Figure 1 Plan of Ain Ghazal showing findspot of statues

Figure 2 Statue from earlier cache at Ain Ghazal, with front and side view

Figure 3 Statue holding breasts from later cache at Ain Ghazal

Figure 4 Plan of Catal Hoyuk showing locations of selected wall paintings

Figure 5 Photo of Landscape Wall Painting in situ or in museum

Figure 6 Watercolor Copy of Landscape Painting

Figure 7 Second Wall Painting in situ

Global

Figure 7 Neolithic Jade from China

Figure 8 Olmec Jade Celt (understanding the Olmec as a prehistoric Mesoamerican Civilization)

Plus Bronze Age, Prehistoric

Figure 9 Cycladic Figure shown bare and then with paint, either reconstructed or under special lighting

Plus Iron Age, Prehistoric

Figure 10 An object from the La Tene period

National Geographic has just published several items – a news article, a magazine essay, and a slideshow – as part of its coverage of new findings, most notably the dating of some burials so that they predate the stones.

Gardner’s chapter on Chinese Art before 1279 includes a brief section on Yangshao pottery, but unfortunately, it offers little to work with.  A search for “Yangshao” on Via turns up several pieces, some of which are publicly accessible, such as this ca. 4000 BCE bottle from the Harvard University Art Museums.  In fact, one may turn many places on the internet for further material.  Mike Gunther has assembled ceramic and jade from neolithic China on his website, www.art-and-archaeology.com, all linked to the pages of the museums that hold them (but beware- some links are dead).  The Minneapolis Institute of Arts has a useful web resource for Chinese art, the Art of Asia, as does the National Gallery of Art, Teaching the Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology.   And, as for all periods, one may find useful information at the Metropolitan Museum of Arts Timeline of Art History.

The Open Knowledge and the Public Interest (OKAPI) team at Berkeley has made great efforts to make the archaeological material from Catal Hoyuk more compelling.  You may visit reconstructions in Second Life, although I cannot recommend it, for as I write, I am on Okapi Island in Second Life, stuck outside Catal Hoyuk, unable to climb up the ladder to get into the town.  The Berkeley Archaeologists at Catal Hoyuk Research Archive, and its web exhibition, Remixing Catal Hoyuk, overflow with riches, although this abundance overwhelms and it may prove difficult to find something immediately relevant to the class.

If time permitted, I would aim to contextualize the wall paintings from Catal Hoyuk more fully.  First, I would show the original painting of the landscape.  Gardner’s shows only a watercolor copy of it, but you may find on the web photographs of the actual wall painting.  Second, I would show a plan of Catal Hoyuk and locate the room with the landscape.  Then, I would introduce other material, such as the Mother Goddess figures included in Art Across Time and The Visual Arts: A History. 

But Catal Hoyuk is such a rich site, that it may provide a good opportunity for the students to conduct some guided web-research and to learn more about the site and archaeology more generally. 

In class, I introduced the human figures from Ain Ghazal by asking the students to place in order from the smallest to the largest the following carved objects: the Venus of Willendorf, the Lion Man, and the figure from Ain Ghazal, and the discussion begun with the paleolithic carved figures in the previous unit may here continue.  The students should appreciate that the figure from Ain Ghazal stands almost 3 1/2 feet high, taller than my almost-five-year-old daughter.

I then asked the class to identify what the Venus of Willendorf, the relief carving of a woman from Laussel, and the figure from Ain Ghazal all have in common.  This question trains their close reading of the survey text. 

Two-headed figures and the figure holding her breasts, both motifs of divine figures in later art of the Near East, suggest the identification of these statues as divinities.  A description of how the statues were made and where and how the archaeologists found them (as two caches, buried in good condition two hundred years apart) can then lead to a discussion of context and use.  Images of the statues from the side also give clues to their possible placement within a space. 

Again, the understanding of context, placement, and use make these figures meaningful.

Click on chart to enlarge.