Prehistoric Art

Can we see social change in art? Demonstrate the ability to identify changes in human culture through visual media and material culture from the ancient world. Find three examples of art, objects, or architecture that illustrate changes in human society in prehistory and the development of cities.

Step 1. Read or listen to the discussion of the Standard of Ur posted on D2L. Identify three indicators of changing social complexity that are examined in the Standard of Ur. These should be general and relatively abstract such as hierarchy, power, labor specialization, luxury, etc. These words may not appear directly in the text, so you may have to infer or interpret them. Once you identify an abstract idea that indicates changing social complexity, be sure to note down the page number because you will be returning to it later.

Step 2. This assignment asks you to analyze an idea by illustrating it with examples of objects. These illustrations should be from the same historical period as the text you read (i.e. prehistory and the Bronze Age, roughly 40,000 BCE to 1,000 BCE). These illustrations should represent the themes of the text as it relates to increasing social complexity and the origins of cities. To be certain you have appropriate images, I suggest using library databases such as Artstor (available through http://library.uco.edu – just search for “Artstor” and log in to view it). Each scavenger hunt requires three images from either art, objects, or architecture.

Note: I am not asking you to find images of the Standard of Ur. I am asking you to illustrate abstract concepts from the reading.

Step 3. Once you have selected your images, create a presentation in PowerPoint or Microsoft Word that does the following:

1. Identifies what your image is of, including a name, date, and location where it was found
2. Includes a brief two to three sentence explanation for how each image illustrates the concepts.

These sentences can be organized as a paragraph or in bullet points.

Step 4. This document should be uploaded to the D2L dropbox when complete. A submitted assignment that receives a grade of “A” will have clean writing, express insight that synthesizes image and text, and meet the minimum requirement of three images.