Çatalhöyük or Çatal Höyük (pronounced "cha-tal hay OOK") is not the oldest site of the Neolithic era

or the largest, but it is extremely important to the beginning of art. Located near the modern city of
Konya in south central Turkey, it was inhabited 9000 years ago by up to 8000 people who lived
together in a large town. Çatalhöyük, across its history, witnesses the transition from exclusively
hunting and gathering subsistence to increasing skill in plant and animal domestication. We might see
Çatalhöyük as a site whose history is about one of man’s most important transformations: from nomad
to settler. It is also a site at which we see art, both painting and sculpture, appear to play a newly
important role in the lives of settled people.
Nearly every house excavated at Çatalhöyük was
found to contain decorations on its walls and
platforms, most often in the main room of the
house. Moreover, this work was constantly being
renewed; the plaster of the main room of a house
seems to have been redone as frequently as every
month or season. Both geometric and figural
images were popular in two-dimensional wall
painting and the excavator of the site believes that
geometric wall painting was particularly associated
with adjacent buried youths. Figural paintings
show the animal world alone, such as, for
instance, two cranes facing each other standing
behind a fox, or in interaction with people, such as
a vulture pecking at a human corpse or hunting
scenes. Wall reliefs are found at Çatalhöyük with
some frequency, most often representing animals,
such as pairs of animals facing each other and
human-like creatures. These latter reliefs,
alternatively thought to be bears, goddesses or
regular humans, are always represented splayed,
with their heads, hands and feet removed,
presumably at the time the house was abandoned.
The most remarkable art found at Çatalhöyük, however, are the installations of animal remains and
among these the most striking are the bull bucrania. In many houses the main room was
decorated with several plastered skulls of bulls set into the walls (most common on East or West
walls) or platforms, the pointed horns thrust out into the communal space. Often the bucrania
would be painted ochre red. In addition to these, the remains of other animals’ skulls, teeth, beaks,
tusks or horns were set into the walls and platforms, plastered and painted. It would appear that
the ancient residents of Çatalhöyük were only interested in taking the pointy parts of the animals
back to their homes!
How can we possibly understand this practice of interior decoration with the remains of
animals? A clue might be in the types of creatures found and represented. Most of the animals
represented in the art of Çatalhöyük were not domesticated; wild animals dominate the art at the
site. Interestingly, examination of bone refuse shows that the majority of the meat which was
consumed was of wild animals, especially bulls. The excavator believes this selection in art and
cuisine had to do with the contemporary era of increased domestication of animals and what is
being celebrated are the animals which are part of the memory of the recent cultural past, when
hunting was much more important for survival.
The ancient Sumerians, the "black-headed ones," lived in the southern part of what is now Iraq. The
heartland of Sumer lay between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, in what the Greeks later called
Mesopotamia. This territory, once skillfully irrigated, proved very fertile, and major cities had long been
in existence before the period when archaeologists can identify the Sumerian people themselves.

The Sumerians were characteristically inventive, and are likely to have been responsible for the
development of the first writing. Well before 3000 B.C.E. Sumerians were recording their language
using simple pictures. They wrote on tablets of clay, later evolving the script that to us is known as
cuneiform, or "wedge-shaped.”

They were energetic farmers, traders and sailors. Their religion recognized many gods, whose feats
and escapades were described in stories that were often preserved for generations. Rituals as well as
parties were enlivened by skillful harpists and singers, and Sumerian musical instruments have even
been excavated by modern archaeologists.

Book-keeping was a feature of Sumerian life, and very detailed records on clay tablets of offerings,
rations, taxes and agricultural work have come down to us. Their favorite board game, Royal Game of
Ur, achieved popularity throughout the whole Middle Eastern world. Imported lapis lazuli and carnelian
was much prized for inlays and jewelry.

Archaeology has shown that in about 2500 B.C.E. the ruling elite in the city of Ur went to their final
resting place surrounded by their wealth and the attendant bodies of their court personnel.
 Uruk (modern Warka in Iraq)—where city life began more than five thousand years ago and where
the first writing emerged—was clearly one of the most important places in southern Mesopotamia.
Within Uruk, the greatest monument was the Anu Ziggurat on which the White Temple was built.
Dating to the late 4th millennium B.C.E. (the Late Uruk Period, or Uruk III) and dedicated to the sky
god Anu, this temple would have towered well above (approximately 40 feet) the flat plain of Uruk,
and been visible from a great distance—even over the defensive walls of the city.

