A History Of The World In A 100 Objects
Number 13
Indus Seal
Stone stamp, from Harrapa, the Indus Valley (Punjab), Pakistan
2,500-2000 BC
The last two items come from the time of the first great empires of the world were growing, around the river's Nile & Tigris & Euphartes. This item comes from around that era too & is from another great empire that grew around a river, this time the Indus. The Indus civilization was vast being 200,000 square miles in size & it's population grew rapidly during the period of this object.This civilization disappeared due to climate change & this item is a fairly new find & one of the great achaelogical successes from this period.
This item is actually a group of items, it's a set of seals or wax/clay stamps about the size of a modern postage stamp & is made of soapstone so is fairly soft so it's quite lucky that it was found as soapstone is a very soft, crumbly rock.
They all have images of animals, there's an elephant, an ox, a kind of cow/unicorn thing & a skippy rhinocerous.
It was found in the 1850s during the time of British rule of the Indian subcontinent in a place called Harappa, 150 miles south of lahore, which was on the main trade route between the far east & the middle east which was to become known as the silk road & would have been a prosperous & burgeoning civilization which was unfortunately wiped out after the Indus flooded.
Unlike the last two objects this item doesn't seem to depict a king or pharaoh or any sort of leader & no one's quite sure if there was any. But these items do show that the Indus cities were growing at a similar speed to their counterparts in Egypt & Mesopotamia before they were lost & archaeologists are still unearthing remnants from the period today, hopefully they'll shed more light on this rather lost culture.
Tuesday, 30 November 2010
A History Of The World In A 100 Objects: No. 12
A History Of The World In A 100 Objects
Number 12
Standard of Ur
Wooden box, inlaid with mosaic, found at the royal cemetery of Ur, Southern Iraq
2,600-2,400 BC
This item comes from Mesopotamia which was between the Euphrates & Tigris river in what is now Iraq.
The item it's self is made of wood & covered in a mosiac of shells, it comes from the city of Sumerian city of Ur which was one of the first big cities in the world, it was inhabited by something like 30 to 40,000 people & was part of a prosperous empire that with the help of better agriculture was able to feed & grow as a culture & population qquite rapidly.
The box is 23inches long & 7inches tall, it's the shape of a file briefcase & depicts scenes all the way round. The scenes on each of it's sides are three tiered & the tiers on the box show the various levels of social grading. The top layer being reserved for the high nobs, the middle for the artisans & the lower for the common Sumerian Joe. One side depicts everyday things going on, there's cows, horses & oxen & shows the relative wealth of Mesopotamia, all pointing towards the king, who is obviously the king cause he's bigger than everyone else, on the other side is a battle. with chariots, charging horses & swords all flailing about. Again it's tiered & again it shows the status of the folk involved with the King again all big & everyone's facing towards him so you know the artist wants it known who's the boss on this work of art. It's not entirely certain which battle it's supposed to be depicting & it's possible that's it's just a general display of might that the king has got over the world at the time. This is 4500 years old so anything could be possible but it is an extremely graphic portrayal of the power of kings & the growth of an empire.
Number 12
Standard of Ur
Wooden box, inlaid with mosaic, found at the royal cemetery of Ur, Southern Iraq
2,600-2,400 BC
This item comes from Mesopotamia which was between the Euphrates & Tigris river in what is now Iraq.
The item it's self is made of wood & covered in a mosiac of shells, it comes from the city of Sumerian city of Ur which was one of the first big cities in the world, it was inhabited by something like 30 to 40,000 people & was part of a prosperous empire that with the help of better agriculture was able to feed & grow as a culture & population qquite rapidly.
The box is 23inches long & 7inches tall, it's the shape of a file briefcase & depicts scenes all the way round. The scenes on each of it's sides are three tiered & the tiers on the box show the various levels of social grading. The top layer being reserved for the high nobs, the middle for the artisans & the lower for the common Sumerian Joe. One side depicts everyday things going on, there's cows, horses & oxen & shows the relative wealth of Mesopotamia, all pointing towards the king, who is obviously the king cause he's bigger than everyone else, on the other side is a battle. with chariots, charging horses & swords all flailing about. Again it's tiered & again it shows the status of the folk involved with the King again all big & everyone's facing towards him so you know the artist wants it known who's the boss on this work of art. It's not entirely certain which battle it's supposed to be depicting & it's possible that's it's just a general display of might that the king has got over the world at the time. This is 4500 years old so anything could be possible but it is an extremely graphic portrayal of the power of kings & the growth of an empire.
