More handpicked essays just for you.
An essay on the archaeological issues of stonehenge
Paleolithic age lower middle upper
About the stonehenge research 1 page
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
1. Hall of Bulls Lascaux Cave, Dordogne, France Ca 15,000-13,000 BCE.
The Hall of Bulls was a painting which depicted bull like animals that were carved inside a cave in Lascaux, France. The painting depicted animals that probably were hunted and eaten such as bison and deer as well as animals that were feared such as lions and bears (Tedesco). These paintings were created in the years of 15,000-10,000 BCE and were part of a larger period called the Upper Paleolithic time period. The painting is a unique piece of art because it was created in a cave and the methods used to carve and paint these pictures is much different than methods used today. In order to see into the caves, artists at the time used lamps carved out of
…show more content…
It was made out of limestone and was unearthed at a site in Willendorf, Austria in 1908. Interestingly, the “Woman of Willendorf” is very small (hand sized) as compared to other work of the time period. The “Woman of Willendorf” is unique in that the sculpture is not fully completed. The figurine is very abstract and reduces the woman to a basic shape which differs from how animals are depicted (Davies 10). The artist did not create a mouth and only had put a suggestion of a nose. The sculpture also had no eyes as well as no resemblances of any eye structure (Davies 10). The figure feature large breasts, an extended belly and pronounced buttocks (Venus). The primary focus seems to be the sexualization of women and the importance of fertility (Ancient Women).
There are many possible purposes of this work. Scholars are not sure if the sculpture represents a specific woman or the ideal woman. The figure may not dictate the representation of a woman at all, “but, rather the notion of reproduction or, as some have argued, the fertile natural world itself” (Davies
…show more content…
It was a megalithic structure and represented a large organization of labor and engineering due to the size and weight of the supports and blocks that were used in its creation. There were two types of stones used in the construction, the larger sarsen and the smaller bluestones (Greaney). “The sarsen blocks weigh up to 50 tons a piece, and traveled 200 miles”, indicate the difficulty in moving the stone (Davies 18). What now appears to be a unified design actually happened in four parts. During the middle of the period that it was built, the structure “had grown into a horseshoe-shaped arrangement of five sarsen triliths, encircled by a ring of upright blocks capped with lintel” (Davies16).
There was a purpose for the creation of Stonehenge although it is one that is not backed with many facts. It is to be said that Stonehenge is associated with “the passing of time” and “most also concur that it had a ritual function, perhaps associated with burial” (Davies 16). These two things have led to many believing that Merlin, the magician of King Arthur, created
It offers and understanding that women were held at a different standard then than they are now. This figurine shows that women had a larger mid-section but was because they either needed the body fat for long, cold winters or the better idea was because it showed they were fertile and they were able to produce babies and keep the legacy going on. It also provides a better image of what the men and women had to go through in order to survive, like the long hard winters, the needing to hunt for food and could mean sometimes not having food. Venus of Willendorf was not considered an obese women, “where features of fatness and fertility would have been highly desirable”, (PBS, 2006). I can use this article because it explains the whole point about a women’s image. Women were not looked at how skinny and “good looking” they were in a pair of jeans. Women, in this time, were looked at as if they can be fertile or not. Being able to have children was a huge thing in this time since it was one of the point of living, to have a
First theory that comes from astronomical angle is usually the more believed one since there was so many close in content interpretations of it with tiny variations. In the structure of this ancient monument, several types of stones can be observed. There are: Sarsen stones, Trilithon, Blue stones, an Altar...
The painting depicts a mother and her four children, who are all leaning on her as she looks down solemnly, her tired, despondent expression suggests she felt trapped in her roles as being a mother and a wife. The woman and her children are clearly the focal point of the artwork as the bright colours used to paint them stand out impeccably against the dull, lifeless colours of the background. This painting appears to be centred around the ideology that women are home-keepers, whose main role is to satisfy and assist her husband while simultaneously minding the children and keeping the home tidy and ready for his return. The social consequences of this artwork could have been that the woman could have been berated for not taking pleasure out of being a mother and raising her children, as a woman should. She could have been made redundant as her husband may have felt as though she is no longer useful if she couldn’t adequately adhere to her roles as a mother and a
The composition of this painting forces the eye to the woman, and specifically to her face. Although the white wedding dress is large and takes up most of the woman’s figure, the white contrasts with her face and dark hair, forcing the viewer to look more closely into the woman’s face. She smokes a cigarette and rests her chin on her hands. She does not appear to be a very young woman and her eyes are cast down and seem sad. In general, her face appears to show a sense of disillusionment with life and specifically with her own life. Although this is apparently her wedding day, she does not seem to be happy.
Unlike the La Jolla Project, Stonehenge was probably not an abstract sculptural installation made of polished granite blocks. Stonehenge was built starting in 3100 B.C.E.(Encyclopedia Brittanica 287). The builders used mostly sarsen, a gray sandstone. Bluestones, or blocks of bluish dolerite, were also used. The number of stones used is unknown because the present structure of Stonehenge is the product of at least four major building phases. The stones have endured many centuries of rough weather and erosion.
Stonehenge is located in Southern England on what is known as the Salisbury Plain. The structure looks different than it once did, however. Today, Stonehenge suffers the effects of time and pernicious acts by people. Originally, in the years after completion, the structure was made up of “several concentric circles of megaliths, very large stones.” (5) Stonehenge consists a circular layout of approximately one hundred megaliths. On the tops of them another flat stone was placed to make a continuous ring of horizontal stones. These structures are known as trilithons.
