Deciphering Ancient Minds

How did prehistoric peoples those living before written records think? Were their modes of thought fundamentally different from ours today? Researchers over the years have certainly believed so. Along with the Aborigines of Australia, the indigenous San people of southern Africa among the last hunter-gatherer societies on Earth became iconic representatives of all our distant ancestors, and were viewed either as irrational fantasists or childlike, highly spiritual conservationists. Since the 1960s, a new wave of research among the San and their world-famous rock art has overturned these misconceived ideas. Here, the great authority David Lewis-Williams and his colleague William Challis reveal how analysis of the rock paintings and engravings can be made to yield vital insights into San beliefs and ways of thought. The picture that emerges is very different from past analysis: this art is not a naive narrative of daily life but rather is imbued with power and religious depth. As this elegantly written, enlightening book so ably demonstrates, the prehistoric mind was in fact as complex and sophisticated as that of contemporary humans.

ISBN 0500051690   Pages 224 ISBN13 9780500051696 (What's this?)   Weight (grammes) 760 Publisher Thames & Hudson Ltd   Published in London Imprint Thames & Hudson Ltd   Height (mm) 239 Format Hardback   Width (mm) 165 Publication date 09 May 2011   Spine width (mm) 28 DEWEY 709.01130968   Academic level General DEWEY edition DC22

 Be the first to write a customer review