Welcome to Objects as History 1

Fall 2013

Instructor: Michelle Fisher

Wednesdays 12.10pm – 2.50pm

August 28 – December 11, 2013

Course Chronology: Prehistory to the Twentieth Century

Course Themes: History, Civilization, Culture, Power, Politics, Religions, Economies, Societies, Individuals, Domestic Space

ALL UNDERSTOOD THROUGH INVESTGATING OBJECTS YOU CAN SEE IN NEW YORK COLLECTIONS!

FIRST DAY ADMIN

Introductions

Index cards – Name, preferred email address, Intended Major, hometown, previous art history courses,

Swap emails and interview a classmate; write your bios

Read through course syllabus together; discuss assignments

Swap emails and interview a classmate:1. What is your history? Who are you, where do you

come from? How did you end up at Parsons? 2. What is history more generally? How would you

define “history”? 3. What is the most important object in history you can

think of? 4. What is the most important object that tells

something about your own personal history?5. What one extra thing should your partner know

about you?

Then - write a short bio introducing your classmate

Syllabus

What is visual analysis?

Why is it important for our investigations this semester?

Woman of Willendorf11cm highMaterial: Oolitic limestoneCreated: 24,000 B.C.E – 22,000 B.C.E.Discovered in 1908 near Willendorf, by Josef Szombathy

Present location: Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria

BC = Before ChristAD = Anno Domini (the year of our Lord)

BCE = Before the Common EraCE = Common Era

What can these objects tell us about very early history?

Woman from Willendorf. c. 24,000 BCE. Height 4 3/8”.

Valdivia female figurines, ca. 3,500 BCE, Museum of the American Indian

Woman from Dolní Vestonice. 23,000 BCE. 4 1/4 1 7/10”.

Woman from Brassempouy. Probably c. 30,000 BCE . Height 1 1/4”.

The First Tools and the invention of Writing (300,000 – 1,800 BCE)

What does the term “pre-history” refer to?

Prehistory is a term that refers to all of human history that precedes the invention of writing

systems, ca 3,100BC, and the keeping of written records, and it is an immensely long

period of time, some ten million years according to current theories. 

Prehistory =

Paleolithic Era (pre 10,000 BCE)

&Neolithic (10,000

BCE – 3,000 BCE)

Paleolithic Hand-Axe. 60,000 years ago. Height 10”.

Paleolithic

From the Greek meaning:

“paleo” = old

“liithic” = stone

Paleolithic lifestyle was a result of their relationship to nature.  They were nomadic hunters, gatherers, and fishers; they did not produce their own food and they lived precariously as peoples completely dependent on their environment. 

Neanderthal Tools, 300,000 BCE

What can early tools tell us?

Neil MacGregor’s Olduvai Stone Tool

Lower Palaeolithic, about 1.2 million years old, Olduvai Gorge, TanzaniaThe first great invention, this tool is called a handaxe. Handaxes were first made in Olduvai Gorge about 1.5 million years ago.

What can early tools tell us?

Man could create functional objects that premeditated actions like hunting and building shelter – rather than just responding to

immediate conditions with immediate reactions

This planning meant that man had a more developed brain – planning is a more evolved response!

It also meant their relationship to the natural world slowly changed. In the Neolithic period of Prehistory, man started to settle, farm crops and animals, produce food surpluses, and remain in one place for much longer than their Paleolithic

forefathers.

They did this by using objects like these tools. They did this when they learned how to make these objects.

What can early writing tell us?

Course Readings

Spotted Horses and Human Hands. Peche-Merle Cave, France. Horses 25,000–24,000 BCE;

hands c. 15,000 BCE. Individual horses over 5’ in length.

Prehistoric Wall Painting (Line Drawing).

Course Readings

Smarthistory and the Met Museum of Art’s TIMELINE OF ART HISTORY

PICTURES!