ANTH 149 Midterm 2 IVH
Old Kingdom 2700-2000 BC
- Old Kingdom: Pharaohs and pyramids o Dynasty 3-6; 2700-2000 BC o Development of pyramid burials • Mastaba tombs (First Dynasty Kings) • Pyramid of Djoser • Sneferu's (failed) pyramids • Giza pyramids
What is it for? 1. Amesbury Archer, elite burial 2. Astronomical observatory/ calendar? 3. Stonehenge as part of a "ritual landscape" 4. Mortuary rituals for elites
1. Amerbury Archer: 2300 BC, Elite Burial - Richest Neolithic burial (he has tons of stuff, carved stone wrist guards beautiful arrow heads, copper knives, gold jewelry) European artifacts - Isotope evidence suggest he grew up in Europe - probably grew up in the Alps - Earliest metals in Britain; early metal worker - first generation of metal working people from Europe coming into Britain - Warrior elite associated with Stonehenge - a wounded leg, knee cap has fallen off, and person buried next to him is probably his son - warrior elites associated with Stonehenge - right next to Stonehenge 2. Astronomical observatory/calendar • Main axis lines up with solar (midwinter sunset and midsummer sunrise) and lunar cycles • Calendar? • Used for calculating eclipses? 3. o Stonehenge is only one part of a large "ritual landscape" - all of the other henges around 4. Mortuary rituals for elites What is it for? o Stonehenge is part of a complex ritual landscape o A sacred place and burial ground for elites from the beginning (3000BC) o A long with the Durrington Walls represents part of a system involved in funerary rituals and ancestor worship • Durrington Walls - rituals for living • Stonehenge - rituals for the dead o Used to keep track of the ritual calendar o Used for ceremonies dealing with the dead (particularly elite) o Meant to inspire awe (and fear) and as a symbol of power for the ruling Late Neolithic elites.
1. Building phase 1 2. Building phase 2 3. Building phase 3a 4. Building phase 3b 5. Building phase 3c 6. Building phase 3d 7. Building phase 3iv
1. Building Phase 1 o3000 -2900 BC • "Henge" ditch and bank constructed - oldest part of Stonehenge • Bluestones placed in each of 56 "Aubrey holes" • Cremation burials o Bluestones imported from Preseli mountains (Wales) some 155 miles away - actually connected with the old story of the King and Merlin, so kind of crazy o A major undertaking with Neolithic technology - would have been used sledges or floated them 2. Building Phase 2 o 2900-2600 BC • Aubrey holes filled in • Complex timber post structures, including a house (similar to other hinges of the time) • Cremations 3.Building Phase 3a o 2600 BC • Bluestones rearranged in the arc - in the middle • Focus moves to center of the circle 4. Building Phase 3b o 2500 BC • Sarsen circle (60 stones) and trilithons (15) raised • Heel stone, Slaughter stone, Station stones • Cremations • Sarsen Stones for outer circle and trilithons (25-50 tons each) were imported from 25 miles away (North Wiltshire) - probably voluntary of people and having good time 5.Building Phase 3c o 2450 BC • Banked and ditched Avenue • Bluestones rearranged among sarsen circle 6. Building phase 3d o 2450 BC - 2200 BC • Stonehenge Archer burial in ditch - a bowman, arrows stuck in his bones so clearly killed, warriors of this area were bowman and stone wrist guards - rare because not many non cremations in Stonehenge - isotope studies on his skull suggests he isn't local but from Wales • Central pits and western features 7. Stonehenge Phase 3iv o 2000-1700 BC • Bluestones rearranged in central horseshoe • Z and Y holes
Clovis 1. Clovis fluted projectile point 2. Gault site
1. Clovis fluted projectile point o Discoveries of the large "fluted" projectile points in association with extinct fauna all over the US o Clovis identified as the earliest archaeological culture in North America o "Fluted" (the divot taken out of stone is the flute) spear points - very difficult to make o Interpreted as mobile, specialized big game hunters • Mammoth, mastodon, giant buffalo o Sites found across entire continent between 13,500-12,500 BP 2. Gault site o Central Texas o Largest Clovis site o Clov Layer
Where did Pre-Clovis come from? (email) 1. Coastal Route 2. European Coastal Route 3. Solutrean hypothesis (Dennis Stanford)
1. Coastal Route from Asia across down towards California because couldn't cross by land in Canada due to large ice mass 2. European Coastal Route Idea that they could have crossed from Europe because there are similarities in their tools 3.Did Paleolithic Europeans colonize the Americas? Yes, I think it is possible and perhaps even likely. The Solutrean stone tools are very similar to Clovis points.
