Download or read book European Landscapes of Rock Art written by Christopher Chippindale and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2003-09-02 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rock-art - the ancient images which still scatter the rocky landscapes of Europe - is a singular kind of archaeological evidence. Fixed in place, it does not move about as artefacts as trade objects do. Enigmatic in its meaning, it uniquely offers a direct record of how prehistoric Europeans saw and envisioned their own worlds. European Landscapes of Rock-Art provides a number of case studies, covering arange of European locations including Ireland, Italy, Scandinavia, Scotland and Spain, which collectively address the chronology and geography of rock-art as well as providing an essential series of methodologies for future debate. Each author provides a synthesis that focuses on landscape as an essential part of rock-art construction. From the paintings and carved images of prehistoric Scandinavia to Second World War grafitti on the German Reichstag, this volume looks beyond the art to the society that made it. The papers in this volume also challenge the traditional views of how rock-art is recorded. Throughout, there is an emphasis on informal and informed methodologies. The authors skilfully discuss subjectivity and its relationship with landscape since personal experience, from prehistoric times to the present day, plays an essential role in the interpretation of art itself. The emphasis is on location, on the intentionality of the artist, and on the needs of the audience. This exciting volume is a crucial addition to rock-art literature and landscape archaeology. It will provide new material for a lively and greatly debated subject and as such will be essential for academics, non-academics and commentators of rock art in general.

Download or read book The Figured Landscapes of Rock Art written by George Nash and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2004-04 with total page 424 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A companion to The Archaeology of Rock-Art (Cambridge 1998), this new collection edited by Christopher Chippindale and George Nash addresses the most important component around the rock-art panel - its landscape. The Figured Landscapes of Rock-Art draws together the work of many well-known scholars from key regions of the world for rock-art and for rock-art research. It provides a unique, broad and varied insight into the arrangement, location, and structure of rock-art and its place within the landscapes of ancient worlds as ancient people experienced them. Packed with illustrations, as befits a book about images, The Figured Landscapes of Rock-Art offers a visual as well as a literary key to the understanding of this most lovely and alluring of archaeological traces.

Download or read book Rock Art and Sacred Landscapes written by Donna L. Gillette and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-10-16 with total page 287 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Social and behavioral scientists study religion or spirituality in various ways and have defined and approached the subject from different perspectives. In cultural anthropology and archaeology the understanding of what constitutes religion involves beliefs, oral traditions, practices and rituals, as well as the related material culture including artifacts, landscapes, structural features and visual representations like rock art. Researchers work to understand religious thoughts and actions that prompted their creation distinct from those created for economic, political, or social purposes. Rock art landscapes convey knowledge about sacred and spiritual ecology from generation to generation. Contributors to this global view detail how rock art can be employed to address issues regarding past dynamic interplays of religions and spiritual elements. Studies from a number of different cultural areas and time periods explore how rock art engages the emotions, materializes thoughts and actions and reflects religious organization as it intersects with sociopolitical cultural systems.

Download or read book Changing Pictures written by Joakim Goldhahn and published by Oxbow Books Limited. This book was released on 2010 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Changing Pictures' aims to return to traditional interpretative notions regarding the meaning & significance of rock art.

Download or read book A Comparative Study of Rock Art in Later Prehistoric Europe written by Richard Bradley and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2020-10-22 with total page 154 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Element summarises the state of knowledge about four styles of prehistoric rock art in Europe current between the late Mesolithic period and the Iron Age. They are the Levantine, Macroschematic and Schematic traditions in the Iberian Peninsula; the Atlantic style that extended between Portugal, Spain, Britain and Ireland; Alpine rock art; and the pecked and painted images found in Fennoscandia. They are interpreted in relation to the landscapes in which they were made. Their production is related to monument building, the decoration of portable objects, trade and long distance travel, burial rites, and warfare. A final discussion considers possible connections between these separate traditions and the changing subject matter of rock art in relation to wider developments in European prehistoric societies.