A History Of The World In A 100 Objects: No. 11
A History Of The World In A 100 Objects
Number 11
King Den's Sandal Label
Hippopotamus ivory label, found at Abydos (near Luxor), Egypt
Around 2985 BC
This item is from a time at which people were increasingly moving towards living in bigger cities & this, as the book suggests, brings with it an increasingly unsocial society, cities being quite violent, turmultuous, vibrant places. It's a hippo Ivory tusk from one of Egypt's earliest Pharaohs, King Den, & isn't the most spectacular of ancient Egyptian thing, but that's not what the book's about. The book's about changes or fluxes in Human history & this comes right in the middle of Egypt becoming the dominant world power of the era.
The object it's self is made of Hippo Ivory & is about 2inches square, it was found in the mud & is at least 5,000 years old. It's about the same size as a clothes label but doesn't have laundry instructions on it. It shows a man, thought to be King Den, striking another character with what looks like a club with a ball on the end of it. It has hieroglyphs on it as well & is the earliest object to feature hieroglyphs & has gone a long way to helping decipher ancient Egyptian symbols as this period is also the dawn of the written object.
The scene is allegorical in nature & depicts King Den smitting his enemies in the traditional way that rulers like to do. The label also helps show the riches of Egypt at the time, & King Den's power within the state, because they come from a pair of sandals they were made of materials that were highly expensive for the period & by very skilled craftsmen. They help show that King Den, who's empire was vast & increasingly difficult to control due to the furtile Nile delta bringing conflicts & the symbols on the label show how he was able to rule this mighty empire & create a prosperous state, probably the 1st proper state in the world's history, that grew to be a mighty empire for 2,000 years & set the template for all other civilisations to follow.
Number 11
King Den's Sandal Label
Hippopotamus ivory label, found at Abydos (near Luxor), Egypt
Around 2985 BC
This item is from a time at which people were increasingly moving towards living in bigger cities & this, as the book suggests, brings with it an increasingly unsocial society, cities being quite violent, turmultuous, vibrant places. It's a hippo Ivory tusk from one of Egypt's earliest Pharaohs, King Den, & isn't the most spectacular of ancient Egyptian thing, but that's not what the book's about. The book's about changes or fluxes in Human history & this comes right in the middle of Egypt becoming the dominant world power of the era.
The object it's self is made of Hippo Ivory & is about 2inches square, it was found in the mud & is at least 5,000 years old. It's about the same size as a clothes label but doesn't have laundry instructions on it. It shows a man, thought to be King Den, striking another character with what looks like a club with a ball on the end of it. It has hieroglyphs on it as well & is the earliest object to feature hieroglyphs & has gone a long way to helping decipher ancient Egyptian symbols as this period is also the dawn of the written object.
The scene is allegorical in nature & depicts King Den smitting his enemies in the traditional way that rulers like to do. The label also helps show the riches of Egypt at the time, & King Den's power within the state, because they come from a pair of sandals they were made of materials that were highly expensive for the period & by very skilled craftsmen. They help show that King Den, who's empire was vast & increasingly difficult to control due to the furtile Nile delta bringing conflicts & the symbols on the label show how he was able to rule this mighty empire & create a prosperous state, probably the 1st proper state in the world's history, that grew to be a mighty empire for 2,000 years & set the template for all other civilisations to follow.
Thursday, 25 November 2010
A History Of The World In A 100 Objects: No. 10
A History Of The World In A 100 Objects
Number 10
Jomon Pot
Clay vessel, found in Japan
5000 BC
People thought that pottery was created when Humans began to settle & create societies but there is now evidence of pottery being made as long ago 16,000 years ago in hunter gatherer Africa but this item from 7,000 years ago is the first evidence of a pot. It comes from Japan & is about 6 inches high. It has a distictive pattern on the outside that are diagonal basket like markings and in Japanese it's Jomon which has now come to be the name for the people who lived in Japan at that time.
The Jomon more than most other cultures were fishers rather than farmers & they relied on fish as their main source of food, they also had easy access to nut & seeds from plants & took a lot longer to become farmers than other cultures but this pot repressents a cultural advance because before it's creation people would have had to eat what they grew pretty much straight away or buried it to preserve it but these pots gave the Jomon a handy way of transporting their produce & storing it.
Pottery was made in Japan for a long time before in crossed over into other cultures & Japan was able to flourish largely independantly of the rest of the world thanks to their abundant fish stock, naturally occuring crops & these pots.
But the striking thing about this pot above all else is that it was lacquered with gold leaf on the inside & this like our last two objects shows the relevance that cultures place on their food sources.
It shows that the Jomon were not only creative, industrious, clever types but also respected the natural gift that the sea & the land gave them enough to make their everyday utensils pretty.
