08/19 08. African Art and Civilizations Before 1500 Free Online FlashCards

Why is there no single “African style” before 1500?

African art before 1500 comprised many regional traditions shaped by local technologies, environments, beliefs, political systems, and networks of exchange.

What does Kushite selective adaptation demonstrate?

Kushite artists selectively adapted Egyptian visual forms, such as pyramids and hieroglyphs, to express distinct Kushite political legitimacy and religious identity.

What was Meroë known for?

Meroë was a major Kushite center associated with pyramids, temples, ironworking, royal art, and distinctive painted ceramics.

What did Aksumite stelae commemorate?

Aksumite stelae were monumental carved stones connected with royal tombs and elite memorial practices; their surfaces evoke multistory buildings.

Why is Lalibela called performative architecture?

Lalibela’s churches are performative architecture because their religious meaning is activated through pilgrimage, procession, liturgy, sound, and bodily movement.

What interpretive caution applies to Jenne-jeno terracottas?

Jenne-jeno terracotta figures reveal urban, technical, and ritual traditions, but their original functions often remain uncertain because many were found in secondary contexts.

What moved through trans-Saharan trade networks?

Trans-Saharan trade exchanged gold, salt, textiles, metals, books, people, and religious ideas across connected caravan routes and market centers.

How does lost-wax casting work?

Lost-wax casting uses a wax model inside a clay mold; firing removes the wax, and molten metal fills the resulting cavity.

How does Ife sculpture use naturalism?

Ife sculpture combines observed bodily features with idealization and symbolic coding, including facial lines that may indicate social or ritual identity.

What construction method defined Great Zimbabwe?

Great Zimbabwe was built mainly between approximately 1100 and 1450 by Shona-speaking communities using carefully fitted granite blocks without mortar.

What is ancestral art?

Ancestral art sustains relationships between living communities and deceased or spiritually powerful predecessors through memorials, shrine figures, regalia, and ritual objects.

What elements make up a masquerade?

A masquerade combines costume or mask, music, movement, specialized knowledge, and setting to transform identity during performance.