Download or read book Rock Art and the Prehistory of Atlantic Europe written by Mr Richard Bradley and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2002-11-01 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Along the Atlantic seaboard, from Scotland to Spain, are numerous rock carvings made four to five thousand years ago, whose interpretation poses a major challenge to the archaeologist. In the first full-length treatment of the subject, based largely on new fieldwork, Richard Bradley argues that these carvings should be interpreted as a series of symbolic messages that are shared between monuments, artefacts and natural places in the landscape. He discusses the cultural setting of the rock carvings and the ways in which they can be interpreted in relation to ancient land use, the creation of ritual monuments and the burial of the dead. Integrating this fascinating yet little-known material into the mainstream of prehistoric studies, Richard Bradley demonstrates that these carvings played a fundamental role in the organization of the prehistoric landscape.

Download or read book Ritual Landscapes and Borders within Rock Art Research written by Heidrun Stebergløkken and published by Archaeopress Publishing Ltd. This book was released on 2015-10-31 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ritual landscapes and borders are recurring themes running through Professor Kalle Sognnes' long research career. This anthology contains 13 articles written by colleagues from his broad network in appreciation of his many contributions to the field of rock art research.

Download or read book Carving Interactions Rock Art in the Nomadic Landscape of the Black Desert North Eastern Jordan written by Nathalie Østerled Brusgaard and published by Archaeopress Publishing Ltd. This book was released on 2019-10-31 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Safaitic rock art of the North Arabian basalt desert is one of the few surviving traces of the elusive herding societies that lived there in antiquity. This comprehensive study of over 4500 petroglyphs from the Jebel Qurma region of the Black Desert in North-Eastern Jordan is the first-ever systematic study of the Safaitic petroglyphs.

Download or read book Exploring Prehistoric Identity in Europe written by Victoria Ginn and published by Oxbow Books. This book was released on 2014-03-19 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Identity is relational and a construct, and is expressed in a myriad of ways. For example, material culture and its pluralist meanings have been readily manipulated by humans in a prehistoric context in order to construct personal and group identities. Artefacts were often from or reminiscent of far-flung places and were used to demonstrate membership of an (imagined) regional, or European community. Earthworks frequently archive maximum visual impact through elaborate ramparts and entrances with the minimum amount of effort, indicating that the construction of identities were as much in the eye of the perceivor, as of the perceived. Variations in domestic architectural style also demonstrate the malleability of identity, and the prolonged, intermittent use of particular places for specific functions indicates that the identity of place is just as important in our archaeological understanding as the identity of people. By using a wide range of case studies, both temporally and spatially, these thought processes may be explored further and diachronic and geographic patterns in expressions of identity investigated.

Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology and Anthropology of Rock Art written by Bruno David and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018-10-17 with total page 1168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rock art is one of the most visible and geographically widespread of cultural expressions, and it spans much of the period of our species' existence. Rock art also provides rare and often unique insights into the minds and visually creative capacities of our ancestors and how selected rock outcrops with distinctive images were used to construct symbolic landscapes and shape worldviews. Equally important, rock art is often central to the expression of and engagement with spiritual entities and forces, and in all these dimensions it signals the diversity of cultural practices, across place and through time. Over the past 150 years, archaeologists have studied ancient arts on rock surfaces, both out in the open and within caves and rock shelters, and social anthropologists have revealed how people today use art in their daily lives. The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology and Anthropology of Rock Art showcases examples of such research from around the world and across a broad range of cultural contexts, giving a sense of the art's regional variability, its antiquity, and how it is meaningful to people in the recent past and today - including how we have ourselves tended to make sense of the art of others, replete with our own preconceptions. It reviews past, present, and emerging theoretical approaches to rock art investigation and presents new, cutting-edge methods of rock art analysis for the student and professional researcher alike.

Download or read book Rock Art Studies News of the World written by Natalie R. Franklin and published by Oxbow Books. This book was released on 2008-08-05 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the third in the five-yearly series of surveys of what is happening in rock art studies around the world. As always, the texts reflect something of the great differences in approach and emphasis that exist in different regions. The volume presents examples from Europe, Asia, Africa, and the New World. During the period in question, 1999 to 2004, there have been few major events, although in the field of Pleistocene art many new discoveries have been made, and a new country added to the select list of those with Ice Age cave art. Some regions such as North Africa and the former USSR have seen a tremendous amount of activity, focusing not only on recording but also on chronology, and the conservation of sites. With the global increase of tourism, the management of rock art sites that are accessible to the public is a theme of ever-growing importance.

