Global Prehistory
This painting in southwestern France, dating c. 15,000–13,000 BCE, features many large animal forms and was part of a cave complex
What is the Great Hall of the Bulls?
This Hawaiian feathered cloak made of thousands of bird feathers and fiber was a status garment of nobility in the late 18th century.
What is an ‘ahu ‘ula?
This Mesoamerican vessel, from Susa (modern Iran), is decorated with stylized motifs — wait, this is wrong — scratch that. Instead: This famous Maya structure in Chichén Itzá served as a temple and astronomical marker.
What is El Castillo (Temple of Kukulcán)?
This small artifact, made of charcoal on stone around 25,500–25,300 BCE in Namibia, combines human legs with an animal body
What is the Apollo 11 Stones?
From Rapa Nui (Easter Island), these enormous monolithic human figures are carved from volcanic tuff and stand on stone platforms.”
What are Moai on Ahu?
This Inca fortress in the Andean highlands features precisely cut stone masonry and complex terracing.
What is Machu Picchu?
Carved in sandstone in the Neolithic era on the Arabian Peninsula, this upright slab marks territory or graves and is stylized with human features
What is the Anthropomorphic Stele?
This object from a Polynesian island combines tapa (bark cloth), wood, feathers, and fiber to represent deities and was often carried in ritual context.
What is a Staff God (or staff‑god figure)?
These towering ceramic vessels from the Nazca region often depict animals or deities and were buried in tombs.
What are Nazca pottery vessels?
This Neolithic monument in the UK aligns with solstices and served ritual and burial functions, built c. 2500–1600 BCE
What is Stonehenge?
This Micronesian navigational device uses wooden sticks and shells to map ocean swells and currents for sea voyaging.
What is a navigation (stick) chart?
This Aztec structure atop Tenochtitlan was dedicated to the god Huitzilopochtli and Tlaloc and was the site of many rituals.
What is the Templo Mayor?
This carved object from Papua New Guinea, possibly used in burials, highlights fertility with emphasis on hips and abstract faces
What is the Ambum Stone?
This photograph from 1953 documents the presentation of tapa cloths and mats in Fiji, blending performance, textile, and colonial encounter.
What is Presentation of Fijian Mats and Tapa Cloths to Queen Elizabeth II?
This site in the Basin of Mexico features a large sun pyramid and was one of the major ceremonial centers of the Aztec capital.
What is the Pyramid of the Sun (Teotihuacán)?