The Great Ages consists of four distinct ages: The Old Stone Age, The New Stone Age, The Bronze Age, and The Iron Age. These four Great Ages is the complete history of art from the beginning to the present day. Each age is named characteristically for the type of material used for that time. Stone was used in the Old and New Stone age, bronze in the Bronze Age, and iron in the Iron Age.

The Great Ages began with The Old Stone Age starting at 100,000 BCE. The people lived in tribes and clans and often moved from place to place, hunting and gathering to live. They believed all life was sacred and a

One of the first images of the Great Goddess is represented in Illustration 1-8 (Venus of Willendorf (Australia), c 28,000-23,000 b.c. Limestone, approx. 4¼" high. Naturhistorisches museum, Vienna). She is only 4 inches tall, but a very sacred piece of sculpture. Her body is significantly voluptuous, representing fertility. She appears to be pregnant and her breasts heavy with milk. She is faceless, emphasizing that She is everything. She has no particularity, no image, because she is beyond particularization, she is everything known to man in the universe.

Gender quality continued into the Bronze Age, which made its start in 4000-3000 BCE. People continued to farm and began living in semi-urban areas. The Bronze Age is the earliest beginning of civilization, where the ability to write, monumental architecture, and monumental sculpture were present. These kinds of societies were overseen by a semi-shamanic theocracy, which is a "bureaucracy of literate priests and priestesses". In this Age society gave priests and priestesses equal power and respect as the divinities because of their services to the Great Goddess and God.

During this time Shamans were increasingly important because they performed many ceremonial rituals. The amount of regular spiritual rituals increased due to the fact that the tribes had gotten larger. Many kinds of rituals would be performed from hunting and fertility rituals to initiation rituals. An example of a initiation ritual is illustrated in 4-7 (Bull-leaping (Toreador Fresco), from the palace of Knossos, c. 1450-1400 b.c. Approx. 32" high, including border. Archeological Museum, Herakleion.) . Initiation rituals were life and death acts that altered the mindset of a child into a young adult. In the Bull-leaping scene, young men and women face death head on at the horns of a Bull. They are meant to grab on to the horns and leap over the Bull. Even in this particular initiation ritual, the presence of gender equality is clear, with the young man leaping across the Bull's back into the arms of a young woman, which shows they had confidence and belief in each other's ability.

The Shamans were necessary to the tribe, not only for healing and for favorable hunts but also for communing with the Great Goddess, who represents all forms of life. The Great Goddess is the pivotal figure among the tribal people. She is worshiped and prayed to in hopes that she is fertile and fruitful for, She is the lone creator of all that is. She is female in all aspects, but yet she has male powers. Many consider the Great Goddess to be an androgyne because she is self-created, self-fertilizing, and self-existent. She is both male and female. An Androgyne was thought to have achieved "balance of reason and intuition, of wisdom and compassion"; they are supreme beings. She is the creator of the universe, of life and of death and special rituals would be carried out to insure that she would continue to create.

As 10,000 BCE came around so came about the starting of the New Stone Age and the

Some common words found in the essay are:
Stone Age, Iron Age, Hall Bulls, Bronze Age, Wiltshire England, Herakleion Initiation, Raphael Titian, Willendorf Australia, Islam Monotheisum, Stone Ages, bronze age, stone age, iron age, goddess god, age iron, gender equality, bronze age iron, age bronze, stone age bronze, age starting, priests priestesses, starting stone age, age ages, age iron age, stone age goddess,
Approximate Word count = 2059
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)