ART299Module3

M3 ART, SURPLUS & EARLY
CITIES
ART 299VISUALCULTUREGLOBALCONTEXT

Module 3 Overview
 hunter/gatherer culture (paleolithic period)
 emergence of agriculture (neolithic period)
 the implications of surplus for art and urbanism
 GöbekliTepe (not in text)—early temple complex
 Jericho (1-13)—walls and towers
 Catal Höyük (1-16)—early town
 Ziggurat of Ur (2-15)-large platforms with a temple on top
 WarkaVase (2-4)-container for sacred offerings
 ‘Lady ofWarka’ (2-5)—possibly the face portion of a life-size cult statue
 Statuettes of worshippers (2-6)—possibly worshipped when priests or
king was absent
 Akkadian, Head of a Ruler (2-14)—possibly a portrait of King Sargon

“When humans first gave up the dangerous and uncertain life of
the hunter and gatherer for the more predictable and stable life
of the farmer and herder, the change in human society was so
significant that historians justly have dubbed it the Neolithic
Revolution.”
—Stephen S. Kleiner, Art: A Global History (2012)
“Neolithic Revolution” –the
textbook view

“Besides malnutrition, starvation, and epidemic
diseases, farming helped bring another curse upon
humanity: deep class divisions. Hunter-gatherers
have little or no stored food, and no concentrated
food sources, like an orchard or a herd of cows: they
live off the wild plants and animals they obtain each
day.Therefore, there can be no kings, no class of
social parasites who grow fat on food seized from
others. Only in a farming population could a healthy,
non-producing élite set itself above the disease-
ridden masses.”
—Jared Diamond, “TheWorst
Mistake in the History of the Human Race”
“Neolithic Revolution” –
alternative view

Jared Diamond
Guns, Germs & Steel (2005)
http://books.google.com/books?id=PWnWRFEGoeUC

Diamond’s central question
Why was it that the
Spanish invaded
Cuba, instead of the
Arawaks invading
Spain?

Diamond’s answer
Geography is destiny.

The transition to food
production in the Fertile
Crescent begins around
8500 BC, not 18,500 or
28,500 BC.
Why not earlier?

Before that time, hunting-gathering was more rewarding
than food production because:
 Wild mammals were still abundant (gazelles)
 Wild cereals were not yet abundant
 People had not yet developed technology necessary
for harvesting and storing grains (sickles with flint
blades for harvest; baskets for carrying grain, mortars
and pestles to remove the husks; technique of roasting
grains so they could be stored without sprouting;
plastered underground storage pits)
 Population density was low enough that people didn’t
have to worry about extracting the maximum number
of calories per acre.

Why did agriculture come first to the Fertile
Crescent?
 Climate
 Available suites of wild plants
 Helped along by available suite of large
mammals suitable for domestication.
 They yield milk and meat (important food
source)
 They can pull a plow or wagon (important for
development of agriculture)
 They can carry a rider (important military use)

Agriculture developed first in the Fertile Crescent:
 Climate
 Available suites of wild plants
 Helped along by available suite of large mammals suitable for domestication.
This led to:
 Dense population
 Stored food surplus
These in turn lead to:
 More specialized, stratified societies
 Kingdoms with armies (fed on stored grain)
 Ability to conquer other territories (empire-building)
 Cities with writing, culture, technology development
 Dense populations are winnowed by disease, yielding disease-resistant
descendants

Diamond’s purpose is actually
to understand why Europe
dominated the world from the
16th-19th centuriesWe will return to his argument when we talk about the European conquest of
the Americas. But for today, let’s think about his argument as it applies in
the initial context he discusses, Mesopotamian agricultural dominance (and
consequently, military, political and religious dominance).

This is the later, Greek name for this area
between theTigris and Euphrates Rivers,
which feed into the Persian Gulf.
It means “land between two rivers.” An alluvial
floodplain, this area was perfect for
agriculture (when not actually flooded!).
Myths about floods abound in the
Mesopotamian religions.
What is Mesopotamia?

Looking at the map, you can see that numerous
towns and cities grew up in this rich agricultural
area that yielded plenty of crops to sustain
larger populations.

As Jared Diamond would predict, more
intensive agriculture went hand in hand with
population growth.Agricultural surplus was
the basis for the first taxes, which went to the
temple to provide offerings to the gods, and
to the king to provide military protection.
A stratified society becomes possible. Most are
farmers; a small elite serves as priests,
nobles, and kings.

surplustradedevelopment of
writing
Large treasuries of grain
and other agricultural
products permitted trade
with other nations for
goods that could not be
produced locally.
This stimulates the need
for writing and
accounting, which first
arose in Mesopotamia, an
agricultural powerhouse.
pre-cuneiform clay tablet, city of Ur, Sumeria
4th millenium BCE

surplusconcentration of wealth
in hands of a fewlarge
expensive building projects to
maintain and enhance elite power
and prestige
The first cities, the first
temples, the first
fortresses came into
being in Mesopotamia as
well.
ancient walls of Jericho, c. 7000 BCE

surplusconcentration of wealth
making of precious objects for
the
a) temple to be used in religious
worship and b) king to represent
his power and achievements
prestige.The priesthood
commissioned valuable
objects to be used in
religious worship.
Kings tended instead to
call for art that
represented their
likenesses and
demonstrated their
achievements.

Many successive cultures came to power in this
region
http://www.mesopotamia.co.uk/menu.html

Among them were…
 Sumerians
 Elamites
 Akkadians
 Babylonians
 Assyrians
 neo-Sumerians
 and neo-Babylonians!

Although there was a lot of complexity in terms
of changing centers of power, changing
rulers, and changing religious beliefs, these
societies also had a great deal in common.
To keep things simple, we are going to look
primarily at artifacts from the first culture to
come into ascendance in the region, the
Sumerians.

temple site, GobekliTepe, c. 10,000 BCE

relief sculpture on massiveT-shaped stone

circle of stones

Jericho archaeological site, outside modern city of Jericho
walls and tower date to 9,000 BCE

Catal Höyük (1-16), c. 7400 BCE
http://www.catalhoyuk.com/history.html
http://www.catalhoyuk.com/news/wall_paintings_2011.html

Mesopotamia, neo-Sumerian, Ziggurat of Ur (2-15), c.
2100 BCE
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/zigg/hd_zigg.htm
http://www.mesopotamia.co.uk/ziggurats/explore/exp_set.htm
l

model of the Ziggurat of Ur (proposed reconstruction) at the Pergamon Museum, Berlin

Mesopotamia, Sumeria, city of Uruk
large votive vase with sculptural relief
known as the “WarkaVase”, c. 3500 BCE
damaged, stolen, and subsequently
returned during the fall of Baghdad in 2003
to NATO forces and the looting of the Baghdad
Museum

reconstruction drawing of the WarkaVase, showing the figures on each register

Mesopotamia, Sumerian,
from the city of Uruk
female head, c. 3200 BCE
(possibly the goddess Inanna
based upon being found at the
site of a temple in her honor)
marble
8 inches high
also known as the Lady of Warka
also stolen in 2003 from the Baghdad
Museum

view in profile
most likely this head was attached to a
body made out of wood or other material
marble was used only for the front of the face

this picture of the “Lady of Warka” is included for scale

Mesopotamia, Sumerian,Two worshippers, c. 2700 BCE, Baghdad Museum

Mesopotamia, Akkadian, Head of a Ruler, bronze, c.
2400 BCE
http://www.learner.org/courses/globalart/work/266/index.html

ART299Module3

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