*Note: The enduring “Enduring understanding,” “Learning Objective,” & “Essential Knowledge” language comes from the 2019 AP Art History Curriculum and Exam Guide.
Enduring Understanding: Cultural practices, belief systems, and physical setting constitute an important part of art and art making and are often communicated in various stylistic conventions and forms. Such cultural considerations may affect artistic decisions that include, but are not limited to, siting, subject matter, and modes of display, and may help to shape the creation of art in a given setting or within a given culture.
Learning Objective: Explain how cultural practices, belief systems, and/or physical setting affect art and art making.
Essential Knowledge: Periods before the written record are often defined in terms of geological eras or major shifts in climate and environment. The periods of global prehistory, known as lithic or stone ages, are Paleolithic (“Old Stone Age”), Mesolithic (“Middle Stone Age”), and Neolithic (“New Stone Age”). A glacial period produced European ice ages; Saharan agricultural grassland became desert; and tectonic shifts in southeast Asia created land bridges between the continent and the now-islands of the Pacific south of the equator. Human behavior and expression were influenced by the changing environments in which they lived.
*Note: Paleolithic pieces are from hunting & gathering societies while Neolithic are from early agricultural/animal domestication. Therefore the way they depict humans’ relationships with the natural world in artwork will also shift to display this change in lifestyle.
Paleolithic pieces:
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- #1. Apollo 11 stones. Namibia. c. 25,500–25,300 BCE. Charcoal on stone.
- #2. Great Hall of the Bulls. Lascaux, France. Paleolithic Europe. 15,000–13,000 BCE. Rock painting.
- #3. Camelid sacrum in the shape of a canine. Tequixquiac, central Mexico. 14,000–7000 BCE. Bone.
- #4. Running horned woman. Tassili n’Ajjer, Algeria. 6000–4000 BCE. Pigment on rock.
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Neolithic pieces:
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- #5. Beaker with ibex motifs. Susa, Iran. 4200–3500 BCE. Painted terra cotta.
- #6. Anthropomorphic stele. Arabian Peninsula. Fourth millennium BCE. Sandstone.
- #7. Jade cong. Liangzhu, China. 3300–2200 BCE. Carved jade.
- #8. Stonehenge. Wiltshire, UK. Neolithic Europe. c. 2500–1600 BCE. Sandstone.
- #9. The Ambum stone. Ambum Valley, Enga Province, Papua New Guinea. c. 1500 BCE. Greywacke.
- #10. Tlatilco female figurine. Central Mexico, site of Tlatilco. 1200–900 BCE. Ceramic.
- #11. Terra cotta fragment. Lapita. Reef Islands, Solomon Islands. 1000 BCE. Terra cotta (incised).
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Essential Knowledge: Globally, the earliest peoples were small groups of hunter-gatherers, whose paramount concern was sheer survival, which resulted in the creation of practical objects. From earliest times, these practical tools were accompanied by objects of unknown purpose—ritual and symbolic works perhaps intended to encourage the availability of flora and fauna food sources. Art making was associated with activities such as food production (hunting, gathering, agriculture, animal husbandry) and patterns of behavior, such as settlement, demonstration of status, and burial. For example, places of gathering or settlement and/or objects found in such places may be painted and/or incised with imagery related to their use.
Essential Knowledge: In many world regions—including those not in direct contact with one another—art shows humans’ awareness of fundamental, stable phenomena, from the macrocosmic (e.g., astronomical cycles, such as equinoxes and solstices) to the microcosmic (e.g., exploitation of permanent materials available in local environments, such as stone, hardened clay, and jade).
Suggested Works:
- #1. Apollo 11 stones. Namibia. c. 25,500–25,300 BCE. Charcoal on stone.
- #9. The Ambum stone. Ambum Valley, Enga Province, Papua New Guinea. c. 1500 BCE. Greywacke.
- #10. Tlatilco female figurine. Central Mexico, site of Tlatilco. 1200–900 BCE. Ceramic.
JMF
