Flint Implements were used by man while unacquainted with the use of metals. For such implements other hard stones were also used, but the most numerous were formed of flint. They consist of arrow-heads, axe-heads, lance-beads, knives, scrapers, etc. Those of the palaeolithic period were unpolished, those of the neolithic polished. Flint implements were still used by some aboriginal tribes at the start of the 20th century, and research and field tests conducted during the 20th century revealed that flint implements can be very effective, as effective or even more so than their metal counterparts for some tasks. Research Flint Implements
Jade carving is the process by which the surface of jade stone is embellished through abrasion. The earliest known carved jades were made in China during the New Stone Age, or Neolithic period. Neolithic jades were usually fashioned as blades, although it is unclear whether they served a utilitarian or ceremonial function.
Excavations conducted at sites settled during the Shang dynasty have yielded a number of carved jades in a variety of forms. Certain shapes predominate, such as the round disk (pi), the ax (kuei), and a cylindrical tube (tsung). These objects probably served a ritual function, either as symbols of rank or as grave furnishings. The most beautiful examples of Shang jade carving, however, are small sculptures and plaques. The discovery, in 1975, of an undisturbed tomb from the Anyang era of the Shang dynasty has yielded the richest group of jade carvings to date. The excavation revealed plaques depicting dragons and various birds, along with near-miniature sculptures of human figures, mythical creatures, and recognisable animals, including an elephant.
The achievements of the Shang jade carvers were adopted and ultimately surpassed by artists of the Chou dynasty. Surface decoration became increasingly sophisticated, with open- work featuring birds and dragons, as well as tiny, individually carved curls. The development of the iron drill is probably responsible for the technical advancements seen in the carvings of this period. Elaborate jade carving continued in popularity during the Han dynasty; in addition, a most notable jade artefact was the so-called funerary suit. Various excavations have yielded corpses encased in a jade form made of thousands of rectangular pieces of jade, sewn together with gold thread, and fitted to the body. Other small jades, previously objects for burial, were now fashioned for the uses of the living. Toilet boxes, drinking vessels, and delightful adornments for the scholar's desk have been preserved from the Han period.
The dating of jade carvings from after the Han dynasty through the Ch'ing dynasty has been highly problematic, as the archaeological evidence is often incomplete. Throughout this period, however, small decorative forms of jade, often depicting animals, flowers, or children, continued in popularity. T'ang and Sung carvers favoured small figures. Drinking and desk vessels, and jadejewellery as well, were widely produced in the Yuan and Ming epochs. During the Ch'ing period, particularly in the 18th century, large jade carvings attained great favour with the emperors and royal officials. Forms were often taken from ancient bronze vessels, reflecting the continuing interest in early art. Landscapes, often paralleling those found on carved bamboo or in paintings, were carefully transcribed onto the surface of enormous jade slabs. Much of this intricacy is still found in Chinese jade work today; traditional design motifs and carving styles also have been retained. China's continuous interest in jade carving was never found in other Asian nations.
The Indians practised a degree of jade work, most notably the Islamic Mughals, who favoured ceremonial weapons with highly decorative jade blades. The most important centre of jade carving outside the Orient was pre-Columbian Mexico and Central America under the Olmec, Aztec, and Mayan rulers. Splendid ceremonial objects-axes, knives, masks, and large animal figures-were produced; the objects are sophisticated in style and highly advanced in technique. Research Jade Carving
The Neolithic period was the cultural period that lasted in south-west Asia from about 9000 to 6000 BC. and in Europe from about 4000 to 2400 BC and was characterised by primitive crop growing and stock rearing and the use of polished stone and flint tools and weapons. Research Neolithic
Smoking is the practice of drawing into the mouth or nose the fumes of a burning vegetable substance with narcotic, sedative or stimulant properties. The chief substances thus used are tobacco, opium and cannabis. Cannabis smoking was traditionally practised in central Asia and India and across Africa from the Middle East to South Africa, and is referred to by Herodotus among the Scythians. Tobacco smoking was practised by the Neolithic age mound builders of the upper Ohio, and for over 300 years for its health-giving properties in Britain until competition from the pharmaceutical manufacturers led to a campaign of counter information claiming connections between tobacco smoking and disease. During the 20th century a widespread campaign of oppression of all forms of smoking commenced, starting with opium, then cannabis and finally tobacco, the oppression being more prevalent in the USA and Britain than other parts of the world. Research Smoking
The swastika is an ancient religious symbol and amulet for good luck, dating from Neolithic times, and occurring in ancient Greek and Egyptian art. It has the form of an equal armed cross with the ends of the arms all bending in the same direction at right angles. It was introduced into Europe in the 16th century and used extensively in Christian art. It was adopted by Hitler and the Nazi part as their symbol during the 1930's and subsequently lost popular appeal. Research Swastika
A spindle-whorl was a perforated disk employed in primitive spinning for steadying and imparting momentum to a rotating spindle. They appear to have been invented in the Mediterranean region around Neolithic times, and have been found from ancient Egypt and Greece and also Scotland and Ireland. Spindle-whorls were made of bone, wood, clay and stone. Research Spindle-Whorl
Knossos was the principal city of Minoan Crete, near the port of Heraklion. It was occupied from neolithic times until about 1200 BC. Excavations by Sir Arthur Evans from 1900 onwards revealed remains of a luxurious and spectacularly decorated complex of buildings which he named the Palace of Minos, with frescoes of landscapes, animal life, and the sport of bull- leaping. In around 1450 BC Crete was overrun by the Mycenaeans, but the palace was not finally destroyed until the 14th or early 13th century BC. Research Knossos
Architecture is the art or science of designing and building structures (houses, bridges etc) for human use. The term is particularly applied to the design and construction of large structures for human use which incorporate both practicality, and aesthetics.
