Unit 1 - Pre- to Ancient History

The steps here are grouped according to what I would cover in class sessions. I suggest that you do each session as a separate "sitting" as if you were preparing for a class session on the indicated material. The only difference is that what I would have said in a class lecture is already available to you in video form, and you can "attend" the class session at whatever time of day is convenient to you! Would you like a print image of this page to print and use as a checklist? It's available and optional, you might find it a handy way to keep track of your progress!

Note: The assigned reading for this unit includes material from the assigned textbook, The Story of Art, as well as from the course workbook, The Historical Foundations of Visual Technology, 4th edition. You can download the full workbook at the course "startup" web page. If you prefer however to download just the workbook pages that are associated with Unit 1 of the course, you may download these 54 pages by clicking on this link.

TO START: Click here to download the USF1 form. Print it and use it to take notes as you read and view. Then use the downloaded copy to edit it and insert the information about art purpose, rules, technology, and impact. If you do this you will be working in the way intended, and you will find that you are most productive in this class! Want to understand the idea behind the USFs? Here's an informative one-page graphic and description!

Session 0: Getting started (in computer science, we start numbering with zero!)
Download the FREE(!) workbook, The History of Visual Technology, 4th Edition from course home page
Get acquainted with the author of The Story of Art, the late Sir Ernst Gombrich: view video *
Read workbook pages 1-5 to get an overview of how the course works, and view video
Explore Unit Summary Form 1 (USF1); examine the facts about Lascaux I have provided as an example

Session 1: CHAPTER 1 -- STRANGE BEGINNINGS -- 30,000 BC to 3,500 BC
Read the Preface, Introduction and Chapter 1 of The Story of Art and view video **
Read workbook page 6, It all begins with the sun and view video
Read workbook page 7, Light "color temperature" and art and view video
Read workbook pages 8-9, Colorants, pigments, binders and paint and view video
Read workbook page 10, Lascaux, Chauvet, and Altamira cave art and view video

Session 2: CHAPTER 2 -- ART FOR ETERNITY -- 3,500 BC to 700 BC
Read Chapter 2 of The Story of Art and view video
Read workbook page 11, Rope Pullers as ancient surveyors and view video
Read workbook page 12, BC, AD, BCE, and CE dates explained and view video

Session 3: CHAPTER 3 -- THE GREAT AWAKENING -- 700 BC to 400 BC
Read Chapter 3 of The Story of Art and view video
Read workbook page 13, The Persian Empire and view video
Read workbook page 14, Ancient Greek, Persian, and Roman history and view map
Read workbook pages 16-20, Ancient colors, pigments, painting and view web resource (optional)

Session 4: CHAPTER 4 -- THE REALM OF BEAUTY -- 400 BC to AD 1
Read Chapter 4 of The Story of Art and view video
Read workbook page 21, The Pitsa Panels
Read workbook pages 22-23, On constructing an ancient personality
Look up the porch of the Erechtheion click here

Session 5: CHAPTER 5 -- WORLD CONQUERORS -- AD 1 to AD 400
Read Chapter 5 of The Story of Art and view video
Read workbook page 24, Building with stone: problem and solution and view video
Read workbook page 25, The ancient solution for the problem of stone
Read workbook page 26, The Pantheon in Rome: dome construction and view video

Session 6: Getting ready for Project 1
Read workbook pages 27-35, Simple geometry and perfect solids and view video
Read workbook page 36, The Golden Mean and the Golden Rectangle and view video
Read workbook pages 37-38, Constructing a Golden Rectangle with geometry and view video

	Preview In this first of four units in the course we begin with the Lascaux civilization of western Europe, which, amazingly, originated magnificent and sophisticated cave art as far in the past as 30,000 BC. CLICK HERE NOW to view a video about Lascaux that it's important that you watch! We then consider the art and technologies of a North African civilization of about 7,000 BC, Sumeria, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Assyria, the Persian Empire, Greece and the Roman Empire.

