the document linked to the image) The graffiti of Val Camonica World Heritage Site UNESCO UNESCO site n.94 "Rock Art of the Camonica Valley" Valle Camonica, in the Alpine area of northern Italy, has one of the largest collections of rock engravings in the world. In a site not yet fully explored that covers an area of 70 square kilometers, there are over 140,000 figures drawn on 2,000 rocks distributed in 180 locations in the province of Brescia. It represents the first Italian site registered in the UNESCO World Heritage List, in 1979 . The oldest images date back to 10,000 years ago and portray large animals. Around 8,000 years ago , the focus shifts to the human figure and the villages. About 5,000 years ago , in addition to scenes of farming and agriculture, the first images of wheeled chariots appear. WORLD HERITAGE LIST Horse-drawn cart , rock 23 in the Naquane Park, Val Camonica (BS) about 5,000 years ago The representation is schematic, the cart is seen from above, the wheels are overturned along the sides while the animals pulling the cart are seen in profile. ​ The unrealistic way of depicting reality is due on the one hand, the difficulty of drawing a complex object such as a chariot with imprecise techniques such as stone engraving, on the other hand, the need to create images that are immediately understandable to the community and therefore simplified as much as possible. In the last period, around 3000 years ago , figures of armed men and symbolic images of difficult interpretation appear, like small circular labyrinths. The Camuni continued to produce engravings until, after millennia of independent life, in the 1st century BC their territories were conquered by the Romans. protection (sf) = defense, protection ​ valorisation (sf) = giving value or exalting the value of something The history of the first Italian UNESCO site is intertwined with that of the archaeologist Emmanuel Anati. In 1955 the Rock Engravings National Park was born, the first Italian archaeological park, for the protection and enhancement of one of the most important rock complexes with prehistoric and protohistoric engravings in the Camonica Valley. Here Anati, then a young archeology student at the Sorbonne in Paris, went in 1956 to study the ancient findings. The chance encounter becomes the work of a lifetime: Anati settles in Valle Camonica and devotes himself to the study of the territory. In 1964 he founded the Camuno Center for Prehistoric Studies (CCSP) which is an international reference point. Aware of the value of the territory and its engravings, Anati starts the process for the recognition of the site in the World Heritage List. The purposes of the National Park of Rock Engravings The themes of the engravings The symbols and figures carved into the rock over a period of about 8000 years describe themes connected to agriculture , navigation , warfare , hunting , magic , but also represent symbolic geometric figures . The first traces of man in Valle Camonica date back to at least 13,000 years ago, when the area was affected by a first human presence following the melting of the glaciers, but only with the advent of the Neolithic (V - IV millennium BC) in the the first inhabitants settled permanently in the valley. Some anthropomorphic figures (the so-called " prayers ", schematic human beings with their arms turned upwards) and certain " topographical representations " are traditionally traced back to this phase. Oranti, Capo di Ponte Map of Bedolina , Capo di Ponte (photo by Luca Giarelli) rosa camuna , Foppe di Nadro (photo by Luca Giarelli) During the metal age (III millennium BC), with the development of the first metallurgy, the discovery of plowing and wheel transport, some sanctuaries composed of engraved stone menhirs spread in Valle Camonica. The apex of the engraving art in the valley was reached with the Iron Age (1st millennium BC), a period to which about 75% of the engravings date back. Megalithic sanctuary of Cemmo (Copper Age) With the subjugation of the territory to the Roman Empire (16 BC), the making of rock carvings in Valle Camonica becomes less frequent, even if it continues until the Middle Ages. ​ For the enhancement of the rock archeology complex, 8 archaeological parks and a national museum of prehistory have been set up. relief of the menhir statue from the site of Bagnolo, Malegno '' zaziau '', from the site of Ceto, Cimbergo and Paspardo, written in Etruscan-Camunian characters Battle scenes, rock carvings from the Nadro Park The ancients were certainly careful observers of the celestial vault and some rock carvings perhaps testify to ancient rituals that had to take place at certain times of the year, when the sky was dominated by some constellations. I'm talking about the ' cupels ', particular concavities carved into the rock which, according to some scholars, could be representations of stars. During the rituals, the cupels would be filled with oil or fat and set on fire, in order to replicate the constellations that appeared in the sky on earth. cupels from the Ceto site: comet or perhaps the Orion Belt, from the Ceto site What is certain is that the choice of these places since ancient times as a sacred area is not accidental: in some periods of the year, in fact, particular phenomena occur which, in the eyes of prehistoric men, must have appeared as magical. During the equinoxes, in the morning Pizzo Badile casts its shadow in the sky, while at sunset a ray of light is projected into the concarena rift . Coppelle from the site of Ceto, perhaps interpretable as the constellation of the Pleiades DOCUMENTARY: Italy Journey into Beauty Prehistory BACK TO PALEOLITHIC Neolithic