Components of the Monument 1. Ditch and embankment 2. Outer sarsen circle with lintels 3. Outer bluestone circle 4. Inner sarsen trilithons 5. Inner bluestone horseshoe 6. Altar stone 7. Outliers
1. Ditch and embankment - Encloses an area 360 feet in diameter - Main opening to the NE: smaller one to the south 2. Outer Sarsen circle with lintels - 30 squared sandstone uprights - 100 feet in diameter - Engineers in the late Neolithic that are calculating the right curves of the lentils so it is geometrically perfect 3. Outer bluestone circle - Located inside of sarsen circle, smaller uprights without lintels - Originally there were 60 holes inside them 4. Inner sarsen trilithons - 5 huge trilithons arranged in a horseshoe facing the cause way 5. Inner bluestone horseshoe - 19 well-dressed uprights in a horseshoe arrangement inside of trilithons 6. Altar stone - Single large stone (16 ft. long) at the apex of the horseshoe of trilithons (now fallen) 7. Outliers - Slaughter stone - only remaining of three large, originally, upright sandstone slabs - at the entrance NE - Heel stone - 16 feet tall rough sandstone slab, located 85 feet outside of the causeway, originally one of two that were on the main axis - Station stone - originally 4 (2 remain) standing sandstone slabs
Historical Perspective 1. Earliest references 2. Henry of Huntingdon 3. Monmouth's description from "History of the Kings of Britain (AD1136)
1. Earliest academic reference dates to AD 1130 by Henry of Huntingdon in his History of England Early Explorations: 2. Earliest academic reference dates to AD 1130 by Henry of Huntingdon in his History of England Quote: "Stan[h]enges, where stones of wonderful size have been erected...no one can conceive how such great stones have been so raised aloft, of why they were built there" 3. o Geoffrey Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain (1136) gives this account • British lords are massacred at Ambrius (Amesbury) by Saxon king Hengist • British king (Vortigern) flees to Wales where Merlin builds him a tower • Rightful king Aurelius Ambrosius returns and defeats Hengist • Constructs a memorial to the massacre with the help of Merlin using the stones from the "Giants' Dance" in Ireland • King Ambrosius, his brother (Utherpendragon) and nephew (King Arthur) are buried at the monument
Egypt in Time and Space 1. Geography 2. Upper and Lower Egypt 3. First Cataract 4. Nile Delta 5. Eastern and western deserts
1. Geography 2. Upper and Lower Egypt - Upper Egypt - actually south - heart of Egypt, beginning of Egypt - the Nile flows south to North - Lower Egypt - actually north - where Giza is 3.First Cataract - this is the first blockage, so rapids are here and boats cant go any further and therefore is the southern boundary for Egypt 4. Nile Delta the tip of Nile, super productive of Egypt and breadbasket of it, the Mediterranean and even Roman empire - it is a marshland 5. Eastern and Western Deserts - To the west is the Western desert which is the Sahara where there is nothing at all really and Egypt has conflicts with nomads - No populations in the Eastern Desert but they have many minerals, no neighbors, and if they go through that desert there is the Red Sea o Fayum - weird basin, has its own culture and has some of the most preserved cemeteries o To the South of Egypt there is a totally different civilization in the Nubia people, this was the Egyptians favorite place to go to war and mostly won
Giza Pyramids 1) Pyramids of Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure 2) Pyramids complex: pyramid, temples, causeway 3) Engineering (scale) 4) How were they built? a) Aswan Quarry b) Movement by river boat c) Ramps d) Workers' Village 5) Who built the pyramids? a) Slaves? Workers?