Download or read book Rock Art Studies News of the World Volume 3 written by Natalie R. Franklin and published by Oxbow Books. This book was released on 2008-08-05 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the third in the five-yearly series of surveys of what is happening in rock art studies around the world. As always, the texts reflect something of the great differences in approach and emphasis that exist in different regions. The volume presents examples from Europe, Asia, Africa, and the New World. During the period in question, 1999 to 2004, there have been few major events, although in the field of Pleistocene art many new discoveries have been made, and a new country added to the select list of those with Ice Age cave art. Some regions such as North Africa and the former USSR have seen a tremendous amount of activity, focusing not only on recording but also on chronology, and the conservation of sites. With the global increase of tourism, the management of rock art sites that are accessible to the public is a theme of ever-growing importance.

Download or read book Prehistoric rock art in Scandinavia written by Courtney Nimura and published by Oxbow Books. This book was released on 2015-11-30 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scandinavia is home to prolific and varied rock art images among which the ship motif is prominent. Because of this, the rock art of Scandinavia has often been interpreted in terms of social ritual, cosmology, and religion associated with the maritime sphere. This comprehensive review is based on the creation of a Scandinavia-wide GIS database for prehistoric rock art and reexamines theoretical approaches and interpretations, in particular with regard to the significance of the ship and its relationship to a maritime landscape Discussion focuses on material agency as a means to understanding the role of rock art within society. Two main theories are developed. The first is that the sea was fundamental to the purpose and meaning of rock art, especially in the Bronze Age and, therefore, that sea-level/shoreline changes would have inspired a renegotiation of the relationship between the rock art sites and their intended purpose. The fundamental question posed is: would such changes to the landscape have affected the purpose and meaning of rock art for the communities that made and used these sites? Various theories from within and outside of archaeology are drawn on to examine environmental change and analyze the rock art, led to second theory: that the purpose of rock art might have been altered to have an effect on the disappearing sea. The general theory that rock art would have been affected by environmental change was discussed in tandem with existing interpretations of the meaning and purpose of rock art. Imbuing rock art with agency means that it could be intertwined in an active web of relations involving maritime landscapes, shoreline displacement and communities. Though created in stone and fixed in time and place, rock art images have propagated belief systems that would have changed over time as they were re-carved, abandoned and used by different groups of inhabitants. In the thousands of years rock art was created, it is likely that shoreline displacement would have inspired a renegotiation of the purpose and meaning of the imagery situated alongside the Scandinavian seas. This journey through a prehistoric Scandinavian landscape will lead us into a world of ancient beliefs and traditions revolving around this extraordinary art form.

Download or read book Abstractions Based on Circles Papers on prehistoric rock art presented to Stan Beckensall on his 90th birthday written by Paul Frodsham and published by Archaeopress Publishing Ltd. This book was released on 2022-09-22 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Stan Beckensall is renowned for his work, done on an entirely amateur basis, discovering, recording and interpreting Atlantic rock art in his home county of Northumberland and beyond. Presented on his 90th birthday, this diverse and stimulating collection of papers celebrates his crucial contribution to rock art studies, and looks to the future.

