Little is known about diff erent varieties of ancient architec- ture in North America. In the region now called the eastern United States, most of the structures archaeologists have iden- tifi ed were burial mounds. Th is tradition lasted for more than two millennia in North America. In the era 5500–3000 b.c.e. in the lower Mississippi area, the earliest mound structures were in present-day Louisiana. Th e Watson Brake Mound Group (3900–3300 b.c.e.) comprises 11 earthworks connect- ed by a terrace and plaza. Th ey are constructed of earth and have a conical shape.
Th e largest and most elaborate earthen mounds of the second millennium b.c.e. are found at Poverty Point (1730– 1350 b.c.e.), which overlooks the Mississippi River fl ood- plain in northeastern Louisiana. Th is structure was more
art: introduction 87
complex than the hill-like mound structures built else- where. Schematically, its design resembles an amphi theater: It is a semicircular structure formed of six concentric, 100-foot-wide earth platforms divided by fi ve 35-foot-wide radial passages between. Archaeologists believe that hous- ing structures were built on the platforms. Another type of mound was built slightly northeast of Louisiana at Sapelo Island in Darien, Georgia. Th e Sapelo Island Shell Rings are large, enclosed circular mounds built of oyster and other oceanic shells. Th is is one of several similar structures and dates to about 2170 b.c.e.
Th e Adena culture (1000–100 b.c.e.) also built conical burial earthen mounds. Th ey were composed of packed earth upon foundational buildings, and they sometimes included wooden tombs. Th is period was characterized by an increased importance placed on funeral ceremony and also trade. Th e emphasis on burial is especially seen in the Hopewell culture (200 b.c.e.–400 c.e.) of modern-day Ohio. Th is culture built circular or elliptical burial earthen mounds similar to those created by the Mississippian cultures nearly a millennium later. In fact, resemblance between the two cultures led the Mississippian mounds to be misidentifi ed as Hopewellian until relatively recently.
Th e western Anasazi during the Basketmaker II Period (560 b.c.e.–700 c.e.) built rock-shelter sites in the last few centuries b.c.e. Archaeologists have found small settlements with hearths and storage spaces as well as burial and storage chambers lined with stone slabs.
See also art; astronomy; borders and frontiers; building
techniques and materials; calendars and clocks; cit- ies; climate and geography; death and burial practic- es; drama and theater; empires and dynasties; family; festivals; household goods; hunting, fishing, and gath- ering; illumination; literature; migration and popula- tion movements; military; natural disasters; nomadic and pastoral societies; religion and cosmology; sacred sites; science; settlement patterns; social organiza- tion; sports and recreation; storage and preservation; towns and villages; trade and exchange; writing.
FURTHER READING
James C. Anderson, Roman Architecture and Society (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997).
Dieter Arnold, Th e Encyclopedia of Ancient Egyptian Architecture,
trans. Sabine H. Gardiner (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton Univer- sity Press, 2003).
Kenneth Briggs and Janet Briggs, Ziggurat: How Ur Gave Birth (Langhorne, Penn.: Chora House Press, 1998).
Ching-Hua Ju and Hua-Liang Peng, Ancient Chinese Architecture, 10 vols. (New York: Springer, 1998).
John R. Clarke, Th e Houses of Roman Italy (Berkeley, University of
California Press, 1991).
Somers Clarke and R. Engelbach, Ancient Egyptian Construction
and Architecture (Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications, 1990).
Rodolfo Fattovich, “The Development of Urbanism in the Northern Horn of Africa in Ancient and Medieval Times.” Available online. URL: http://hometown.aol.com/_ht_a/ skipbdahlgren/sdahlgren/fattowich.pdf. Downloaded on December 1, 2006.
Henri Frankfort, Th e Art and Architecture of the Ancient Orient, 5th
ed. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1996).
Peter Garlake, Early Art and Architecture of Africa (New York: Ox- ford University Press, 2002).
Jeff Karl Kowalski, ed., Mesoamerican Architecture as a Cultural
Symbol (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999).
George Kubler, Th e Art and Architecture of Ancient America (Balti-
more: Penguin Books: 1962).
Helen Leacroft , Th e Buildings of Ancient Mesopotamia (Reading,
Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1975).
Seton Lloyd, Ancient Architecture: Mesopotamia, Egypt, Crete,
Greece (New York, N.Y.: Harry N. Abrams, 1974).
Alexander G. McKay, Houses, Villas, and Palaces in the Roman
World (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998).
Mary Ellen Miller, Th e Art of Mesoamerica: From Olmec to Aztec
(London: Th ames and Hudson, 2001).
Mary Ellen Miller, Maya Art and Architecture (London: Th ames and Hudson, 1999).
William N. Morgan, Precolumbian Architecture in Eastern North
America (Gainesville, University Press of Florida, 1999).
Donald Preziosi and Louise A. Hitchcock, Aegean Art and Architec-
ture (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000).
Ingrid D. Rowland and Th omas Noble Howe, Vitruvius: Ten Books
on Architecture (New York: Cambridge University Press,
1999).
W. Stevenson Smith, Th e Art and Architecture of Ancient Egypt
(New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1999).
John W. Stamper, Th e Architecture of Roman Temples (New York:
Cambridge University Press, 2005).
Rebecca Stone-Miller, Art of the Andes: From Chavín to Inca (Lon- don: Th ames and Hudson, 1995).
Bindia Th apar, Introduction to Indian Architecture (North Claren- don, Vt.: Tuttle, 2005).