1. Giza Pyramids - Khufu o Son of Sneferu o Built the largest pyramid - originally covered in white casing stone • 1.3 million blocks, 2.5 tons each (average) • Perfectly aligned to cardinal points • Each side 230.3 meters long and 146.6 meters tall • Estimated 25,000 workers - Khafre - Menkaure • Who built the pyramids? : The worker's village o Not built by slaves o Workers consisted of: • Permanent probably (salaried) skilled workers house in a pyramid town • Temporary 'labor gangs' (corvee) on 3-4 month cycles living in dorms • Gang organized intro crews (2), phyles (5), divisions • Drunks of Menkaura, friends of Khufu, the Greens, the Powerful Ones - Names of work groups - shown to be funny • 'Diary of Merer' records an administrator managing 200 worker delivering stone from Tura to the Great Pyramid o Merer job was to float across Nile from Tura and move the casing stone to the pyramids - itinerary of what he was doing for project • Total labor for e at one time probably 25,000 • Built the Great Pyramids in 20 years
Otzi the Iceman 1.When and where? 2. What do we know about him? 3. How did he die? a) Reconstructing his last day 4. What artifacts are preserved? 5. Iceman ancient genome
1. His remains were found in the Otztal Alps in 1991 and were dated back to the Late Neolithic around 3,300 BC. 2. He represents the oldest complete European body. He was between 40-50 years old. He was 5'4" and 120 pounds. He was well muscled, used to climbing and walking in the mountains - large muscle attachments. He was arthritic, had bone degeneration in his spine. He had a healed broken nose, a parasitic intestinal infection, and he was recovering from a recent severe illness. He had tattoos that were a cross on his knee, series of parallel lines on his back, and acupuncture tattoos with a flint blade and rubbing soot on them. This was known way to potentially help his arthritis. His tooth chemistry suggests that he grew up near the village of Feldthurns and then moved north as a young adult. 3. He was about 10,000 feet up in the Alps when he died. It is believed he had a violent confrontation with other people in the valley below, based on him being beaten and cut, and then he fled into the mountains. He may have killed a few people. He is hunted down and ambushed, getting shot in the back with an arrow and then smashes him in the head. Then he rips the arrow shaft out. Snow begins to fall and covers his body. 4. Artifacts Preserved B) His clothes • Bear skin hat • Leather (goat) coat • Woven grass cape • Belt (calf leather) • Loincloth • Leather (goat) leggings with suspenders • Leather (bear +deer) and bark shoes stuffed with grass A) His tools • Copper axe with yew haft (prestige)- person who made seen as like magical and associated with the Gods at the time • Flint knife • Leather pouch a scraper, drill and awl • Yew Bow (unfinished) • Leather quiver with 14 arrows (only 2 finished) • Wood frame backpack • 2 small birch-bark baskets (tinder kit) 5. Iceman Ancient Genome o His whole genome was sequenced in 2012 • Brown eyes • Lactose tolerant • Risk factors for heart disease (had heart disease) • Suffered from Lyme Disease • Unique maternal lineage (mtDNA) - has not come up in any modern human population • Y chromosome (male) lineage "L91" (haplogroup G) - present in modern European populations but in really small frequencies - less than 1% o Iceman's genome compared to modern European populations o Y chromosome haplogroup G o Rare in continental Europeans but common in Sardinians o Iceman's' ancestors were colonizing Middle Eastern Farmers o Iceman's Neolithic diluted on mainland Europe by later migrations but remained isolated on the island of Sardinia o His ancestors interbred with other moving populations while his Sardinia lineage stayed isolated
Pre-Clovis 1. Monte Verde 2. Meadowcroft Rock Shelter 3. Cactus Hill 4. Paisley 5 Mile Cave 5. Gault Site
1. Monte Verde - - most important and preserved in Americas, earliest archaeological site in the Americas - earlier than Clovis o Southern Chile (gasp) o Dated to 14,000 BP o Preservation of wood and other perishables o House, huts, foot prints o Monte Verde Stone Tools - worst • Very simple stone tools - not good ancestor for Clovis Summary o Predates Clovis o Located on the southern coast of South America - how did they get there? o Very simple stone tools o Not big game hunter but generalized foragers 2. Meadowcroft Rock Shelter o Meadowcroft rock shelter, PA o Level IIa dated to 12,000 BP, 15 or 19 o Maybe an ancestor of Clovis 3. Cactus Hill VA o Hearth dated to 15,000 years ago o Includes blades and unfluted bifacial points similar to Meadowcroft 4. Paisley 5 Mile Cave, Oregon - earliest evidence for people in the lower 489 o Cave site on former interior lake margin o Human and mtDNA identified in paleo-feces o Dated to 14, 200 BP (calibrated) 5. Gault Site, Texas o Gault, Texas - largest Clovis site o Artifacts do not stop with Clovis levels o Deborah Friedkin site (Waters et al 2011) • Pre-Clovis layers date to 15,500 BP • Tools could be ancestral to Clovis
Consequences of Agriculture 1. Neolithic Demographic Transition 2. Why? 3. Archaeological evidence 4. Expansion of farming/farmers 5. DNA Evidence 6. Linguistic Evidence
1. Neolithic Demographic Transition - Farming results in rapid increase in population growth - Population growth leads to the spread of farmers - Major impact on today's population genetics 2. Farming results in rapid increase in population growth: Why? - Weaning foods - for infants - Shorter period of breast-feeding (prolactin) Reduced mobility - Lower female activity levels/ increase nutrition - More babies 3. Archaeological Evidence - Increase in the number of sites/ larger sites - Burials: Younger mortality profiles - Rapid Expansion of Neolithic populations 4. Expansion of farmers/farming - Europe colonized by Middle Eastern Farmers in the Neolithic 6000-4000 BC - Brought near Eastern crops and livestock with them 5.DNA Evidence - Ancient DNA samples have been recovered from dozens of Neolithic skeletons in Europe and Middle East - Used to reconstruct relatedness of populations and prehistoric migrations - Earliest European farmers are closely related to Middle Eastern populations, especially populations in Turkey 6. Linguistic Evidence - European languages derive from post - Neolithic migrations - Genetics and linguistics of the Basque people - Basque people are an ethnic minority in northern Spain and SW France - Basque is an isolated language not related to any other - a) Neolithic farmers genetically distinct from local hunter-gatherers - b) Neolithic farmers related to modern Basque people (some inter-breeding with local hunter gatherer women) - c) Basque people genetically isolated from later migrations - d) Earliest farmers probably spoke languages related to Basque
