Altamira was discovered in 1879 by Spanish nobleman

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Altamira was discovered in 1879 by Spanish
nobleman Don Marcellino De Sautuola and his
seven year old daughter Maria. Marcellino had
a cave on his property in Spain. He was an
amateur archeologist interested in primitive
artifacts. He was digging at the mouth of the
cave when Maria wandered into the cave and saw
the paintings. She found her way out and reported
it to her father.
Don Marcellino De Sautuola
In 1880, Don Marcellino will prepare a
report that he presents to the International
Congress of Science meeting in Lisbon,
Portugal. Marcellino expects his find to be
accepted. It is not, particularly the French
scientists object to the cave. In the study of
prehistory the French were the authorities. They
refused to believe an amateur discovered
something of this significance. Altamira is
considered a fraud until 1901. The scientific
community changes their mind when caves are found
in France.
Maria around time of discovery.
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Close-ups of bison Altamira cave 20,000
b.c.e. Paintings show amazing naturalism in the
depictions of bison. The bisons joints are
shown correctly and anatomy shown accurately.
There were three reasons were given in 1880 on
why the paintings were considered fake. A
Spanish scientist, Juan Vilanova gave three
reasons why the paintings were fake. First,
they felt paintings showed too much artistic
skill to be primitive. Second, the paint was
thought to be too bright for paintings that were
thousands of years old. The final reason was the
absence of soot, ash or smoke damage on the
paintings surface. In our time, we know that
cro magnon brain composition is similar to modern
people. They were capable of innovation and
observation.
The paint has remained fresh because the
temperature and moisture level in caves is
constant. The caves protect paintings from the
elements. The third reason is disproved because
they burned small oil lamps.
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The Hall of Bulls Lascaux Cave, France 18,000
15,000 b.c.e. Found in 1939 by French teenagers
trying to retrieve a dog that had fallen down a
hole. This area is called the hall of bulls
because the dominant images are of cattle. Many
drawings Are over life- sized. Drawings only
show animals in profile and many overlap on top
of earlier Depictions. Scale relationships vary
greatly between animals.
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The DeadMan from Lascaux Cave 18,000 15,000
b.c.e. Paintings of human beings in pre
Historic art lack the naturalism used In
images of animals.
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Venus of Willendorf 25,000 20,000 b.c.e. See
also page three of Textbox.
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Stonehenge 3000 1800 b.c.e. In text pages four
and five. Watch video for more discussion
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Stair case at Ziggurat of Ur
Ziggurats were multiple layered temples that
would Occupy the center of a Mesopotamian city.
It was walled Off from the town and only the
king and priests could Enter it. Offering were
left for the gods to enjoy. Ritual Meals were
left before the images of gods for the
gods Consumption.
Votive statues
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ART OF ASSYRIA
The Battle of Til Tuba 880b.c.e. H.6.7 ft X
w.5.74 ft. This relief shows the Assyrians
defeating a people known as the Elamites from
southern Iran. Within the relief we see examples
of Assyrian Calvary, infantry and Archers.
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At the apogee of its effectiveness, the chariot
was overtaken in importance by a single element
in the chariot system, the horse itself. It has
been suggested that the Assyrians themselves were
responsible for this revolution.
By the eighth century BC, however, selective
breeding had produced a horse that Assyrians
could ride from the forward seat, with their
weight over the shoulders, and a sufficient
mutuality had developed between steed and rider
for the man to use a bow while in motion.
Mutuality, or perhaps horsemanship, was not so
far advanced, all the same, that riders were
ready to release the reins an Assyrian
bas-relief shows cavalrymen working in
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Decline of Assyria The power, the terror, and the
armed might of the Assyrian empire did not
prevent the recurrence of rebellions, and every
Assyrian king spent most of his life waging
either external or civil wars. Gradually, in the
seventh century B.C., the rebels, aided by
outside forces, were able successfully to detach
pieces of the empire. The most effective group of
allies were the Babylonians, whose homeland was
in the southern part of Mesopotamia, and the
Medes, a nomadic horse-riding people living on
the high Persian plateau. Finally, in 612 B.C.,
the coalition successfully conquered and leveled
Nineveh itself. The biblical prophet Ezekiel
celebrated the destruction of Israel's
oppressors, the Assyrians, by declaring "all of
them slain, fallen by the sword which caused
terror in the land of the living."
The destroyed Assyrian fortress at Nimrud, with
remains the citys ziggurat on the right. All of
the Assyrian cities were reduced to this level.