The Egyptians are the most ancient nation known to us among whom architecture had attained the character of a fine art. Other ancient peoples among whom it had made great progress were the Babylonians, whose most celebrated buildings were temples, palaces, and hanging-gardens; the Assyrians, whose capital, Nineveh, was rich in splendid buildings; the Phoenicians, whose cities, Sidon, Tyre, etc, were adorned with equal magnificence; and the Israelites, whose temple was a wonder of architecture. But comparatively few architectural monuments of these latter nations have remained until our day.
This is not the case with the architecture of Egypt, however, of which we possess ample remains in the shape of pyramids, temples, sepulchres, obelisks, etc. Egyptian chronology is far from certain, but the greatest of the architectural monuments of the country, the pyramids of Ghizeh, are at least as old as 2800 or 2700 BC. The Egyptian temples had walls of great thickness and sloping on the outside from bottom to top; the roofs were flat, and composed of blocks of stone reaching from one wall or column to another. The columns were numerous, close, and very stout, generally without bases, and exhibiting great variety in the designs of their capitals. The principle of the arch though known was not employed for architectural purposes. Statues of enormous size, sphinxes carved in stone, and on the walls sculptures incut-line of deities and animals, with innumerable hieroglyphics, are the decorative objects which belong to this style.
The earliest architectural remains of Greece are of unknown antiquity, and consist of massive walls built of huge blocks of stone. In historic times the Greeks developed an architecture of noble simplicity and dignity. This style is of modern origin compared with that of Egypt, and the earliest remains give indications that it was in part derived from the Egyptian. It is considered to have attained its greatest perfection in the age of Pericles, or about 460-430 BC. The great masters of this period were Phidias, Ictinus, Gallicrates, etc. All the extant buildings are more or less in ruins. The style is characterized by beauty, harmony, and simplicity in the highest degree. Distinctive of it are what are called the orders of architecture, by which term are understood certain modes of proportioning and decorating the column and its superimposed entablature. The Greeks had three orders, called respectively the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian.
Greek buildings were abundantly adorned with sculptures, and painting was extensively used, the details of the structures being enriched by different colours or tints. Lowness of roofs and the absence of arches were distinctive features of Greek architecture, in which, as in that of Egypt, horizontality of line is another characteristic mark. The most remarkable public edifices of the Greeks were temples, of which the most famous is the Parthenon at Athens. Others exist in various parts of Greece as well as in Sicily, Southern Italy, Asia Minor, etc, where important Greek communities were early settled. Their theatres were semicircular on one side and square on the other, the semicircular part being usually excavated in the side of some convenient hill. This part, the auditorium, was filled with concentric seats, and might be capable of containing 20,000 spectators. A number exist in Greece, Sicily, and Asia Minor, and elsewhere. No remains of private houses exist in Greece, Sicily, and Asia Minor, and elsewhere. No remains of private houses are known to exist. By the end of the Peloponnesian War, about 400 BC. the best period of Greek architecture was over; a noble simplicity had given place to excess of ornament. After the death of Alexander the Great in 323 the decline was still more marked.
Among the Romans there was no original development of architecture as among the Greeks, though they early took the foremost place in the construction of such works as aqueducts and sewers, the arch being in early and extensive use among this people. As a fine art, however, Roman architecture had its origin in copies of the Greek models, all the Grecian orders being introduced into Rome, and variously modified. Their number, moreover, was augmented by the addition of two new orders: the Tuscan and the Composite. The Romans became acquainted with the architecture of the Greeks soon after 200 BC, but it was not until about two centuries later that the architecture of Rome attained (under Augustus) its greatest perfection.