Number 10
Jomon Pot
Clay vessel, found in Japan
5000 BC
People thought that pottery was created when Humans began to settle & create societies but there is now evidence of pottery being made as long ago 16,000 years ago in hunter gatherer Africa but this item from 7,000 years ago is the first evidence of a pot. It comes from Japan & is about 6 inches high. It has a distictive pattern on the outside that are diagonal basket like markings and in Japanese it's Jomon which has now come to be the name for the people who lived in Japan at that time.
The Jomon more than most other cultures were fishers rather than farmers & they relied on fish as their main source of food, they also had easy access to nut & seeds from plants & took a lot longer to become farmers than other cultures but this pot repressents a cultural advance because before it's creation people would have had to eat what they grew pretty much straight away or buried it to preserve it but these pots gave the Jomon a handy way of transporting their produce & storing it.
Pottery was made in Japan for a long time before in crossed over into other cultures & Japan was able to flourish largely independantly of the rest of the world thanks to their abundant fish stock, naturally occuring crops & these pots.
But the striking thing about this pot above all else is that it was lacquered with gold leaf on the inside & this like our last two objects shows the relevance that cultures place on their food sources.
It shows that the Jomon were not only creative, industrious, clever types but also respected the natural gift that the sea & the land gave them enough to make their everyday utensils pretty.
A History Of The World In A 100 Objects: No. 9
A History Of The World In A 100 Objects
Number 9
Maya Maize God Statue
Stone statue, found in Copan, Honduras
AD 715
This item leaps quite away forward in the Human timeline, it was found in Honduras in Central America & unlike most of the rest of the cultures in the first sections of this book grew in isolation. Back in the European/Asian landmass cultures from as far apart as China & Britain were trading with each other. But the the cultures in the Americas grew on their own.
This statue proves that Humans of all kinds, once they've settled down & started growing crops, feeding themselves & becoming culturally aware become spirtually aware of the fragility of life & create Gods to protect their food crops & with that come art works.
This statue is made of limestone & is the head, torso & outstretched arms & hands of the God of Maize. Maize being the crop that the Central American cultures grew while the Chinese were growing rice & the Africans wheat & oats. The statue actually has a headpiece of Maize coming from the back of his head.
Not much is known about the culture of the Mayans at this time because there's no written records and the language & cultural archives have yet to be translated because there's no relevant alphabet to go by.
The statue itself is quite large & quite heavy & considering it''s well over 1,000 years old & was lost for a long time is very well preserved. The figure of the God is what folk might call classically attractive & it's an important record of the way we think the Mayans saw themselves. It shows us that they are spiritually linked to the planting & harvesting of their Maize crop & placed great relevance on the God that they thought would bring them their bountiful crop.
It shows archaelogists & natural historians that where ever you find cultures settling down you also find them valueing the food that they produce that sustains them & the spiritual link between Humans and their source of life.
Number 9
Maya Maize God Statue
Stone statue, found in Copan, Honduras
AD 715
This item leaps quite away forward in the Human timeline, it was found in Honduras in Central America & unlike most of the rest of the cultures in the first sections of this book grew in isolation. Back in the European/Asian landmass cultures from as far apart as China & Britain were trading with each other. But the the cultures in the Americas grew on their own.
This statue proves that Humans of all kinds, once they've settled down & started growing crops, feeding themselves & becoming culturally aware become spirtually aware of the fragility of life & create Gods to protect their food crops & with that come art works.
This statue is made of limestone & is the head, torso & outstretched arms & hands of the God of Maize. Maize being the crop that the Central American cultures grew while the Chinese were growing rice & the Africans wheat & oats. The statue actually has a headpiece of Maize coming from the back of his head.
Not much is known about the culture of the Mayans at this time because there's no written records and the language & cultural archives have yet to be translated because there's no relevant alphabet to go by.
The statue itself is quite large & quite heavy & considering it''s well over 1,000 years old & was lost for a long time is very well preserved. The figure of the God is what folk might call classically attractive & it's an important record of the way we think the Mayans saw themselves. It shows us that they are spiritually linked to the planting & harvesting of their Maize crop & placed great relevance on the God that they thought would bring them their bountiful crop.
It shows archaelogists & natural historians that where ever you find cultures settling down you also find them valueing the food that they produce that sustains them & the spiritual link between Humans and their source of life.
A History Of The World In A 100 Objects: No. 8
A History Of The World In A 100 Objects
Egyptian Clay Model of Cattle
Painted model, found at Abydos (near Luxor), Egypt
3500 bc
This item is a slightly crumbly clay model of four cows, it doesn't sound very relevant but cows were the first animals that were domesticated as a food source & the Egyptians greatly valued them as a commodity. They could use most of the cow & a man with a cow was considered the Rolls Royce owner of his day.