Archaeological evidence for the Neolithic Revolution 1. Sedentism: Gobekli Tepe (site) 2. Cultivation 3. Domestication
1. Sedentism first appears in the earliest Neolithic - 10,000 BC. Gobekli Tepe was an early Neolithic site in SE Turkey around 9,000 years ago. Elaborate ritual architecture appears in the Neolithic. It may have stimulated the invention of farming. The site consists of huge round structure with stone walls. They had an anthromorphic pillar that looked like a person on a pillar 2. Cultivation is low intensity, basically "garden" farming. They had plant processing equipment like sickles and grinding stones. There were also botanical remains. a) • Neolithic Kitchen o Jerf el Ahmar, Syria • Room with stone basins, grinding stones • Plants recovered include • Wheat and barley in separate storage bins • Lentils (Lens) • Mustard seed cakes (Brassica) • Pistachio and more 3. Domestication is direct control over reproduction of useful plants and animals. Two ways to identify this is morphology and DNA. What happens with Domestication is predictable genetic changes occur with domestication (the "all the better to eat you with" syndrome). Things like reduced defense mechanisms, the need for humans to be able to reproduce, and changes in size. Genetic studies show wild wheat near Gobekli Tepe is the closest ancestor to all domestic wheat.
Theories of why agriculture developed 1. Oasis Hypothesis 2. Population Pressure 3. Social Competition
1. The Oasis Hypothesis came from VG Childe and was the idea that the drying following the Ice Age brings humans, animals, and plants together at "oases" (river valleys). People would now 'settle down' and that close proximity leads to human control over plants and animals. We now know that the environment after the last ice age was actually really wet. 2. Population Pressure is this idea that abundant resources led to intensive harvesting of plants and sedentism. Sedentism would now lead to an increase in babies and decline of wild crops so culivation of crops would be necessary to feed growing populations. 3. Another idea was that the increase in food production was driven by social competition. Initial domestication for "delicacies" or special food (beer, meat) for use in socially important feasts. Social desire to out compete your neighbors, to get things that people really like led to farming
Predynastic Egypt 4200-3000BC 1. Themes a) Aesthetic of the body b) Religion and the dead c) Inequality and power 2. Burials with grave goods 3. Cosmetic palettes, combs 4. Mummification 5. Unification of Egypt 6. Hierakonpolis (site) a) First royal tombs? b) Tomb 100
1. Themes - Aesthetic of the body - obsessed with this perfect body figure image - Religion and the dead - lots of burial practices - Inequality and power - the Pharaoh is this god King 2. Burials with grave goods - Ceramic vessels - Cosmetic palettes - Combs - Linen textiles (cloth) 3. Cosmetic Palettes and combs - very nice palettes an combs that were made in great detail, for the rich? 4. Mummification • Buried in sand (naturally mummified) on reed mats with burial goods for afterlife • Natural mummification • Facing west (land of the dead) - these bodies were in the desert, not around the green where you grow stuff because that's weird 5. Unification of Egypt 3500BC - 3000 BC • Upper Egyptian (earliest evidence of Egyptian cities and kings) influence spreads north in Lower Egypt (conquest? An Idea) 6. Hierakonpolis (site) • Hierakonpolis - Emergence of the State • Early center of power in Egypt - upper Egpyt because close to important mineral resources • Tomb 100 earliest 'royal' tomb o Simple brick chamber tombs with wall paintings o Funerary practices • Burials of animals in elite cemetery Tomb 100 • Wall painting in Tomb 100 (3200BC) • Early elements of Egyptian state culture • Boats, hunting, elites, ritual, warfare
Earliest Moundbuilders 1. Watson Brake 2. Poverty Point
1. Watson Brake, LA • Dates to 3400 BC • 11 mounds (3-25 feet high) connected by ridges form a 900 feet diameter overall 2. Poverty Point 1700 BC • Enormous complex of raised, concentric rings and mounds • Mound A: 70 feet tall; 250,000 cubic meters of fill • Pre-agricultural culture! • Function of the Poverty Point mound complex? • Seasonal gathering? • Trade? • Residence? • Remains of food production o Clay balls for cooking • Remains of craft production o Imported shell and stone crafted into decorative beads • Surprisingly complex pre-agricultural society. Hunter-gatherers don't usually organize and build like this
Culture Periods
1.Paleolithic (40,000-12,000BC) - First humans in Europe and they were Ice Age hunter-gatherers 2. Mesolithic (12,000-5,500 BC) - Contained sophisticated hunters and gatherers with a mobile life and end of the ice age? 3. Neolithic (5,500-2,500 BC) - brought about Europe's first farmers from the Middle East but they were not indigenous farmers. Migrants from the Middle East arrive in SE Europe in 5,500 BC and reach the British Isles by 4,000 BC. Monuments also begin to appear in Britain. 4. Bronze Age (2,500-1,000 BC) - This brought about the intensive trade and appearance of metals. "Beaker" people arrive in Britain. Round barrows are constructed and they replace long barrows. Metals at this time were the most prestigious items.