	What to do... just follow these steps as listed! The steps here are grouped according to what I would cover in class sessions. I suggest that you do each session as a separate "sitting" as if you were preparing for a class session on the indicated material. The only difference is that what I would have said in a class lecture is already available to you in video form, and you can "attend" the class session at whatever time of day is convenient to you! Would you like a print image of this page to print and use as a checklist? It's available and optional, you might find it a handy way to keep track of your progress! Note: The assigned reading for this unit includes material from the assigned textbook, The Story of Art, as well as from the course workbook, The Historical Foundations of Visual Technology, 4th edition. You can download the full workbook at the course "startup" web page. If you prefer however to download just the workbook pages that are associated with Unit 1 of the course, you may download these 54 pages by clicking on this link. TO START: Click here to download the USF1 form. Print it and use it to take notes as you read and view. Then use the downloaded copy to edit it and insert the information about art purpose, rules, technology, and impact. If you do this you will be working in the way intended, and you will find that you are most productive in this class! Want to understand the idea behind the USFs? Here's an informative one-page graphic and description! Session 0: Getting started (in computer science, we start numbering with zero!) Download the FREE(!) workbook, The History of Visual Technology, 4th Edition from course home page Get acquainted with the author of The Story of Art, the late Sir Ernst Gombrich: view video * Read workbook pages 1-5 to get an overview of how the course works, and view video Explore Unit Summary Form 1 (USF1); examine the facts about Lascaux I have provided as an example Session 1: CHAPTER 1 -- STRANGE BEGINNINGS -- 30,000 BC to 3,500 BC Read the Preface, Introduction and Chapter 1 of The Story of Art and view video ** Read workbook page 6, It all begins with the sun and view video Read workbook page 7, Light "color temperature" and art and view video Read workbook pages 8-9, Colorants, pigments, binders and paint and view video Read workbook page 10, Lascaux, Chauvet, and Altamira cave art and view video Session 2: CHAPTER 2 -- ART FOR ETERNITY -- 3,500 BC to 700 BC Read Chapter 2 of The Story of Art and view video Read workbook page 11, Rope Pullers as ancient surveyors and view video Read workbook page 12, BC, AD, BCE, and CE dates explained and view video Session 3: CHAPTER 3 -- THE GREAT AWAKENING -- 700 BC to 400 BC Read Chapter 3 of The Story of Art and view video Read workbook page 13, The Persian Empire and view video Read workbook page 14, Ancient Greek, Persian, and Roman history and view map Read workbook pages 16-20, Ancient colors, pigments, painting and view web resource (optional) Session 4: CHAPTER 4 -- THE REALM OF BEAUTY -- 400 BC to AD 1 Read Chapter 4 of The Story of Art and view video Read workbook page 21, The Pitsa Panels Read workbook pages 22-23, On constructing an ancient personality Look up the porch of the Erechtheion click here Session 5: CHAPTER 5 -- WORLD CONQUERORS -- AD 1 to AD 400 Read Chapter 5 of The Story of Art and view video Read workbook page 24, Building with stone: problem and solution and view video Read workbook page 25, The ancient solution for the problem of stone Read workbook page 26, The Pantheon in Rome: dome construction and view video Session 6: Getting ready for Project 1 Read workbook pages 27-35, Simple geometry and perfect solids and view video Read workbook page 36, The Golden Mean and the Golden Rectangle and view video Read workbook pages 37-38, Constructing a Golden Rectangle with geometry and view video
	Three assignments are due for Unit 1...
	Unit Summary Form 1 CLICK HERE TO WATCH A REVIEW LECTURE ON THIS! <<< IMPORTANT! The USF1 form you see on workbook pages 4 and 5 needs to be completed and submitted. You downloaded this from the link at the top of this web page. That download provided you with a copy of the form you can use with your word processor. Type up your notes using the editable USF file and submit that document file in electronic form. Submit your completed (word-processed) file to the dedicated course gmail address. I will give you a score and feedback. You can then revise your USF1 using my feedback and resubmit it for re-grading if it needs "perfecting". Project 1: Perfect solids, Golden Rectangle, Fibonacci series Read and explore workbook pages 39 through 45. Complete all three parts of the project. Submit your work for grading as directed in