Art Piece | Tomb Stone Description |
Ochre processing toolkit (shell), point fragments, bone tools, engraved ochre, shells, and engraved bone, | Mesolithic, c. 100,000 â 70,000 BCEâfrom Blombos Cave, South Africa |
Nude Woman (Venus of Willendorf) | , Paleolithic, ca. 28,000 â 25,000 BCEâfrom Willendorf, Austria, limestone, 4 1/4â high (10 cm), Naturhistorisches Museum |
Woman holding a bison horn | , Paleolithic, ca. 25,000 â 20,000 BCEâfrom Laussel, France, painted limestone, 1â 6â high, Musee dâAquitaine (Bordeaux) |
Hall of the Bulls | , Paleolithic, ca. 16,000 â 14,000 BCEâ from the cave at Lascaux, France, largest bull 11â 6â long |
Rhinoceros, wounded man, and disemboweled bison | , Paleolithic, ca. 16,000 â 14,000 BCEâpainting in the well of the cave at Lascaux, France, bison 3â 4 1/2â long |
Aurochs, horses, and rhinoceroses | , Paleolithic, ca. 30,000 â 28,000 BCE or ca. 15,000 â 13,000 BCEâfrom the Chauvet Cave, Vallon-Pont-dâArc, France, right rhinoceros 3â 4â long |
Presentation of an offering to Inanna (Warka Vase) | , Sumerian, ca. 3200 â 3000 BCEâfrom Uruk (modern Warka), Iraq, alabaster, 3â 1/4â high, looted from the Iraq Museum (Baghdad) (recovered) |
Female head (Inanna?) | Sumerian, 3200 â 3000 BCEâfrom Uruk (modern Warka), Iraq, alabaster, 3â 1/4â high, looted from the Iraq Museum (Baghdad) (recovered) |
White temple and ziggurat | , Sumerian, ca. 3200 â 3000 BCEâUruk (modern Warka), Iraq, structure made out of mud brick |
Statuettes of two worshippers | , Sumerian, ca. 2700 BCEâfrom the Square Temple at Eshnunna (modern Tell Asmar), Iraq, gypsum, shell, and black limestone, man 2â 4 1/4" high, woman 1â 11 1/4" high, Iraq Museum (Baghdad) |
Standard of Ur | Sumerian ca. 2600 â 2400 BCEâfrom tomb 779, Royal Cemetery, Ur (modern day Tell Muqayyar), Iraq, wood, lapis lazuli, shell, and red limestone, 8â x 1â 7â, British Museum (London) |
Cylinder seal with banquet scene | , Sumerian, ca. 2600 â 2400 BCEâfrom the tomb of Pu-abi (tomb 800), Royal Cemetery, Ur (modern Tell Muqayyar), Iraq, lapis lazuli, 1 7/8â high, 1â diameter, British Museum (London) |
Head of an Akkadian ruler | , Akkadian, ca. 2250 â 2200 BCEâfrom Nineveh (modern Kuyunjik), Iraq, copper, 1â 2 3/8â high, Iraq Museum (Baghdad) |
Rossetta Stone | , Ptolemaic Period, 196 BCEâfound in the Nile Delta at el-Rashid, Egypt, black granite, British Museum (London) |
Palette of King Narmer | , Egyptian, ca. 3000 â 2920 BCEâ from Hierakonpolis, Egypt, slate, 2â 1â high, Egyptian Museum (Cairo) |
Imhotep, Stepped pyramid of Djoser | , Egyptian, ca. 2630 â 2611 BCE, Saqqara, Egypt |
The Pyramids of Gizeh | , Egyptian, ca. 2500 BCE, Gizeh, EgyptâFourth Dynasty, limestone and granite |
Khafre enthroned | , Egyptian, ca. 2520 â 2494 BCE, Gizeh, EgyptâFourth Dynasty, diorite, 5â 6â high, Egyptian Museum (Cairo) |
Menkaure and Khamerernebty (?) | , Egyptian, ca. 2490 â 2472 BCEâGizeh, Egypt, Fourth Dynasty, greywacke, 4â 6 1/2 â high, Museum of Fine Arts (Boston) |
Seated scribe | , Egyptian, ca. 2500 BCEâSaqqara, Egypt, Fourth Dynasty, painted limestone, 1â 9â high, Louvre (Paris) |
Ti watching a hippopotamus hunt | , Egyptian, ca. 2450 â 2350âfrom the mastaba of Ti, Saqqara, Egypt, Fifth Dynasty, painted limestone, 4â high |
Figure of a woman | Cycladic, c. 2600 – 2400 BCE—attributed to the Bastis Master, marble, 24 3/4 in. (62.79 cm) tall, Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) |
New Palace at Knossos | Minoan, c. 1700 – 1375 BCE, Crete, Greece |
Bull-leaping, from the palace at Knossos, | Minoan, c. 1450 – 1370 BCE—Crete, Greece, fresco, 2’ 8” high |
Harvester Rhyton | Minoan, ca. 1650 – 1450 BCE—from Hagia Triada (Crete), Greece, steatite, originally with gold leaf, diameter 5”, Archeological Museum (Herakleion) |
Lion Gate | Mycenaean, ca. 1300 – 1250 BCE, Mycenae, Greece—limestone |
Funerary krater | Greek, c. 750 – 735 BCE—Geometric Greek, from the Dipylon cemetery, Athens, Greece, pottery, 3’ 4” tall, Metropolitan Museum of Art (NYC) |
Metropolitan Kouros | Greek, ca. 600 BCE—Archaic Greek, from Attica, Greece, marble, 6’ tall, Metropolitan Museum of At (NYC) |
Kroisos (Anavysos Kouros) | Greek, ca. 530 BCE—Archaic Greek, from Anavysos, Greece, marble, 6’ 4” tall, National Archeological Museum (Athens) |
Kritios Boy | Greek, ca. 480 BCE—Early Classical Greek, from the Acropolis, Athens, Greece, marble, 2’ 10” tall, Acropolis Museum (Athens) |
Temple (or Basilica) of Hera I | Greek, ca. 550 BCE, Paestum, Italy—Archaic Greek |
Temple of Aphaia | Greek, ca. 500 – 490 BCE, Aegina, Greece—Archaic Greek |
East pediment of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia | Greek, ca. 470 – 56 BCE—Early Classical Greek |
Ezekias, Achilles and Ajax playing a dice game (detail of an Athenian black-figure amphora) | Greek, ca. 540 – 530 BCE—Archaic Greek, from Vulci, Italy, pottery, vessel 2’ high, Musei Vaticani (Rome), black-figure vase painting |
Polykleitos, Doryphoros (Spear Bearer) | Greek, ca. 450 – 440 BCE—Classical Greek, Roman marble copy of a Greek bronze original of ca. 450 – 440 BCE, from the palaestra of Pompeii, Italy, marble, 6’ 11” tall, Museo Archeologico Nazionale (Naples) |
Iktinos and Kallikrates, Parthenon (Temple of Athena Parthenos) | Greek, 447 – 438 BCE, Athens, Greece—Classical Greek, on the Acropolis |