Timing of the transition
Agriculture was invented independently on every continent except Australia. This started happening between 4-10,000 years ago and the reason for this time is because it was after the last Ice Age and there was an improved climate and the human population began to increase.
Early Speculations on the origins of Native Americans 1. Jose de Acosta
All of the kind of speculations: • "Indians" - because thought they were in India • Carthaginians - famous people Romans fought • Lost tribes of Israel • Scandinavians • Central Asian Nomads • Atlantians 1. Jose de Acosta o Jesuit Missionary in Americans o 1589, Historia Natural y Moral de los Indias • Indians reached the New world by slow overland migration from Asia • This took place 2000 years before European conquest Native American Origins: o Arrival via Bearing Sea considered as early as 1637 o Physical similarities between Indians and Asians identified early on o By 1800 people fairly certain of Bearing Sea route for the first Americans
Antiquity of Indians 1. George McJunkin and the Folsom site
Antiquity of Indians: • More intractable problem • Earth thought to be quite young • Archbishop James Ussher: creation occurred Oct 23, 4004 BC 9AM • Therefore, Indians must be young as well - makes it easier to kick them off their land instead of saying they have been here forever and then kicking them off 1. George McJunkin and the Folsom site • The Turning Point o 1924 the site of Folsom, NM was discovered by George McJunkin o 1924 the Folsom site NM • Extinct giant Bison remains (Ice Age fauna) • Projectile point (Folsom Point) embedded in rib
Where does Clovis come from? (email)
Anzick Site - only one with bone???????? o Infant burial, Montana o Dated to 12,500 BC o Cc o Ancient DNA show Anzick infant to Native Americans • Maternal lineage: rare • Paternal lineage: Common in native Americans o Most closely related to modern indigenous South American - Confirms Asian origins of Clovis people - Clovis was culture was a local American development - DNA evidence proves Clovis people are direct descendants of some Native Americans
Beringia 1. Ice Age mammoth fauna 2. Archaeology of Beringia a) Yana b) Bluefish Caves
Beringia: o 1,000 mile wide large plain, not little bridge that some people make it sound to be o Beringian was the connection point between Asia and Alaska - not all under sea level 1. o Archaeology of Beringia • Yana (fauna showed that everything here was giant and scary) - earliest archaeological site in Beringia, first evidence of humans living in this harsh environment • Good place for hunting and gathering seasonal plants • Not a good ancestor for Clovis because bad stone tools • Lots of Mammoth remains • Earliest occupation of the Artic circle • Dated to 30,000 years ago (before things got cold) • Problem • No good archaeological ancestor for Clovis in NE Asia or Alaska • Bluefish Caves • Earliest occupation of North America! • Dated to 20,000 years ago • Bluefish Caves, Yukon, Canada - Butchery marks on bones dated to 24-19,000 years ago - Supports Beringian Standstill- - humans colonized Beringia and got stuck there - Beringia colonized well before the rest of North America
Where did the bluestones come from?
Bluestones imported from Preseli mountains (Wales) some 155 miles away - actually connected with the old story of the King and Merlin, so kind of crazy
VG Childe
Coined the phrase Neolithic Revolution in the 1920s to describe the emergence of settled life in the Neolithic. Defined a 'Revolutionary' change from previous ways of life and the precondition for the emergence of civilization. He also brought upon the idea of the Oasis Model.
Earliest Exploration (email) 1. John Aubrey 2. John Webb a) Druids 3. William Cunnington
Early Explorations 1. John Aubrey (1666) - first exploration 2. Inigo Jones and John Webb (1600s) - did the first reconstructions, misconstructed it and made of classical temple - Ask Professor • William Stukeley (1700s) - reconstructed it but he is the person that attached Druid religious practices into it 4. William Cunnington (1800s) - excavated - Ask • Charles Darwin (1800s) - excavated and was looking for worms • William Gowland (1901) - excavation and restoration - lifting up things that had fallen
Who were the moundbuilders?
