occupation lucy myers wright mitchell
In the history of art , prehistoric art is all art produced in preliterate , prehistorical cultures beginning somewhere in very late geological history , and generally continuing until that culture either develops writing or other methods of record - keeping , or makes significant contact with another culture that has , and that makes some record of ___MASK13___ historical events . At this point ancient art begins , for the older literate cultures . The end - date for what is covered by the term thus varies greatly between different parts of the world . Culture can be defined in numerous ways . In the words of ___MASK21___ E . B . Tylor , it is " that complex whole which includes knowledge , belief , art , morals , law , custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society ." Alternatively , in a contemporary variant , " Culture is defined as a social domain that emphasizes the practices , discourses and material expressions , which , over time , express the continuities and discontinuities of social meaning of a life held in common ." Lucy Myers Wright Mitchell ( March 20 , 1845 -- March 10 , 1888 ) was an American writer , historian , and expert on ancient art . Mitchell was one of the first Americans to write and publish a book on classical sculpture and was one of the first women to study the field of classical archaeology . Mitchell was born in Urumiah , Persia , and was the daughter of missionary and oriental scholar Austin Hazen Wright , and the sister of classical scholar , John Henry Wright . Her two - volume , 766 page work , A History of Ancient Sculpture , examines the history of ancient sculpture beginning with its origins in Ancient Egypt , and includes another volume of plates . Writing is a medium of human communication that represents language and emotion through the inscription or recording of signs and symbols . In most languages , writing is a complement to speech or spoken language . Writing is not a language but a form of technology that developed as tools developed with human society . Within a language system , writing relies on many of the same structures as speech , such as vocabulary , grammar and semantics , with the added dependency of a system of signs or symbols . The result of writing is generally called " text ", and the recipient of text is called a ___MASK27___ . Motivations for writing include publication , storytelling , correspondence and diary . Writing has been instrumental in keeping history , maintaining culture , dissemination of knowledge through the media and the formation of legal systems . Classical sculpture refers loosely to the forms of sculpture from Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome , as well as the Hellenized and Romanized civilizations under their rule or influence from about 500 BC to around 200 AD . More precisely it refers to Ancient Greek sculpture from around 500 BC to the onset of the Hellenistic style around 323 BC . It may also refer stylistically to later sculpture done in a Neoclassical or classical style . Classical sculptures have been popular since the Renaissance . Only those works that closely follow the ___MASK45___ of classical forms would fall under the term . Ancient art refers to the many types of art produced by the advanced cultures of ancient societies with some form of writing , such as those of ancient China , India , Mesopotamia , Persia , Palestine , Egypt , Greece , and Rome . The art of pre - literate societies is normally referred to as Prehistoric art and is not covered here . Although some Pre - Columbian cultures developed writing during the centuries before the arrival of Europeans , on grounds of dating these are covered at Pre - Columbian art , and articles such as Maya art and Aztec art . Olmec art is mentioned below . Heinrich Schliemann ( 6 January 1822  26 December 1890 ) was a German businessman and a ___MASK9___ in the field of archaeology . He was an ___MASK76___ of the historicity of places mentioned in the works of Homer and an archaeological excavator of Hissarlik , now presumed to be the site of Troy , along with the Mycenaean sites Mycenae and Tiryns . His work lent weight to the idea that Homer ' s " Iliad " and Virgil ' s " Aeneid " reflect historical events . Schliemann ' s excavation of nine levels of archaeological remains with dynamite has been criticized as destructive of significant historical artifacts , including the level that is believed to be the historical Troy . Classical archaeology is the archaeological investigation of the great Mediterranean civilizations of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome . Nineteenth - century archaeologists such as Heinrich Schliemann were drawn to study the societies they had read about in Latin and Greek texts . Many universities and foreign nations maintain excavation programs and schools in the area - such is the enduring appeal of the region ' s archaeology . Art is a diverse range of human activities in creating visual , auditory or performing artifacts ( artworks ), expressing the ___MASK55___ ' s imaginative or technical skill , intended to be appreciated for their beauty or emotional power . In their most general form these activities include the production of works of art , the criticism of art , the study of the history of art , and the aesthetic dissemination of art . The Olmecs were the first ___MASK13___ civilization in Guatemala and Mexico following a progressive development in Soconusco and modern southwestern pacific lowlands of Guatemala . They lived in the tropical lowlands of south - central Mexico , in the present - day states of Veracruz and Tabasco . It has been speculated that Olmec derive in part from neighboring Mokaya and / or Mixe  Zoque . China , officially the People ' s Republic of China ( PRC ), is a unitary ___MASK74___ state in East Asia . With a population of over 1 . 381 billion , it is the world ' s most populous country . The state is governed by the Communist Party of China , and its capital is Beijing . It exercises jurisdiction over 22 provinces , five autonomous regions , four direct - controlled municipalities ( Beijing , Tianjin , Shanghai , and Chongqing ), and two mostly self - governing special administrative regions ( Hong Kong and Macau ), and claims sovereignty over Taiwan . The country ' s ___MASK13___ urban areas include Shanghai , Guangzhou , Beijing , Chongqing , Shenzhen , Tianjin and Hong Kong . China is a great power and a ___MASK13___ regional power within Asia , and has been characterized as a potential superpower . Ancient Greek sculpture is the sculpture of ancient Greece . Modern scholarship identifies three ___MASK13___ stages . Frequent subjects were the battles , mythology , and rulers of the area historically known as ancient Greece .