supremacy.
The same techniques accelerated the development of secular Gothic art in a rapidly expanding Europe. Excited by innovation, a wealthy middle class financed research in alchemy, mining and metal-working. Flourishing trade accelerated urbanization, which gave rise to new forms of architecture, such as storage depots, shops and town halls.
New standards of comfort were reflected in interior decoration: embroidered cloth, wood panelling and carving. One of the most celebrated examples is the Bayeux Tapestry, celebrating the Norman victory over England (in which the comet is the same as the one described 500 years later by Edmond Halley, the English astronomer: its passage would confirm Newton’s theory of universal gravitation).
Both art and science were ostentatiously sponsored by patrons who wanted to be remembered. Thus, symbols of power and high technology, such as mechanical clocks, were incorporated in major cathedrals. Time, until then conceived as cyclical and determined by the positions of the sun and the moon, became a continuum, tracked by a scientific device.
This innovation heralded a profound spiritual change, gradually replacing a qualitative perception of the world with a quantitative one. But, before this took place, Europe lost about one-third of its population to the plague, leaving wealthy survivors aspiring to build a different future.
Computer-generated image of the abbey of Cluny, 1993
The lavishly decorated abbey of Cluny was destroyed following the French Revolution in 1789, and Napoleon’s edict in 1810. Three-dimensional computer images have been generated from the work of the architect Conant, who spent decades deciphering the plans.
God the Geometer, thirteenth century
Medieval architecture was deeply steeped in antique symbolism. The desired harmony—a perfect relationship of different parts in terms of ratios—was the source of beauty according to which “the divine reason ordered the universe.”
Miniature from a picture Bible
Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna; Ms. 2554, fol. 1v
The astronomical clock of Strasbourg Cathedral, fifteenth century
In medieval monasteries, work and prayer were regulated by the ringing of bells; days were divided into periods based on the total time elapsed between sunrise and sunset, but this duration varied from day to day. The necessity for telling time became widespread, and common standards were established. The day was divided into twenty-four equal segments—the hours—shared by all. In today’s industrialized world, clocks controlled by atomic vibrations are accurate to within a millionth of a second.
Distances and encounters
While the West was about to take a new direction, other societies in various parts of the world lived according to elaborate models. In the Americas, successive civilizations flourished for over 2,000 years (beginning around 1000 B.C.). They conducted immense building projects: road networks tens of thousands of kilometers long crossed the formidable terrain of the Andes mountains.
Masonry blocks weighing 100 tons were used to build monumental structures which functioned as giant platforms for ritual practices. They were carefully aligned with the stars, and in close proximity to the heavens. Pre-Columbian pyramids bear resemblance to their Ancient Egyptian counterparts. There are similarities in the understanding of mathematics and astronomy attained by these distant cultures. Incidentally, the dry air of the Andes, like that of Egypt, also favored rites of mummification.
In the Americas, fundamental technologies such as wheeled vehicles and the use of iron were unknown; so were horses as beasts of burden. When conquistadores invaded the continent on horseback carrying gunpowder and metal weapons—and illnesses to which the local people had no immunity—the result was near extinction.
One must admire the Americas’ early inhabitants who conceived a universe 100,000 years old. The Mayas even concluded that time had no beginning—a strikingly abstract notion. Western scientists, including Newtonian thinkers, believed until well into the eighteenth century that the world had been created in 4004 B.C., during the great flood described in the Bible.
Indian statuette, South America
Deformed faces testify to the interest shown by South American Indians in medicine.
Museum für Völkerkunde, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Nazca lines depicting a whale, Peru, c. 500 A.D.
Dark stones were removed over tens of kilometers, uncovering the lighter color of the earth. These drawings representing animals or geometric shapes—recognizable only from the air—must have required measuring skills. Maria Reiche, fascinated by mathematics, studied the astronomical references apparently contained in these figures which were possibly used to predict the outcome of crops. Pre-Columbian Indians grew numerous species of plants. More than half of the food we eat is derived from their products and methods.
It is now common knowledge that societies in Africa and the South Pacific had art schools with masters, and an art story of their own. Yet, although their works are widely appreciated in the West for their aesthetic power, the meaning of these objects is shrouded in mystery.
Mask, Ivory Coast
Some masks show faces with signs of leprosy, mycosis or parasitosis. African statuary greatly inspired Western artists.
Specialists are trying to piece the puzzle together, tracing stylistic affinities and material components back to their sources. But colonialism has wiped out most traditions, rites and ceremonies for which staffs and figurines served as accessories. The same is true of medicinal potions and practices. Interest has been kindled in the traditional science of these lands. One of the direct results is the burgeoning discipline of ethnopharmacology, which is bringing to light potent drugs and antidotes to various poisons.
Fetish from Central Africa, Sankuru-Huana
Figurines representing healers carrying medicine bags, dolls, herbs and utensils reveal the deep link between medicine and artistic representation.
Museum für Völkerkunde, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Ancestral know-how may be of use in a number of other areas, not the least of which are agriculture and environmental practices. Ironically, hi-tech computer analysis is now employed to record whatever remains of this body of knowledge.
Célèbes,
