Neolithic Art

 

The term Neolithic means " New Stone" Age, which begins ca. 9,000 B.C. when the ice that covered Northern Europe began to melt. This event changed the ecology of the world and ushered in a new era for mankind. The culture of the hunter-gatherer was supplanted by the agrarian culture. This marks the beginning of fixed settlements and the domesticating of plants and animals. Tools are now made by grinding (rather than chipping) and  polishing.

Some of the earliest settlements occurred in the grassy uplands of what are now the countries of Syria and Iraq. From there, it appears that Neolithic peoples migrated north to Anatolia (now Turkey) and south to Egypt. By 7000 B.C. agriculture was well established in at least three locations — ancient Palestine, Iran, and Anatolia.

 

Human skull with restored features, Jericho, ca. 7000-6000 B.C.


 

Jericho was a town along the Jordan River which was supported by an agrarian culture. It had a running spring. It appears to have been founded in 9000 B.C. It developed significantly around 8000 B.C. into a Neolithic town of about ten acres. It consisted of mud-brick houses. The roofs were branches covered with dirt. By 7500 B.C., fortifications were being erected. These indicate that the town was interested in protecting that which it had built. The inhabitants of Jericho also erected a rock cut ditch and a five-foot thick wall. The wall included a large, circular stone tower that was 33 feet in diameter at the base and was 28 feet high  and which had an inner staircase. At this time, approx. 2000 people lived in Jericho.

 

Jericho was abandoned around 7000 B.C. and new settlers arrived. They built rectangular, mud brick houses on stone foundations and plastered their floors and walls. They appear to have made small statuettes of women, goddesses, or animals. We also have another form of art that they produced — human skull covered with plaster and then painted. The skulls were detached from the rest of the body and were buried separately from the body. They most certainly had significance to the culture, but we will probably never know the details.  

 

Neolithic Architecture

 

Stonehenge, Salsbury Plain, Wiltshire, England, ca. 2,000 B.C.

 

 

 

Stonehenge was created in several phases, beginning approximately 3,100-2,300 B.C. It was not built by the druids.

 

Phase I — ca. 3,100-2,300 B.C.

During Phase I, a huge circular mound was created.  It was ~380 feet in diameter and had a 6 foot high embankment. An entrance was marked by a pair of stones on the north east side. Just within this earthen circle are 56 Aubrey holes — named after John Aubrey, their 17th-century discoverer. It is now believed that they held wooden posts and that later they were used to bury cremated remains. Today, the holes are invisible from the surface, but are marked by round concrete markers. Within the embankment were 4 small pits in 4 small mounds, which formed a rectangle. Off to the northeast of the great circle is a stone called the heel stone.

 

Phase II — ca. 2,100-2,000 B.C.

Phase II was erected by the so-called Beaker Culture from Bluestones. The Beaker Culture was a Neolithic culture that used pottery drinking vessels.  These stones were not local, but came from south western tip of Wales — Pembrokeshire — where several Megalithic circles still survive. This was approximately 240 miles away from the site. It is believed that the Bluestones were transported using a combination of rafts, ropes, and human labor.  They had to come up the rivers and then had be hauled across Salisbury Plain — a very labor intensive effort. Each bluestone weighs up to 4 tons and about 80 of these bluestones were used. During Phase II, the creation of two concentric circles or henges was attempted (note that other henges also exist in England). However, this plan appears not to have been completed. In the center the circle, ten upright stones were set up with free-standing lintels in the shape of a horseshoe (known as trilithons). The Altar Stone was set up in center.

 

Phase III — ca. 2,000 - 1,550 B.C.

During Phase III, the outer circle constructed of local sarsen stone was constructed. These stones weigh as much as 50 tons each and were mined approximately 20 miles north of the site. At the top of the giant sarsens are small protuberances called tenons which were used to secure the upper lintel, which connected each of the sarsens with its mate. The builders may have dug sloping holes for placement the posts were tipped into place. Then the lintels were slowly dragged into position up an inclined plane made of dirt and were secured by means of the hole in the lintel [mortise] hooking to the matching protuberance [tenon] on top. Thus, upright trilithons were created.

 

During this periods, the bluestones were re-erected in the center, and holes were dug for the remainder of the bluestones to be set up in two concentric rings outside of the saracen stones — the so-called X and Y holes. This was abandoned. The blue stones were rearranged into the circle and horseshoe that stands today.

 

Phase IV — ca. 1,550-1,100 B.C.

The avenue to Stonehenge was extended to the River Avon.

 

It is now generally accepted that Stonehenge served as a remarkably accurate prehistoric calendar. On the longest day of the year, the summer solstice, a person standing in the circle would see the sun rise over the heel stone. It probably also functioned as a temple and the altar stone may have been associated with religious rituals.

 

Thus the Neolithic builders in unison with the priests created a monument for their religion and their agriculture. It was both spiritual and practical.