Angela
Elite member
- Messages
- 21,823
- Reaction score
- 12,329
- Points
- 113
- Ethnic group
- Italian
I've been meaning to post about this exhibit for a while.
This is the description of the exhibit:
http://isaw.nyu.edu/exhibitions/fire/highlights
The artifacts come from the period 4500-3600 B.C. From the text, it appears that this was a highly complex society. The curators ask some interesting questions that have also been the subject of discussion on this Board.
"The idea of elites or chiefs was a concept new to the Copper Age, and no one is sure how a special group of people began to be treated in this exceptional way. Was this just an elaboration of family or tribal ties? Were these the most successful merchants or entrepreneurs? Or is it possible that control over the discovery of copper technology itself allowed certain individuals to gain power as chiefs and attract a retinue? Masters of Fire attempts to address these questions by assembling the full range of objects, materials, and iconographic motifs that characterized the lives of the communities settled in the Southern Levant. We are all aware that technological changes are often accompanied by social upheaval. As modern as this sounds, it also is the background for a prehistoric Copper Age that transformed the ancient world."
A short youtube video about the artifacts:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjjMBCKLf-w
These are the artifacts, with a little description:
http://isaw.nyu.edu/exhibitions/fire/highlights
The female figurine reminds me of the "bird goddesses" described by Gimbutas. As for the strip of linen, I have linen towels made by my grandmother from flax from their farm that is decoratively worked in the same exact manner. How little some things changed.
This is the description of the exhibit:
http://isaw.nyu.edu/exhibitions/fire/highlights
The artifacts come from the period 4500-3600 B.C. From the text, it appears that this was a highly complex society. The curators ask some interesting questions that have also been the subject of discussion on this Board.
"The idea of elites or chiefs was a concept new to the Copper Age, and no one is sure how a special group of people began to be treated in this exceptional way. Was this just an elaboration of family or tribal ties? Were these the most successful merchants or entrepreneurs? Or is it possible that control over the discovery of copper technology itself allowed certain individuals to gain power as chiefs and attract a retinue? Masters of Fire attempts to address these questions by assembling the full range of objects, materials, and iconographic motifs that characterized the lives of the communities settled in the Southern Levant. We are all aware that technological changes are often accompanied by social upheaval. As modern as this sounds, it also is the background for a prehistoric Copper Age that transformed the ancient world."
A short youtube video about the artifacts:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjjMBCKLf-w
These are the artifacts, with a little description:
http://isaw.nyu.edu/exhibitions/fire/highlights
The female figurine reminds me of the "bird goddesses" described by Gimbutas. As for the strip of linen, I have linen towels made by my grandmother from flax from their farm that is decoratively worked in the same exact manner. How little some things changed.