these instructions. Submit parts of the project as you complete them if you wish, I can give you feedback faster that way! As with the USFs I will give you a score and feedback and you can revise this using my feedback and resubmit it for re-grading. Project 1 Part 1: click here to download the cutout shape pages as a 5-page .pdf ready to print single-sided. Part 2: view the tutorial videos. Part 3: it's fully documented on workbook page 40, which you use as a worksheet. On this part, make sure you do the analysis and provide a narrative, don't just do the graphing! Draft of the first page of your reflective essay / "oral history" Read and explore workbook pages 50 through 54. Then CLICK HERE NOW to view a video about Lascaux that it is vitally important that you watch! Starting your reflective essay early in the term is required so that I can make sure that you understand the unique first-person ("I did this" or "it seemed to me", etc.) nature of the reflective essay/diary. This helps to make sure that you are on the right track before you expend too much effort! Your whole essay will be at least 2,500 words long, covering 12 eras/civilizations that are listed on workbook page 51, but only the first page--about 250 words--is due with Unit 1. Here's crucial information that you need to know: your "essay" is really a diary that you start writing as a young person who was born into the Lascaux civilization. In this case "essay" is just an academic term for "writing". Here, this writing will be more like a daily record of your experiences; each page tells of a day or more of your experiences interacting with the important aspects of art that your written homework (the Unit Summary Forms--USFs) will help you identify for an era. This is not a typical "research paper!" It's a diary and your only point in writing it is to tell the "diary" (as if it were a person) about what you did and experienced and what you thought about or how you reacted to those experiences. You will live on beyond Lascaux and will continue to write your diary for the next tens of thousands of years. But your assignment here deals only with 12 specific time points in history, one (or so) diary entry written in each of the 12 eras/civilizations listed on workbook page 51. You live through all 28 of the eras/civilizations we study but for the purposes of this class you actually only have to write a diary entry for each of the 12 eras/civilizations listed on workbook page 51. We're not expecting you to write 32,000 x 365 > 10,000,000 pages! Diary (paper) length and format: 2,500 words minimum, no upper limit. If you feel creative and want to write more, feel free to do so. The longest response ever submitted for this assignment was over 10,000 words. It's expected that you submit this as a double line-spaced document with 1" margins all around AND PAGE NUMBERED, and submitted as either a .docx file or a .pdf file (NOT as .pages documents). The page numbers are necessary because in the final exam you will be citing facts by page number from your own diary which is treated at that point as a primary source document, similar in credibility to an "oral history" in the spirit of acclaimed historian Allan Nevins. If you don't know how to turn on page numbering in the word processor of your choice this is an excellent time to google for help and figure out how to do it! Think of the diary that you write as part of a take-home final exam that you have the opportunity to work on all during the term! Submit this draft of your first page now based on the facts about Lascaux that I have provided as an example on workbook page 4. I will review your draft and will and give you feedback on it! (The second part of the take-home final exam is the Conclusions Work, which I will post 14 days before the end of the term. The Conclusions Work is based on your diary writing. You do not write conclusions into your diary. It is not an "essay" in the sense of a document trying to prove anything. In this case the "reflection" part of your "reflective essay" is in the work you will do on the actual final exam). An optional extra credit project for Unit 1 is located on workbook pages 46-49. If you find the subject matter of this unit interesting you may enjoy going farther into it with this extra credit.
	* Advertising may appear on some YouTube videos because they have been created and posted by others. I include those videos because they offer valuable insight on relevant topics. I have no control over this "monetization" of videos created by others so please bear with the minor annoyance of ads if they appear. ** Note that you have available an optional slide download for chapter 1-5 lectures in 3-up form as a .pdf file for note-taking