This woman was most likely a freeborn, although lower class, woman. Based on the known trends of Syrian art at the given period, it is likely that the woman had vey little monetary wealth upon her death, explaining the lack of any jewlery besides the headress being depicted in this statue. The woman was probably born in Syria of Arabic descent, and her age at the time of death was somewhere between thirty-five and forty. There are deep lines in her cheeks depicting this aging process, but the lack of other facial wrinkles gives the assumption that she died rather young. Based om the sunken cheekbones and large eyes, as well as the fact that she was most likely poor, it can be assumed that had been in relatively poor health at the time of her death, probably heightened by meager food and strenous activity.
Soon after, many visitors began coming to the cave. What was it these people were so excited to see? When visitors first entered the cave they had to go down a twenty-meter slope, which led to the first hall, The Great Hall Of Bulls. The first thing they saw in the Great Hall of Bulls were the black bulls. Attention is quickly focused on them because of their great size compared to the other paintings. Also found in the Great Hall of Bulls are pictures of horses, deer, a small bear, and a primitive unicorn. “The strange so-called Unicorn appears to be walking towards the interior of the cave.
The Venus of Willendorf is one of the earliest sculptures of the body made by humans during the Paleolithic era. She was made from limestone native to her location and covered with red orche. Despite standing only 4.4 inches, the purpose of the Venus of Willendorf is widely debated. Some will say the exaggerated breasts, navel, and vulva connects her to fertility as a representation of a mother goddess. Others, such as those in my class, believe her to be a figure of body image. The stumpy female figure features hanging breasts, an obese middle and belly, and distinct buttocks in all, represents a realistic form of a severely overweight woman. Due to the hash ice-age environment of where she’s from leads one to believe fatness and fertility would have been highly desirable. Whether the sculpture was based on a fantasy or a real life model the infatuations with the idea of self-acceptance through body
The Woman from Willendorf, just as the name suggest was discovered in Willendorf, Austria in 1908 during an archeological excavation of the area. The small figurine is heavily regarded as one of the most important Paleolithic discoveries. Carved in the round from limestone the figure the figure is undeniably female with it’s exaggerated features. Some of the most recognizable features of the rounded figure include the large pendulous breast, the
One can immediately see the involvement of age in this sculpture because of her hunched back, bone structure, wrinkles, baggy eyes, saggy breasts, and all the other imperfections, but also shows that she has some kind of background history. She is also missing her arms, which one would be carrying a basket with fruits or vegetables, and the other could be carrying a chicken. Her dress, slipped off of one shoulder, epitomizes women of age during childbearing years had
Stonehenge was built in several different phases beginning with the large white circle, 330 feet in diameter, surrounded by an eight foot-high embankment and a ring of fifty-six pits now referred to as the Aubrey Holes.(Stokstad, p.53; Hoyle) In a subsequent building phase, thirty huge pillars of stone were erected and capped by stone lintels in the central Sarsen Circle, which is 106 feet in diameter.(Stokstad, p.54) This circle is so named because the stone of which the pillars and lintels were made was sarsen. Within the Sarsen Circle were an incomplete ring and a horsesho...
The artist wanted to draw you in by giving you a place to look at imminently upon looking at her and after looking at her your eyes is drawn down to her genitalia. This leads me to believe that she was created to represent fertility in woman, because certain exaggerated parts of her body and very detailed female reproductive organs.
The Venus of Willendorf and the Venus de Milo are two ancient day venus sculptures representing two different views on beauty. The Venus of Willendorf is a small 4.5 inch limestone figure of a Goddess which is believed to be used as a fertility symbol, while the Venus de Milo is a tall ancient Greek statue of a Goddess which is said to represent love and beauty. The Venus of Willendorf’s body structure is very different than that of Venus de Milo. The venus of Willendorf appears to be a short lady with a large emphasis on her reproductive organs, breasts and stomach area whereas the Venus de Milo appears to be very tall with smaller breasts, and a really athletic build. She appears to have abs and looks as if she has not had children before, while the Venus of Willendorf looks like she has had children due to her huge breasts and stretched out belly button. The Venus
Rossetti shows us the woman being painted as many different things. Although she is just a painting, the woman symbolizes how the artist views women in real life: as objects. Irony is used when the woman is painted as “a queen”(5). She is put on a pedestal in a position of power, yet she is only described as being “in [an] opal or ruby dress”(5), cementing her role as an ornament. The ruby symbolizes passion and perhaps promiscuity. Opal is a white stone that reflects many colors. White symbolizes purity; while the different colors reflected symbolize how her meaning can change, and how the artist controls her identity and can make her fit any persona he desires. The woman is also depicted as a “nameless girl”(6), indicating her identity is not important to the artist. It also shows that he does not personally know the women he’s painting, but only their looks, affirming that he bases their value off of their appearances. Lastly, the artist portrays a woman as “a saint [and] an angel”(7) and compares her to the “moon”(11), an allusion to Artemis, the goddess of virginity. In this painting, she is established as a pure virgin, which was a requirement of the time period Rossetti lived in. However, because it is one of the fantasies the artist creates, and the poem antagonizes him, this line also expresses the idea that a woman’s purity should not define her. He makes the innocent virgin and the licentious queen the only ways women can be viewed. Yet, they are the same to him. Lacking depth, their physical description is the only thing giving them any meaning. Rossetti describing the portraits conveys the idea that no matter the position in society; or what their actual personalities are like, women are just blank canvases for men to project their fantasies onto. Uninterested in a real person, the artist worships the idea of a