Among the great works now erected were temples, aqueducts, amphitheatres, magnificentvillas, triumphal arches, monumental pillars, etc. The amphitheatre differed from the theatre in being a completely circular or rather elliptical building, filled on all sides with ascending seats for spectators and leaving only the central space, called the arena, for the combatants and public shows. The Coliseum is a stupendous structure of this kind. The thermae, or baths, were vast structures in which multitudes of people could bathe at once. Magnificent tombs were often built by the wealthy. Remains of private residences are numerous, and the excavations at Pompeii in particular have thrown great light on the internal arrangements of the Roman dwelling-house. Almost all the successors of Augustus embellished Rome more or less, erected splendid palaces and temples, and adorned, like Hadrian, even the conquered countries with them. But after the period of Hadrian (117-138 AD) Roman architecture is considered to have been on the decline. The refined and noble style of the Greeks was neglected, and there was an attempt to embellish the beautiful more and more. This decline was all the more rapid latterly from the disturbed state of the empire and the incursions of the barbarians.
In Constantinople (Istanbul), after its virtual separation from the Western Empire, arose a style of art and architecture which was practised by the Greek Church during the whole of the middle ages. This is called the Byzantine style. The church of St Sophia at Istanbul, built by Justinian (reigned
527-565), offers the most typical specimen of the style, of which the fundamental principle was an application of the Roman arch, the dome being the most striking feature of the building. In the most typical examples the dome or cupola rests on four pendentives. After the dismemberment of the Roman Empire the beautiful works of ancient architecture were almost entirely destroyed by the Goths, Vandals, and other barbarians in Italy, Greece, Asia, Spain, and Africa; or what was spared by them was ruined by the fanaticism of the Christians. A new style of architecture now arose, two forms of which, the Lombard and the Norman Romanesque, form important phases of art. The Lombard prevailed in North Italy and South Germany from the eighth or ninth to the thirteenth century (though the Lombard rule came to an end in 774); the Norman Romanesque flourished, especially in Normandy and England, from the eleventh to the middle of the thirteenth century. The semicircular arch is the most characteristic feature of this style. With the Lombard Romanesque were combined Byzantine features, and buildings in the pure Byzantine style were also erected in Italy, as the Church of St Mark at Venice.
The conquests of the Moors introduced a fresh style of architecture into Europe after the eighth century - the Moorish or Saracenic. This style accompanied the spread of Islam after its rise in Arabia in the seventh century. The edifices erected by the Moors and Saracens in Spain, Egypt, and Turkey are distinguished, among other things, by a peculiar form of the arch, which forms a curve constituting more than half of a circle or ellipse. A peculiar flowery decoration, called arabesque, is a common ornament of this style, of which the building called the Alhambra is perhaps the chief glory.
The Germans were unacquainted with architecture until the time of Charlemagne (or Charles the Great, 742 to 814). He introduced into Germany the Byzantine and Romanesque styles. Afterwards the Moorish or Arabian style had some influence upon that of the western nations, and thus originated the mixed style which maintained itself till the middle of the thirteenth century. Then began the modern Gothic style, which grew up in France, England, and Germany. Its striking characteristics are its pointed arches, its pinnacles and spires, its large buttresses, clustered pillars, vaulted roofs, profusion of ornament, and, on the whole, its lofty, bold character. Its most distinctive feature, as compared with the Greek or the Egyptian style, is the predominance in it of perpendicular or rising lines, producing forms that convey the idea of soaring or mounting upwards. Its greatest capabilities have been best displayed in ecclesiastical edifices.
Buildings may be classified architecturally by period and by style. The chief British architectural periods are:
Among the most notable styles of architecture are Art Deco, a style popular in the 1920's and 1930's characterised by geometrical shapes and stylised natural forms and symmetry; Art Nouveau, a style popular between the 1880s and early 1900's with sinuous natural forms; Arts and Crafts, a reactionary style which rebelled against industrialisation and encouraged manual skills and simplicity; Baroque; Classical which is based upon Greco-Roman styles; Gothic which originated in Europe and was popular between the late 12th century and early 16th century, characterised by pointed arches; Queen Anne which was based on the Baroque style but included the intricate use of brick and Victorian which while partially associated with a revival of Gothic style also incorporated Classical elements and made great use of cast iron, typified in many of Britain's older railway stations before they were torn down and replaced with Modern style structures during the late 20th century. Research Architecture
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Flint Implements