Mark Wilson-Jones, Principles of Roman Architecture (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000).
▶ art
introduction
Ancient human beings around the world painted on rocks. The purposes of these ancient rock paintings are not known. Archaeologists often suggest that they were re- ligious works, because religion has been one of the most powerful motivators of artists. Perhaps the depictions of animals, humans, hunts, and war were intended to make hopes into reality. It was common in ancient cultures to believe that art was more than mere representation of something concrete, that an artistic depiction of some- thing made it actual fact. That is, the act of creating art was simultaneously the creating of reality. For instance, the depiction of a bird actually created a real bird in the
world. Thus, the depictions of hunts could be attempts to make successful hunts reality.
Th is supernatural interpretation of ancient art—whether paintings or statues—makes sense of some but not all depic- tions. It does not account for the portrayal of a gored man on a European rock wall, of people dancing on Saharan rock sides, or of beings that are half animal and half human found in Egypt, Africa, and the Near East. Some African rock art was used during initiation rites to tell young people about their responsibilities as adults. In Inner Mongolia the rock paintings may have done no more than list the kinds of wild game found in an area. In Australia aborigines know what their ancient paintings mean: Th ey are stories of creation and the arrival of humans in Australia, and the aborigines can translate the paintings for outsiders.
In addition to painting stone, ancient artists sculpted it. Many of the earliest artworks that archaeologists have found are small stone carvings of humanlike fi gures. Stone sculp- ture has usually been carved either fully in the round or in re- lief. In reliefs, carved fi gures project from a fl at background. Egyptians and Kushites, from south of Egypt, were masters of relief carving, illustrating military victories or interactions between gods and humans on stone walls. Th ese carvings featured stylized fi gures that appear fl at to modern eyes but which were seen by ancient viewers to represent several per- spectives of a fi gure. Reliefs were popular in the Near East and the Roman world for depicting military victories; the Ro- mans developed the triumphal arch, which celebrated a great military leader with reliefs showing his victories.
Th e Egyptians may have been the fi rst to create life-sized metal statues, dating to about 3500 b.c.e. Copper, a com- ponent of bronze, tends to hold bubbles, but it oft en can be found in nuggets; in Europe and northwestern North Ameri- ca it was sometimes pounded into shape, beginning in about 4000 b.c.e. in North America and perhaps later in Europe. Wherever people learned how to make it, bronze became the preferred metal for art, because it holds its shape better than other metals, even iron.
Another early medium for artistic expression was ceram- ics. It is not known how early people began making ceramics, but it dates back to at least the period of the last great ice age. Decorating ceramic vessels seems a natural activity for peo- ple, because human beings tend to like to have beauty in their lives. Th us, early ceramics oft en took on attractive shapes and were oft en painted. Advances in the technology of fi ring clay led to the development of glazes, which required high tem- peratures to melt. Glazes added luster to ceramics. Ancient pottery was not always intended to have practical uses such as storing grain or for carrying water. For instance, almost everywhere, people made ceramic fi gures, usually small. Th e fi gures sometimes served religious purposes such as acting as spiritual guardians for graves or as substitutes for human sacrifi ces. In many cases ceramic fi gures were toys, oft en in the shapes of animals and carts.
Wood was certainly used for sculpture in the ancient world, but wood decays, leaving mostly objects of more
durable substances such as stone and ceramics; a few ancient pieces survive, typically in dry climates. Written records tell of marvelous wooden sculptures in ancient India, and wood has long been favored for sculpture in Africa; both regions, however, have climates and insects that rapidly destroy wooden art. As with pottery fi gures, wooden carvings oft en were used for supernatural purposes, such as representing gods, but they also took the form of well-carved furniture, and wood was a favored medium for making dolls.
Glassmaking seems to have been intended originally for the making of jewelry. Glass beads, in particular, were very highly valued throughout the ancient world, with certain col- ors of glass sometimes being more highly valued than gold. Especially prized glass beads could travel through trade for thousands of miles, allowing archaeologists to use the ones they fi nd to trace commerce among ancient peoples. Eventu- ally, glass became a medium for household objects, and glass- makers became skilled at creating everyday objects such as vases and lamps into art objects such as dishes that looked like grapes or candlesticks that looked like vines.
A technique used to decorate objects was painting. An- cient peoples painted almost anything, probably because they loved color. Where a modern artist might leave a marble sculpture or bronze sculpture its natural color, ancient art- ists would paint the marble or bronze. Th e desire to create a painting for its own sake probably occurred very early among ancient artists, but aside from rocks, their paintings were usually on perishable materials such as wood, bark, bamboo, and silk. Th is means that a vast part of humanity’s artistic history has been lost because the ancient paintings decayed or were destroyed. Sometimes the paints themselves contained acids that could eat through whatever was under the paint. From time to time, the paint lost fl exibility as it dried and fl aked away. For many ancient cultures art historians fi nd only traces of paints that serve as clues as to the colors artists used. Occasionally, researchers get lucky, because in dry ar- eas such as Egypt paint can survive in dark places, or ancient artists found a way to paint with durable colors, as the ancient Chinese did with lacquer.
Whatever form it took, ancient art was an expression of what ancient people valued and can tell modern people something about what the ancient people were like. In some cases, art is all that is left of a culture that passed from history thousands of years ago. Th e complexity of much ancient art speaks of people who were as complicated as modern people, and their work is sometimes unsurpassed by later artists.