Early Rock Art of the American West: The Geometric Enigma

Early Rock Art of the American West: The Geometric Enigma

The earliest rock art - in the Americas as elsewhere - is geometric or abstract. Until Early Rock Art in the American West, however, no book-length study has been devoted to the deep antiquity and amazing range of geometrics and the fascinating questions that arise from their ubiquity and variety. Why did they precede representational marks? What is known about their origins and functions? Why and how did humans begin to make marks, and what does this practice tell us about the early human mind?

With some two hundred striking color images and discussions of chronology, dating, sites, and styles, this pioneering investigation of abstract geometrics on stone (as well as bone, ivory, and shell) explores its wide-ranging subject from the perspectives of ethology, evolutionary biology, cognitive archaeology, and the psychology of artmaking. The authors' unique approach instills a greater respect for a largely unknown and underappreciated form of paleoart, suggesting that before humans became Homo symbolicus or even Homo religiosus, they were mark-makers - Homo aestheticus.
Country USA
Brand University of Washington Press
Manufacturer University of Washington Press
Binding Paperback
ReleaseDate 2018-07-10
UnitCount 1
Format Illustrated
EANs 9780295743615

Country	USA
Brand	University of Washington Press
Manufacturer	University of Washington Press
Binding	Paperback
ReleaseDate	2018-07-10
UnitCount	1
Format	Illustrated
EANs	9780295743615

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