Free Delivery Over $100
|
|
|||
|
||||
Overview"It has often been claimed that ""monsters""--supernatural creatures with bodies composed from multiple species--play a significant part in the thought and imagery of all people from all times. The Origins of Monsters advances an alternative view. Composite figurations are intriguingly rare and isolated in the art of the prehistoric era. Instead it was with the rise of cities, elites, and cosmopolitan trade networks that ""monsters"" became widespread features of visual production in the ancient world. Showing how these fantastic images originated and how they were transmitted, David Wengrow identifies patterns in the records of human image-making and embarks on a search for connections between mind and culture. Wengrow asks: Can cognitive science explain the potency of such images? Does evolutionary psychology hold a key to understanding the transmission of symbols? How is our making and perception of images influenced by institutions and technologies? Wengrow considers the work of art in the first age of mechanical reproduction, which he locates in the Middle East, where urban life began.Comparing the development and spread of fantastic imagery across a range of prehistoric and ancient societies, including Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and China, he explores how the visual imagination has been shaped by a complex mixture of historical and universal factors. Examining the reasons behind the dissemination of monstrous imagery in ancient states and empires, The Origins of Monsters sheds light on the relationship between culture and cognition." Full Product DetailsAuthor: David WengrowPublisher: Princeton University Press Imprint: Princeton University Press Volume: 2 Dimensions: Width: 17.80cm , Height: 2.30cm , Length: 25.40cm Weight: 0.567kg ISBN: 9780691159041ISBN 10: 0691159041 Pages: 184 Publication Date: 24 November 2013 Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Tertiary & Higher Education , Professional & Vocational Format: Hardback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: Temporarily unavailable  The supplier advises that this item is temporarily unavailable. It will be ordered for you and placed on backorder. Once it does come back in stock, we will ship it out to you. Language: English Table of ContentsList of Illustrations xi Acknowledgments xv Introduction 1 1 Image and Economy in the Ancient World: The Bronze Age of Mikhail Rostovtzeff 8 2 Materials for an Epidemiology of Culture 19 3 The Hidden Shaman: Fictive Anatomy in Paleolithic and Neolithic Art 33 4 Urban Creations: The Cultural Ecology of Composite Animals 50 5 Counterintuitive Images and the Mechanical Arts 74 6 Modes of Image Transfer: Transformative, Integrative, Protective 88 CONCLUSION Persistent, but Not Primordial: Emergent Properties of Cognition 108 Notes 113 References 133 Index 161ReviewsThe Origins of Monsters is a fascinating exposition of the archaeology of the ancient world as a topic that has current resonance. Well written and presented, wonderfully informed and confident, it is well placed to achieve Wengrow's worthy ambition to start a particular dialogue between disciplinary approaches to the topic of monsters. --Michael Punt, Leonardo Reviews Few archaeologists would venture into as many regions or across as many disciplinary boundaries as David Wengrow does in his eloquent and ambition analysis. --Christina Riggs, Times Literary Supplement The Origins of Monsters is a fascinating exposition of the archaeology of the ancient world as a topic that has current resonance. Well written and presented, wonderfully informed and confident, it is well placed to achieve Wengrow's worthy ambition to start a particular dialogue between disciplinary approaches to the topic of monsters. --Michael Punt, Leonardo Reviews Few archaeologists would venture into as many regions or across as many disciplinary boundaries as David Wengrow does in his eloquent and ambition analysis. --Christina Riggs, Times Literary Supplement The Origins of Monsters is a fascinating exposition of the archaeology of the ancient world as a topic that has current resonance. Well written and presented, wonderfully informed and confident, it is well placed to achieve Wengrow's worthy ambition to start a particular dialogue between disciplinary approaches to the topic of monsters. --Michael Punt, Leonardo Reviews Author InformationDavid Wengrow is professor of comparative archaeology at University College London. His books include The Archaeology of Early Egypt and What Makes Civilization? Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |
||||
