Chapter 15 of the book, “Prebles’ Artforms”, explores the earliest sophisticated forms of art which were dated 40,000 years ago. The book describes this period as Pethiloithic Period and it explains that man started making crude stone cutting tools more than 2 million years ago. Human artifacts started showing workmanship evident in Upper Peliolithic era, which were performed by the Homo erectus. Some of the human artifacts that were discovered during this era included Mesolithic and carve carvings. Human beings also made portable arts including beards and figurines in which, decorative figured workings were prevalent in some objects. The Peliolithic era coincided with Stone Age just before man starting herding and practicing agriculture. Other art forms that were evident in the early Neolithic era were pottery and the construction of megalith and sculpture (Emeritus, Preble and Frank 240-245).

In addition, the chapter focuses on Venus of Willendorf, which has also been referred to as the Woman of willendorf. Made between 25,000 and 28,000 BCE, the Woman of Willendorf is the earliest female figure made by humans and was estimated to be about 11.1 centimeter high. The statuette was found by workman Johann Veran in 1908, during an excavation that was conducted by several archaeologists, including Hugo Orbermaier. The statuette was found in Paleolitihic site which was within the vicinity of Willendorf, a small village that was located in Austria. The chapter reveals that the Woman of Willendorf statuette was curved from oolistic limestone which, the archaeologist discovered that it was not from the local area. The statuette also had red orchre tints on its surface. Being both female and nude, she perfectly fitted the patriarchal system of construction of art. Woman of Willendorf became the “first woman” curved into a statuette, acquiring Eve identity. Suitably from the patriarchal perspective, she was the captivating reality of the female body. The Woman of Willendorf was seen as a Great Woman Goddess and, the statuette was used by the local people for religious purposes (Emeritus, Preble and Frank 245-246).

Ziggurat of Ur-Nammu is also another ancient art form which was discovered in Iraq, 2,100 BCE.

The art displayed in the Iranian western plateau was temples of massive structures which were constructed in the valley of Mesopotamia. These structures took after the shape of terraced-step pyramids; each of the terraces represented a level that carried stories of the people residing near the plateaus. In fact, the terraces represented the hierarchy on gods at different platforms, and they were erected at the centre of each city, state, taking the shape of the rectangle. Sumerians had taken to placing their importance on these platforms and which, had various functions to them. First, the elevated position of Ziggurat represented the elevated relationship with the people of the city. The elevated position was meant to represent the humdrum of everyday life of the Sumerians. Second, the elevated position was believed that it put the priests closer to heaven, allowing them to communicate with the deity through prayer and to deliver the message to the people about his will. Ziggurats were prone to floods and as a measure that was taken by the people, they built them from skin of fried bricks, set in bitumen mortar. The northwest remains of Ziggurats are believed to be the kitchen of the god. There were foundation deposits of “great cooking pot” which the gods used to prepare their evening meals. It is believed that Ziggurats had a possible inspiration in the construction of the biblical story. The Ziggurats embodied the idea of the “sacred mountains” that acted as a connection between the heaven and Earth (Emeritus, Preble and Frank 247-248).

The chapter also explored the Egyptian art-hieroglyphics, which are dated to be the oldest forms of Egyptian writings that took place around 1450 BCE. Hieroglyphs used symbols to represent objects (such as animals and boats), and ideas (such as joy, time and motion). The term hieroglyph was used by the Egyptian to represent “sacred carvings”, and they were used to decorate characters which were inscribed on monuments. More so, the Egyptian meaning for the word “hieroglyph” was “the language of gods”. The Egyptians used hieroglyphs to write down prayers, magical texts, and texts which were related to the worshipping of the gods and the life after death. When preparing the tombs, many preferred their autobiographies to written using hieroglyphs so that it would act as their guidance to the afterlife which, were visible on the tombs and on the insides of the coffins. Egyptians wrote hieroglyphs in long lines that flowed from top to bottom and from left to right. These sentences had no spaces in between them. The basic symbols, referred to as glyphs, were divided into two groups: phonograms which symbolized sounds and ideograms which symbolized ideas or objects. These writings were common on the “Tomb of Nebanum” in Thebes, Egypt. Hieroglyphic writing was used express the Egyptian way of life and for entertainment purposes (Emeritus, Preble and Frank 249-255).

Works Cited

Emeritus, Duane Preble, Sarah Preble, Patrick L. Frank. Prebles’ Artforms (11^th Edition). New York, NY:

Pearson Education, 2013.Print

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