Download or read book A Companion to Rock Art written by Jo McDonald and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2012-06-22 with total page 692 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This unique guide provides an artistic and archaeological journey deep into human history, exploring the petroglyphic and pictographic forms of rock art produced by the earliest humans to contemporary peoples around the world. Summarizes the diversity of views on ancient rock art from leading international scholars Includes new discoveries and research, illustrated with over 160 images (including 30 color plates) from major rock art sites around the world Examines key work of noted authorities (e.g. Lewis-Williams, Conkey, Whitley and Clottes), and outlines new directions for rock art research Is broadly international in scope, identifying rock art from North and South America, Australia, the Pacific, Africa, India, Siberia and Europe Represents new approaches in the archaeological study of rock art, exploring issues that include gender, shamanism, landscape, identity, indigeneity, heritage and tourism, as well as technological and methodological advances in rock art analyses

Download or read book The Sacred Landscape written by Johan S. Ellefsen and published by Johan S. Ellefsen . This book was released on 2022-04-03 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book expands on an initial paper that merited the comments: "I read it with interest . . . It is almost certain that, for the authors of its drawings, the Chauvet Cave was considered to be directly related to the Pont d'Arc." -Jean Clottes, author of What is Paleolithic Art?: Cave Paintings and the Dawn of Human Creativity. "It is very nicely written and offers a great deal of food for thought . . . the implicit depiction of landscape: it is a great idea." - Anne Solomon, author of Rock Arts, Shamans, and Grand Theories. In the book “The Sacred Landscape,” the author Johan S. Ellefsen tackles a controversial topic, the meaning of Prehistoric art. The author examines one of the main compositions in the Chauvet cave and how the rock shapes still visible in the face of Pont d’Arc –found right outside the cave– may have inspired the animals painted 36,000 years ago. This book challenges the preconceived notions about Paleolithic art, which commonly held that Ice Age artists did not paint landscapes, and the representations of animals on the walls could not be conceived as mythical narratives. The author proposes that the composition known as the Lion Panel of the Chauvet cave, painted around 36,000 years ago, is the oldest known landscape painting and it is the key to understand the meaning of Paleolithic art. The book sheds light on how the Ice Age artists created a landscape painting as a composite image, which aggregated figures of animals to imitate the contours of Pont d’Arc –analogous to the paintings of ‘therianthropes,’ which were composite figures that combined parts of animals and humans in a single figure. With illustrations and photographs the book engages the reader in finding the rock formations of Pont d’Arc and their astonishing resemblance to the head of a rhinoceros, the ‘ball-feet’ of the mammoths, and the head of a bison painted in the cave. This context gives the reader an insight into the paintings of the Chauvet cave and guides the reader to identify the symbolic value of the animals depicted, as well as the underlying narrative elements tied to the landscape. The author examines how a 36,000-year-old myth could have looked like and proposes that the Lion Panel was possibly conceived as a narrative describing the creation myth of the landscape. This research sheds light on how the Paleolithic artists represented the notions of safety, conflict and sacredness, and what are the teachings of these stories that allowed them to survive for millennia. The author also explores the precursors of the Lion Panel and its successors, showing that the arrangement of paintings had a preconceived structure and an underlying narrative that allowed its transmission. The book explains the peculiar weather conditions of the Ardèche region and how the occupants of the Chauvet cave noticed these peculiarities. In the subsections “The spring inside the Chauvet cave” and “A dripping mammoth on the ceiling” the author lays the foundation to understand the symbolism of springs and rain in the art of the Chauvet cave.

Download or read book Archaeologies of Rock Art written by Andrés Troncoso and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-02-28 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rock art in South America is as diverse as the continent itself. In this vast territory, different peoples produced engravings, paintings, and massive earthworks, from the Atacama to the Amazon. These marks on the landscape were made by all different kinds of peoples, from some of the earliest hunter-gatherers in the continent, to the very complex societies within the Inca Empire. This book brings together the work of specialists from throughout the continent, addressing this diversity, as well as the variety of approaches that the Archaeology of rock art has taken in South America. Constructed of eleven thought-provoking chapters and arranged in three thematic sections, the book presents different theoretical approaches that are currently being used to understand the roles rock art played in prehistoric communities. The editors have skillfully crafted a book that presents the contribution the study of South American rock art can offer to the global research of this materiality, both theoretically and methodologically. This book will interest a broad range of scholars researching in archaeology, anthropology, history of art, heritage and conservation, as well as undergraduate and postgraduate students who will find interesting case studies showcasing the diverse ways in which rock art can be approached. Despite its focus on South America, the book is intended as a contribution towards the global study of rock art.