AP Art History: Global Prehistory

Time Frame

• Period: 30,000 - 500 B.C.E.

Enduring Understandings

1-1: Human Expression Before Written Record

• Early art is found globally, not just in Europe.
• Commonality: Concern with natural world and humanity's place.

Essential Knowledge

• 1-1a: Defined by geological eras and climate shifts:
  • Paleolithic (Old Stone Age)
  • Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age)
  • Neolithic (New Stone Age)
  • Environmental changes influenced human expression.
• 1-1b: Early humans as small hunter-gatherer groups:
  • Created practical objects and symbolic works.
  • Developed various artistic media (e.g., ceramics, sculpture, architecture).

1-2: First Artistic Media and Influences

• Early art shows awareness of universal stable phenomena.
• 1-2a: Humans aware of astronomical cycles and local materials.
• 1-2b: Humanity originated in Africa; early art included rock paintings and carvings.
• 1-2c: Paleolithic communities in Asia; notable for ceramics and tomb arts.
• 1-2d: Pacific region migrations; early pottery by Lapita culture.
• 1-2e: European art includes sculptures, cave paintings, and stone assemblages.
• 1-2f: Indigenous American art featured sculptures from bone and clay.

1-3: Development of Art Historical Knowledge

• Involvement of social and physical scientists.
• 1-3a: Use of archaeological methods (e.g., carbon-14 dating) to illuminate connections.
• 1-3b: Modern archaeology as a basis for art historical studies.
• 1-3c: Inferring art function from technology and survival strategies.

Image Set Highlights

1. Apollo 11 stones (Namibia): c. 25,500-25,300 B.C.E., charcoal on stone.
2. Great Hall of the Bulls (Lascaux, France): 15,000-13,000 B.C.E., rock painting.
3. Camelid sacrum (Mexico): 14,000-7000 B.C.E., bone.
4. Running horned woman (Algeria): 6000-4000 B.C.E., pigment on rock.
5. Beaker with ibex motifs (Iran): 4200-3500 B.C.E., painted terra cotta.
6. Anthropomorphic stele (Arabian Peninsula): Sandstone, fourth millennium B.C.E.
7. Jade cong (China): 3300-2200 B.C.E., carved jade.
8. Stonehenge (UK): Neolithic, c. 2500-1600 B.C.E., sandstone.
9. The Ambum Stone (Papua New Guinea): c. 1500 B.C.E., greywacke.
10. Tlatilco female figurine (Mexico): 1200-900 B.C.E., ceramic.
11. Terra cotta fragment (Solomon Islands): 1000 B.C.E., terra cotta.