Early settlers speculated mound constructions were built by a "lost race" - "Migrating Hindus" (Atwater 1820) - "Great race of the Moundbuilders" (Squier and Davis 1848) - Vikings (B Smith Barton 1797 - Israelites • Who were the Moundbuilders? o They were not one 'people' • Mounds constructed over a long period in North America (5000 years) • Mounds had different functions over time • Mortuary sites • Residential Mounds o Most mound construction can be linked to 3 archaeological cultures • Adena • Hopewell • Mississippian Conclusion: o Built by diverse Native American groups for multiple purposes between 3400 BC and AD 1500
Clovis era skeletal remains 1. Anzick Burial 2. Kennewick Man/ Ancient One 3. Ancient DNA results
Human Remains: o There are no Pre-Clovis human remains from North America o There are Clovis and Later skeletons • Kennewick Man, The ancient one, Washington • Anzick Site Montana 1. Anzick Burial o Infant burial, Montana o Dated to 12,500 BC o Clovis Culture Artifacts o Ancient DNA show Anzick infant to Native Americans • Maternal lineage: rare • Paternal lineage: Common in native Americans o Most closely related to modern indigenous South American - Confirms Asian origins of Clovis people 2. Kennewick Man/Ancient One - most famous skeleton in all Americas o Nearly complete human skeleton, Columbia river, Washington o Dates to 8,600 BP o Skull shape initially described as "Caucasoid" perhaps Polynesian o Raised questions about who the first Americans were o Focus of a decades long legal dispute between scientists and Native Americans o Early facial recognition recognized Patrick Stewart o DNA results conclusively show the ancient one related to modern native Americans 3. Ancient DNA results o Three DNA studies clearly show that the earliest Paleo-Americans are the ancestors of living Native Americans • Anzick infant burial • Paisley 5 mile • Kennewick
Conclusions: Predynastic Egypt 1. Aesthetic of the body 2. Burial practices 3. Kingship emerges
In the Predynastic Period, Egypt becomes Egypt • Aesthetic of the body emerges • Egyptian religious system present • Burial practices • Royal burials practices evolve rapidly • Kingship emerges • God king • War leader • Bringer of order
What is unique about Stonehenge? 1. Woodhenge 2. Durrington Walls 3. Avebury
Its not the biggest henge, not the only sight with standing stones, and its not the only laid out circle. Why it is unique: - Rectilinear worked stones - Lintel Stones - difficult to put on top and to make sure they hold - Ditch outside of embankment - every other henge in Britain is the opposite - Innovative, and more labor intensive and impressive than many other contemporary monuments 1. o Other wooden post version of Stonehenge (or similar) exist across Britain (earliest is in Wales) o Lots of circular monuments around where Stonehenge is 2. Durrington Walls is the largest henge structure (circular ditch in embankment) in Britain 3. Averbury is the largest stone standing stone monument in Britain
LGM
Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) • 24,000-16,000 years BP, cold and dry, glacial conditions • 2 Giants ice caps 1 mile think, that is blocking off contact between Asia and North America • During the LGM the Cordilleran and Laurentide ice sheets blocked passage south o Changes in the coastline • Ice age coastline 5-100 miles further out than today • Most Clovis points discovered in area are at this coastal area in Texas
Mississippian Moundbuilders 1. Mississippian Culture 2. Residential flat top mounds 3. Conical mounds 4. Natchez Indians 5. Cahokia a) Monks Mound b) Mound 72 burials 6. Collapse and disappearance of Mississippian Moundbuilders
Mississippian Moundbuilders: o AD 900 to AD 1500 o Dominant archaeological culture of the Mississippi river basin o Represents a peak of cultural complexity in pre-contact North America 1. Mississippian culture • First maize (corn) farms • Ranked societies with hereditary chiefs • Shared "high" art style 2 & 3. Mississippian Mounds • Flat top mounds were used as the location of elite residences • Conical mounds were used for burials and ceremonies 4. Natchez Indians o The last Mississippian peoples were encountered by Heman de Soto's expedition throughout the Southeast in 1539 o Reported great chiefs living on platform mounds worshipping the sun o Mortuary temples also located on mounds 5. Cahokia o Largest settlement in North America o Cahokia's Big Bang • AD 1050: small village replaced with a monumentally scaled planned city • 2000 acre site; population of 15,000 people • Monks Mound and the Great Plaza constructed as the symbolic center of the universe (cosmogram) a) Monk Mounds and The Great Plaza • 100 feet high • 1037 x 790 feet at the base • Covers 16 acres • 620,000 cubic meters of earth • Central plaza covers 47 acres b) Mound 72 Burials • Burial mound near Great Plaza • Elite burial with rich grave goods, and human sacrifices at the base of the mound • More than 200 other skeletons • Burial put with 53 young women • 4 men, decapitated and handless • Main burial: male-female pairs, associated with 20,000 marine shell beads • Repeated use of Mound 72 • Elites? Rulers? • Sacrifices linked to fertility, renewal and underworld rituals? o Represents powerful and violent political system. North American Empire? o Short lived. Abandoned AD 1400 o Most complex, sophisticated, large-scale society in the US o Only Pre-Columbian 'urban' center in North America o Largest settlement in North America until 1800 (Philadelphia) o Still mysterious collapse 6. Mysteriously collapsed before European contact • De Soto records presence of last mound-building political systems in SE (AD 1500s • No large mound center remains in 1600s • Disease?
