In a message dated 12/22/08 5:17:21 PM, [email protected] writes:
> Now, don't forget that 5,000 years ago is 3,000 BC. Damascus is the > oldest continuously inhabited city in the world, dating to c. 5000 BC > (that is, 7000 years ago). The pyramids and dynastic Egyptian culture > is older than 3000 BC. And the climate of Egypt is very dry, which > allows fragile materials like papyrus and encaustic to survive where > they'd be destroyed in more humid regions. The Ishtar gates and > similar monuments from Mesopotamia are of comparable antiquity. There > are very few artifacts from equatorial Africa that antedate 1700 AD or > thereabout, because those cultures did not build much with stone nor > use a lot of permanent materials in their artifacts, so their > adornments and monuments perished from climatic forces. > Thanks, Michael. But is there any evidence of what some of us might call "artworks" created in Damascus or anywhere between the cessation of cave painting and...and when? I understand that if there was, much of it would have been lost, but is there evidence that it ever did exist? For all we know for sure, is it possible that with the exception of the cave paintings there was no "visual art" at all prior to three or four thousand years ago? ************** One site keeps you connected to all your email: AOL Mail, Gmail, and Yahoo Mail. Try it now. (http://www.aol.com/?optin=new-dp&icid=aolcom40vanity& ncid=emlcntaolcom00000025)
