The two ancient art cultures that I will be studying will be Chinese art and Aboriginal art. Both these cultures have evidence of artwork dating back as far as a couple of thousand years ago.

Australian Aboriginal contemporary traditional work depicts themes connected to the "Dreamtime" and is frequently called "Dreamings". This has nothing to do with sleep or the western concept for the word "dream". The Dreamtime is the period in which the first ancestors of men -- spirits, heroes performed creative acts, and heroines who established the pattern of nature and life, and created man's environment. This included all the trees, man, woman and all animals. The Dreamtime is a process as well as a period: it had its beginning when the world was young and unformed, but it has never ceased. The ancestor who established law and patterns of behaviour is as alive today as when he performed his original creative acts. The sacred past, the Dreamtime, is for Aborigines also the sacred present, the Eternal Dreamtime. About 140,000 years ago a large amount of evaporated ocean water became locked up on land in the form of glaciers, resulting in a significant drop in sea level. This

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Aborigine KEITH KAAPA TJANGALA paints the Aboriginal painting I have included found at the end of the essay. Its size is 122 by 91 cm. The witchetty grub is an important desert staple food and a major Walpiri creation being. The painting records the site called Yalukari, west of Yuendemu where the moths emerged from their pupae cases and flew away. In the larval form, the grubs eat the core of the roots of certain acacia bushes shown as smaller outer circles. The ceremonial ground for the witchetty dreaming is depicted by the rondels around the centre. This painting shows some considerable amount of colour. It is read from the centre out. Shape plays a major part in this painting as they are supposed to represent similar things. Tone however does not have such significance. A major characteristic unique to aboriginal art is the simplicity of the toning and lack of shading.

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1351
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)