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Preserving Ancient Statues from Jordan
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
http://www.asia.si.edu/jordan/html/jor_mm.htm
The impressive site of 'Ain Ghazal, Jordan was a village of farmers, hunters, and herders occupied between 7200 and 5000 BC during the Neolithic period. In addition to stone tools and weapons, the inhabitants of 'Ain Ghazal created objects that were symbolic in function, in particular, the large human-form statues and busts made of plaster, and plaster faces that were modeled on human skulls. Some of these finds were studied and preserved at the Smithsonian Institution's Conservation Analytical Laboratory. Based on an exhibition at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, this web site discusses the discovery, excavation, conservation, and aspects of art and ritual, with generous high quality images.
'Ain Ghazal Excavation Reports:
http://menic.utexas.edu/ghazal/
The Cosquer Cave:
http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/archeosm/en/fr-cosqu1.htm
Cosquer Cave is located at Cape Morqiou, near Marseilles, France. This Upper Paleolithic cave, accessed through a 175-meter tunnel, 37 meters below sea level, includes a variety of paintings of land animals, fifty-five hand stencils, and most remarkably, seals and auks. This web site offers a virtual tour of the cave, which is inaccessible to the public.
The Cave of Chauvet Pont d'Arc:
http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/chauvet/en/
Another outstanding cave site in southern France is Chauvet Cave. This cave, dated through charcoal used for the parietal art, yielded dates of 30,340 and 32,410 BP.
The Cave of Lascaux:
http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/lascaux/en/
A web site for Lascaux provides a timeline that includes the other Paleolithic cave sites, as well as a virtual tour of the site, also closed to the public.
Encyclopedia of Western Signs and Ideograms:
http://www.symbols.com/
This site contains more than 1,600 articles about 2,500 Western signs, arranged into 54 groups according to their graphic characteristics.
Prehistoric Art Resources on the web:
http://witcombe.sbc.edu/ARTHprehistoric.html
A massive collection of links to sites concerning Prehistoric Art divided by geographic region and culture.
The San Bartolo Project:
http://www.sanbartolo.org/
These Maya murals, the oldest that have so far been found, depict a scene of human sacrifice.
Cognitive Archaeology:
http://mc2.vicnet.net.au/home/cognit/web/index.html
Australian Rock Art Research Association (AURA)
Clues to Early Thought:
http://www.svf.uib.no/sfu/blombos/
The Blombos Cave Project.
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