art: introduction 87complex than the hill-like mound structures built else-
where. Schematically, its design resembles an amphi theater:
It is a semicircular structure formed of six concentric,
100-foot-wide earth platforms divided by fi ve 35-foot-wide
radial passages between. Archaeologists believe that hous-
ing structures were built on the platforms. Another type of
mound was built slightly northeast of Louisiana at Sapelo
Island in Darien, Georgia. Th e Sapelo Island Shell Rings are
large, enclosed circular mounds built of oyster and other
oceanic shells. Th is is one of several similar structures and
dates to about 2170 b.c.e.
Th e Adena culture (1000–100 b.c.e.) also built conical
burial earthen mounds. Th ey were composed of packed earth
upon foundational buildings, and they sometimes included
wooden tombs. Th is period was characterized by an increased
importance placed on funeral ceremony and also trade. Th e
emphasis on burial is especially seen in the Hopewell culture
(200 b.c.e.–400 c.e.) of modern-day Ohio. Th is culture built
circular or elliptical burial earthen mounds similar to those
created by the Mississippian cultures nearly a millennium
later. In fact, resemblance between the two cultures led the
Mississippian mounds to be misidentifi ed as Hopewellian
until relatively recently.
Th e western Anasazi during the Basketmaker II Period
(560 b.c.e.–700 c.e.) built rock-shelter sites in the last few
centuries b.c.e. Archaeologists have found small settlements
with hearths and storage spaces as well as burial and storage
chambers lined with stone slabs.
See also art; astronomy; borders and frontiers; building
techniques and materials; calendars and clocks; cit-
ies; climate and geography; death and burial practic-
es; drama and theater; empires and dynasties; family;
festivals; household goods; hunting, fishing, and gath-
ering; illumination; literature; migration and popula-
tion movements; military; natural disasters; nomadic
and pastoral societies; religion and cosmology; sacred
sites; science; settlement patterns; social organiza-
tion; sports and recreation; storage and preservation;
towns and villages; trade and exchange; writing.
FURTHER READING
James C. Anderson, Roman Architecture and Society (Baltimore:
Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997).
Dieter Arnold, Th e Encyclopedia of Ancient Egyptian Architecture,
trans. Sabine H. Gardiner (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton Univer-
sity Press, 2003).
Kenneth Briggs and Janet Briggs, Ziggurat: How Ur Gave Birth
(Langhorne, Penn.: Chora House Press, 1998).
Ching-Hua Ju and Hua-Liang Peng, Ancient Chinese Architecture,
10 vols. (New York: Springer, 1998).
John R. Clarke, Th e Houses of Roman Italy (Berkeley, University of
California Press, 1991).
Somers Clarke and R. Engelbach, Ancient Egyptian Construction
and Architecture (Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications, 1990).
Rodolfo Fattovich, “The Development of Urbanism in the
Northern Horn of Africa in Ancient and Medieval Times.”
Available online. URL: http://hometown.aol.com/_ht_a/
skipbdahlgren/sdahlgren/fattowich.pdf. Downloaded on
December 1, 2006.
Henri Frankfort, Th e Art and Architecture of the Ancient Orient, 5th
ed. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1996).
Peter Garlake, Early Art and Architecture of Africa (New York: Ox-
ford University Press, 2002).
Jeff Karl Kowalski, ed., Mesoamerican Architecture as a Cultural
Symbol (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999).
George Kubler, Th e Art and Architecture of Ancient America (Balti-
more: Penguin Books: 1962).
Helen Leacroft , Th e Buildings of Ancient Mesopotamia (Reading,
Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1975).
Seton Lloyd, Ancient Architecture: Mesopotamia, Egypt, Crete,
Greece (New York, N.Y.: Harry N. Abrams, 1974).
Alexander G. McKay, Houses, Villas, and Palaces in the Roman
Worl d (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998).
Mary Ellen Miller, Th e Art of Mesoamerica: From Olmec to Aztec
(London: Th ames and Hudson, 2001).
Mary Ellen Miller, Maya Art and Architecture (London: Th ames
and Hudson, 1999).
William N. Morgan, Precolumbian Architecture in Eastern North
America (Gainesville, University Press of Florida, 1999).
Donald Preziosi and Louise A. Hitchcock, Aegean Art and Architec-
ture (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000).
Ingrid D. Rowland and Th omas Noble Howe, Vitruvius: Ten Books
on Architecture (New York: Cambridge University Press,
1999).
W. S t e ve n s on S m it h , Th e Art and Architecture of Ancient Egypt
(New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1999).
John W. Stamper, Th e Architecture of Roman Temples (New York:
Cambridge University Press, 2005).
Rebecca Stone-Miller, Art of the Andes: From Chavín to Inca (Lon-
don: Th ames and Hudson, 1995).
Bindia Th apar, Introduction to Indian Architecture (North Claren-
don, Vt.: Tuttle, 2005).
Mark Wilson-Jones, Principles of Roman Architecture (New Haven:
Yale University Press, 2000).▶ art
introduction
Ancient human beings around the world painted on rocks.
The purposes of these ancient rock paintings are not
known. Archaeologists often suggest that they were re-
ligious works, because religion has been one of the most
powerful motivators of artists. Perhaps the depictions of
animals, humans, hunts, and war were intended to make
hopes into reality. It was common in ancient cultures to
believe that art was more than mere representation of
something concrete, that an artistic depiction of some-
thing made it actual fact. That is, the act of creating art
was simultaneously the creating of reality. For instance,
the depiction of a bird actually created a real bird in the