The cows were found around 1900 after an excavation of a grave/tomb in Southern Egypt not far from what is now Sudan & would likely have been buried with a high ranking official. Like the other things found in the grave they were put there deliberately & would have been intended to be useful in an afterlife. The cows were once painted as they are over 5,000 years old & were buried in a desert they've long since lost their colour & are now rather eroded. The statue/model isn't big & could fit into the palm of a hand of someone with quite big hands & the cows are only a few centimetres tall.
Egyptians took their burial rituals very seriously & when a body was entombed he would have been disembowelled, but then have his organs pickled & replaced, he would have been wrapped & laid out on a reed mat. The tomb would also have contained things that the spirit of the body could use in the afterlife, inc' plates, goblets, offerings for the Gods & a dagger or short sword so the cows, although they seem unusual that they would be put in a grave to us show the relevance that the Egyptians placed on them.
Egyptian Clay Model of Cattle
Painted model, found at Abydos (near Luxor), Egypt
3500 bc
This item is a slightly crumbly clay model of four cows, it doesn't sound very relevant but cows were the first animals that were domesticated as a food source & the Egyptians greatly valued them as a commodity. They could use most of the cow & a man with a cow was considered the Rolls Royce owner of his day.
The cows were found around 1900 after an excavation of a grave/tomb in Southern Egypt not far from what is now Sudan & would likely have been buried with a high ranking official. Like the other things found in the grave they were put there deliberately & would have been intended to be useful in an afterlife. The cows were once painted as they are over 5,000 years old & were buried in a desert they've long since lost their colour & are now rather eroded. The statue/model isn't big & could fit into the palm of a hand of someone with quite big hands & the cows are only a few centimetres tall.
Egyptians took their burial rituals very seriously & when a body was entombed he would have been disembowelled, but then have his organs pickled & replaced, he would have been wrapped & laid out on a reed mat. The tomb would also have contained things that the spirit of the body could use in the afterlife, inc' plates, goblets, offerings for the Gods & a dagger or short sword so the cows, although they seem unusual that they would be put in a grave to us show the relevance that the Egyptians placed on them.
A History Of The World In A 100 Objects: No. 7
A History Of The World In A 100 Objects
Number 7
Ain Sakhri Lovers Figurine
Stone sculpture, found at Wadi Khareitoun, Judea near Bethlehem
9000 bc
This section of the book is mostly about the age of Human evolution in which Humans settled down & began to create communities & settlements, it comes at the dawn of the agricultural era & with better techniques & a better understanding of how to feed a population Humans were able to change from hunter gatherers to a settled, more agricultural & eventually more cultural society.
This item is a stone sculpture found in what we call the holy lands but then it was quite a fertile place that was made abundant after the end of the last ice age created a warmer climate & better conditions to grow crops both in numbers & in variety making Humans able to start to become the settled communities that grew into empires.
With this settling down came a greater emphasis on aymbols in the form of artistic expression. There are no written historical archives from this period, coming from some 11,000 years ago so items like this slightly potato shaped carved stone figurine. It's one of the earliest examples of an interpretation of the Human form purely for the purpose of creating a thing, a thing that has no intrinsic use but is merely created just to be.
It's smooth in texture & probably would have been naturally smoothed by coming from a river bed & further shaped to form a alisghtly abstract shaped couple embraced in a hug. It's a thought that the item would probably have had a particularly spiritual relevance to the creator of the item who it's thought is celebrating the union of man & woman which is evidence that the people of this time were beginning to think of themselves as communities.
Number 7
Ain Sakhri Lovers Figurine
Stone sculpture, found at Wadi Khareitoun, Judea near Bethlehem
9000 bc
This section of the book is mostly about the age of Human evolution in which Humans settled down & began to create communities & settlements, it comes at the dawn of the agricultural era & with better techniques & a better understanding of how to feed a population Humans were able to change from hunter gatherers to a settled, more agricultural & eventually more cultural society.
This item is a stone sculpture found in what we call the holy lands but then it was quite a fertile place that was made abundant after the end of the last ice age created a warmer climate & better conditions to grow crops both in numbers & in variety making Humans able to start to become the settled communities that grew into empires.
With this settling down came a greater emphasis on aymbols in the form of artistic expression. There are no written historical archives from this period, coming from some 11,000 years ago so items like this slightly potato shaped carved stone figurine. It's one of the earliest examples of an interpretation of the Human form purely for the purpose of creating a thing, a thing that has no intrinsic use but is merely created just to be.
It's smooth in texture & probably would have been naturally smoothed by coming from a river bed & further shaped to form a alisghtly abstract shaped couple embraced in a hug. It's a thought that the item would probably have had a particularly spiritual relevance to the creator of the item who it's thought is celebrating the union of man & woman which is evidence that the people of this time were beginning to think of themselves as communities.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)