Reconstructions of ancient sites or finds can help us to understand the distant past. For non-academics,
reconstructions offer a glimpse into that past, a kind of visual accumulation of scientific research
communicated by means of images, models or even virtual reality. We see reconstructions in films, museums
and magazines to illustrate the stories behind the historical or archaeological facts. For archaeologists like me
however, reconstructions are also an important tool to answer unsolved questions and even raise new ones.
One field where this is particularly true is the reconstruction of ancient architecture.
Title: Temple at Ur
Nanna Ziggurat
Source/Museum: Present-day Muqaiyir, Iraq
The first fully developed written
script, cuneiform, was invented to
account for something
unglamorous, but very important—
surplus commodities: bushels of
barley, head of cattle, and jars of
oil!
 Function:
-used as a well for grinding
and mixing makeup, like dark
eyeliner applied under eyes to
protect from the sun's harsh
glare (dessert region)
-found buried under the floor
of a temple in Hierakonpolis
-leaders, upper class people,
or anyone who had the
money would give objects
such as this to temples
Form: to demonstrate their piety and
-Palette of King Narmer. Predynastic Egypt. form a connection with the
c. 3000–2920 B.C.E. Greywacke God
-carved from slate (grayish/green siltstone), -this palette was a ceremonial
object, dedicated to a god,
In bas-relief, 2.1 feet high (very large for a used for rituals, and could
palette) have been used to apply
-typically palettes were smaller, very flat make up to the actual artistic
and didn’t depictions of the god in the
feature intricate designs, but the pallet of temple
Narmer is unique -would have been ritually
buried after new donations
-carved in stone, lasting, were received
demonstrates strength -makeup could have been
of culture mixed in the well formed by
-found in the temple of horas (showed in his the the two intertwining heads
representative falcon) of the mythical seopards
Content:
-uniquely displays human action,
opposed to animals or just mythical
imagery
-contains iconography that is
consistent with other Egyptian art
thousands of years later, consistency
representative of Egypts stability
-contains several scenes, symbols
and creatures of cultural significance
all explained in full in the above
images
-features the power of the king
through use of hierarchical scale,
registers, (uniquely) showingkilts,
royal beard, and bull tail, him in the
crown of both upper and lower
egypt, kilts, the royal beard, and a
bull tail
Context:
-palettes were very widely
distributed, as makeup in Egypt
was accessible for men and
women of all social classes
-the unification of upper and
lower Egypt under a single ruler
was a very significant event in
Egyptian history at this point in
time, the duality of the piece
with the king's two crowns and
the two different faces of
the palette represents their
unity, while depicting their
differences
-on both sides the lowest
register features the dead
bodies of defeated enemies,
again demonstrating Egyptian
strength, this time in a military
sense
-could also be depicting chaos
and order, an essential belief in Cross-Cultural Comparison: Symbolism
the Egyptian understanding of Delacriox, Liberty Leading the People
the cosmos Cotsiogo, Hide Painting of a Sun Dance
-some of the imagery could Ruler's Feathered Headdress
represent the journey of the sun
god
014. Statues of Votive Figures from the Square Temple at Eshnunna (moden Tell
Asmar, Iraq)
Sumerian Ca. 2700 BCE
 Cross-Cultural
What culture created these statues, and what size are they? Connections:
Sumerian, ranging from under a foot to over two and a half feet. Female Deity from
Nukuoro
What kinds of beings do these figures portray? What was their purpose?
Veranda post
They portray mortals, as perpetual worshipers. ]Ikenga
What do the inscriptions on the figures contain?
The name of the donor, the deity to whom the prayers are addressed, and the text of the prayers.

Statues of Votive Figures

Context: 2900 B.C.E.
Aspect of Mesopotamian religion is the votive figure of mortal men and women. Worshipers would set up images of themselves
in a shrine before a larger image of god as part of devotional practice
Content:
Alabaster (soft stone). Pedestals (standing up during worship) . 1 to 3 ft tall
Figures of donor males and females. Hierarchical scale of individual parts of the body -- eyes are larger than the hands
Form: Individualized vs. stylized or symbolic. Realistic anatomy. Detailed eyes → significant, intricate.
Made of Lapis Lazuli. Materials → gypsum inlaid with shell and brick limestone.
¡ Faces and bodies in a V-shape with the skirt kicking out
¡ It is not a true portrait where you could recognize the individual
¡ Function
¡ Portable; temple away from place of worship
¡ Stand-in for owner (stylized for a specific person but not an individual)
¡ Inscription
§ Reminds anthropomorphic god to look favorably upon the donor
§ Wish to be granted
§ Increase the representation and status of the donor by showing the wealth of the votive offering

Painted Limestone with rock crystal,
magnesite, copper/arsenic inlay for
eyes and wooden nipples.
Cross-Cultural Comparison: Human Figure
Shiva as Nataraja
Great Buddha From Todai-ji
Abakanowicz, Androgyn III
Form
Unique that the figure is seated as opposed to upright and statuary.
Unique in its individualistic features
Irises are inlaid with rock crystal
Figure is limestone painted with red ocher.
Nipples made of wood
Would have been placed on top of a description piece about the scribe
Function
Commemorate and revere the scribe himself and his importance in preserving Egyptian
history.
Serves a funerary purpose to help the scribe transcend into the afterlife.
The position in which the scribe was posed was originially for royal sons
Content
Holds a papyrus scroll
Midriff fat shows his wealth and importance
His tranquil face symbolizes wisdom.
His calm gaze symbolizes his knowledge and intent desire to reach the afterlife
He would have been seated on a larger piece that would have had descriptions of his
titles and names
The scribe is depicted at work which is unusual for a Egyptian statue
The position of the scribe in this statue is a position of royalty in the sitting down
Context
Depicts a scribe from the Necropolis at Saqqara, Egypt.
Scribes were revered for their literacy and writing abilities, which were not ubiquitous at
the time.
Egyptian sites for years have been pillaged and it is very fortunate that an artwork like this
was recovered and sent to the Louvre
Title: Head of a man (known as Akkadian ruler)
Medium: Copper Alloy
Size: height 14⅜" (36.5 cm)
Date: c. 2300–2200 BCE
Source/Museum: Nineveh (present-day Kuyunjik, Iraq) / Iraq
Museum, Baghdad

Title: Stele of Naram-Sin

Medium: Limestone
Size: height 6'6" (1.98 m)
Date: c. 2220–2184 BCE

Stele
Hierarchical scale
(Hieratic scale)
Title: Stele of Hammurabi
Medium: Diorite
Size: height of stele approx. 7' (2.13 m) height of relief 28“ (71.1 cm)
Date: c. 1792–1750 BCE
Source/Museum: Susa (present-day Shush, Iran)

Shamash
Hammurabi