Since the dawn of time, man has had a fascination with the Earth beneath his feet. Man’s fascination with dirt has ranged over the many centuries from purely farming purposes to creating impressive monuments to the Gods of different cultures, watching from the sky. Earthworks might be the oldest surviving art form known to man. Many of the world’s ancient earthworks have lost their purpose over time, we no longer know if they where acting as a great celestial calendar or simply a memorial to the artists ancestors. There might have been a great range of meanings to those ancient earthworks, yet we may never know what the purpose of those breathtaking monuments might have been. Today, earthworks serve a great number of different functions, ranging…show more content… As it stands, many ancient earthworks could have existed. Earthworks have most likely been around as long as man has been on Earth to create them. Todays technology can scan the earth beneath our feet and tell if there is anything buried there or what the soil composition is. In the late 1980’s the GPR, or Ground Penetrating Radar, was invented, which uses radio waves to detect anomalies under the soils surface. This new invention has lead to quite a few new discoveries and historical advancements in the science of the ancient mounds around the world. This has been especially helpful, since archeologists no longer have to dig the entire work up to see what lies underneath…show more content… Although the ancient earthworks existed before, it does not appear to have been a popular form of art. There are few individual artists who have mastered earthworks. Robert Smithson built one of the most important modern earthworks today. His Spiral Jetty appears in many art and art history books, even though it was only constructed in 1970. Built on an unpopular portion of the Great Salt Lake in Utah, the Spiral Jetty was built out of raw materials found in the lake itself. According to Fiero, Robert Smithson contracted the artwork as a “reference to ancient earthworks, such as those found in Neolithic cultures, and to the origins of life in the salty waters of the primordial ocean; but it also calls attention to the way on which nature is constantly transforming the environment and its ecological balance” (Fiero 510). Smithson produced this artwork to show the balance between nature and art. He showed art encompassing nature and nature devouring and changing art. It is similar to man’s balance with Earth. Man has always constructed buildings out of Earthen materials such as stone and mud; building on the land, using the land and showcasing the land. Earth has always played back, from abandoned towns overgrown with vegetation and taken down with the wind to tsunamis and volcanos destroying what man has built and bringing man’s creations back to nature. Earthworks are just that, an artwork interacting