Adena Mounds 1. Submound structures 2. What were Adena mounds for?
Moundbuilders: Adena o 500 BC to AD 1 o Adena settlements are not well-known but their mounds and burials are common in the Ohio Valley Adena Mounds o Conical mounds characterized by: • Sub-mound structures • Mortuary goods 1. Adena Submound structures o What are they? • Structures represent mortuary "temples" • Sacred areas used for burying and commemorating dead 2.Adena Mounds For? o Important individuals prepared for burial on bark platforms, within sunken log crypts, or in large charnel houses o These structures were ritually burned then covered with a small mound of earth which grew over time with multiple uses o Grave goods interred with individuals and left offering in caches in the mounds o Include many exotic imported materials o What were they for? • They are NOT residences • Mounds provided central places for mobile people to come together • Sites for group ceremonies • Social glue for tribal peoples
Why Egypt is important?
No ancient culture has a stronger appeal or wider recognition than ancient Egypt • Pharaoh = god king • Pyramids • Mummies • Art Style • Fabulous wealth and beauty
Mastaba Tombs
Royal tombs from Abydos: Mastaba • platform over burial chamber - an ancient Egyptian tomb rectangular in shape with sloping sides and a flat roof, standing to a height of 17-20 feet (5-6 m), consisting of an underground burial chamber with rooms above it (at ground level) in which to store offerings.
Where did the sarsen stones come from?
Sarsen Stones for outer circle and trilithons (25-50 tons each) were imported from 25 miles away (North Wiltshire) - probably voluntary of people and having good time
Step Pyramid of Djoser 1) Imhotep architect 2) Pyramid complex (walls, gates, pyramid, tunnels, etc.)
Step pyramid of Djoser (3rd dynasty) 2700 BC Saqqara o First truly monumental structure in ancient Egypt built entirely of stone o Imhotep: Royal architect (1) o Tunnels under the pyramid o Food storage and royal 'apartments' o King placed in large burial chamber 2. Complex Entrance of Djoser pyramid complex: o Covered colonnade o Monumental gateway o Chapels within the complex Step Pyramid Complex: o Recreates important features of early pharaoh's life and duties • Palace • Personal apartments • Food storage • Temples • Sed festival (Jubilee) • Involved public, symbolic reference to control over Upper and Lower Egypt • Double throne, symbols of Upper and Lower • Small temples representing regional gods • King runs through his territory
How was Stonehenge built?
Stonehenge is a fundamentally wooden structure that is translated into stone. Mortice and tenon joints are used and this is normally how you build things out of wood. There are also tongue and groove joints between lintels which is hard engineering. Vertical stones were likely tipped into their holes with ropes and wooden frames. Lintel stones were likely raised with wooden scaffolds
Neolithic Revolution
The Neolithic Revolution occurred around 10,000 years ago and is the most important cultural change. It represents the origins of agricultural economies and the new ways of life that emerge with them. Brought about domestication of plants and animals, complex village based societies, increased human population and was the foundation for all complex civilizations.
Myths surrounding Stonehenge
o Built by Egyptians, Druids, Romans, Greeks, and aliens.... o It was an observatory; calendar; place of sacrifice; healing; fertility; burial ground; alien landing site...
Thomas Jefferson
o First excavations • 1782 Thomas Jefferson systematically explored a Native American burial moun Speculative Period Quote: These [mounds] are of different sizes, some of them constructed of earth, and some of loose stones. That they were repositories of the dead, has been obvious to all: but on what particular occasion constructed, was matter of doubt.Some have thought they covered the bones of those who have fallen in battles fought on the spot of interment. Some ascribed them to... There being one of these in my neighbourhood, I wished to satisfy myself whether any, and which of these opinions were just. For this purpose I determined to open and examine it thoroughly. It was situated on the low grounds of the Rivanna, about two miles above its principal fork, and opposite to some hills, on which had been an Indian town...(T. Jefferson 1783. Notes on the State of Virginia)
What is it?
o Large monument of standing stones with encircling ditch and bank located on the Salisbury plain, Southern England o Built between 3000 BC and 1600 BC
Conclusions of Pyramids
o Pyramids evolved over time from mastabas to step pyramid to smooth sided pyramid complexes o Built by highly organized workers NOT slaves o Pyramid complexes reflect the political and religious system of Egypt
Sneferu's failed pyramids 1) First true pyramids 2) Changes in royal mortuary architecture 3) Sun god
o The first true pyramids • Sneferu o Represent changes in the emphasis of kingship from territorial ruler to sun-god o Great pyramids at Giza • Khufu • Khafra • Menkaura • Sneferu (2600 BC) o Most prolific pyramid builder o Had at least 3 pyramids complexes constructed o First appearance of true pyramid • Symbolic of increased emphasis on Ra, the sun god • Collapsed pyramid, Medium - 1 • Bent pyramid, Dahshur - 2 o First pyramid to include an associated temple for the cult of the king • Red pyramid, Dahshur - 3 o Thought to have been built over 17 years 2. Changes • Changes in mortuary architecture 2600 BC o Step pyramid to true pyramid • Symbol of the sun • Kings begin using title 'Son of Ra' o Royal appearance court and Sed festival architecture vanish o Mortuary temple and valley temple appear • Keep the cult of the deceased king/god o King depicted as powerful Sun-god
Laurentide and Cordilleran Ice sheets
• During the LGM the Cordilleran and Laurentide ice sheets blocked passage south
Abydos 1 Early royal tombs 2 Dynasty 0 tombs 3 Scorpion King 4 Narmer 5 Narmer palette 6 Dynasty 1 tombs (Aha, Djer, Den) a) How do they change overtime? (email) b) Funerary enclosures
• Early dynastic kings move their tombs to Abydos - appear to be shift in power • Dynasty 0 and Early Dynastic (Dynasties 1-2) royal burials located here in the Umm al-Qaab cemetery (facing the west, always where the dead people go) • First recorded kings of unified Egypt 2. Dynasty 0 - Mysterious earliest kings of Egypt - These Kings may have fought to unify Egypt - Scorpion King - Iry-Hor - Ka - Nar-mer 3. o Scorpion King macehead • White crown of Upper Egypt • King taking part in an agricultural ritual • Animals at top somehow representing Egyptian gods • He's holding a pick and appears to be opening up a canal - overseeing fertility of the Nile valley 4. Narmer o Iconography indicates king of both lower and upper Egypt - We know the most about him o Powerful war leader o Royal Name (serekh) - catfish + chisel • Found all the way in Israel o First expansionary Egyptian king - first clear unification of the Egyptian state - Narmer's Palette • One of the most important artifact from ancient Egypt - found in Abydos as gift to the gods, but a 2ft cosmetic palette. • His name up at the top • Show as gigantic and wearing the white crown (Upper Egypt) • Has a mace in his hand and is using it to smash someone in the head - the guy is important enough that his name is given, Wash, but looks to be a Libyan enemy potentially • There is a sandal holding guy who is a high ranking official who it either has his name or his position • Two naked guys at bottom, bad sign if no clothes, that appear to be dead from a battle in another town • On the other side there is Nar-mer again who is shown as gigantic wearing a red crown (lower Egypt) - first time we see this two together in history • Small people carrying the posts that represents the gods who follow Horace • Sandal guy gain following him • 10 people lying side ways with there hands tied and heads between their legs • Mixing area is a fantastical scene - hard to understand • Bull probably representing king, smashing on the walls of a city and killing a guy 5. Dynasty 1 Tombs (Aha, Djer, Den) o First ones had simple double tomb chambers. One for body and one for grave goods o If we move to Dynasty 1 these tombs become bigger - King Aha o Tomb of King Aha, Dynasty 1 • Complex is larger than Dynasty 0 kings, lots of subsidiary tombs (Human sacrifice?) - taking their court with them? o Tomb of King Djer, Dynasty 1 • Main tomb structure and subsidiary tombs (full of other people and goods) • Bracelets worn by King Djer • Bracelets on King Djer's arm (in situ) First royal human remains in Egypt. • Royal name of King Djer (bird standing on something) • Den (First Dynasty) Tomb - increasing monumentality • Mastaba Tomb, Abydos o Mastaba = flat topped rectangular tomb structure made of brick • Horus name (serekh) of the king Djet • Early Dynastic tombs o Start out small and simple • One or two sunken chambers with grave goods (example: Narmer) • Develop into large complexes with mastaba, and subsidiary tombs (human sacrifice)(example: Djet) o Include a tomb chamber separated from an enclosure (public space)
Squier and Davies
• Squier and Davis (1848) documented rapidly disappearing monuments • "Great race of the Moundbuilders" (Squier and Davis 1848)
Myth of the Moundbuilders
• The Ohio and Mississippi Valleys were once covered with 1000s of mounds and earthworks