| Description |
1 online resource (458 pages) |
| Contents |
Archaic meetings : a prologue -- Object and objectives -- The setting -- Part 1. The structure of Mesolithic hunters' rock art -- Northern European hunters' rock art : products of the "wild mind" in action -- The "key moteme" and its transformations : visual paths of a late Mesolithic analogical logic -- Mediating nature and culture, or, Body design in the eastern Norwegian group of hunters' rock art -- Design patterns as an autonomous system of references -- Part 2. Mesolithic hunters' rock art as animism and totemism -- Approaching rock art through animism and totemism -- "Measuring" the totemic impact -- The mapping of design patterns, or, Fragments of a totemic geography -- The late Mesolithic "lines of contact" -- Part 3. Rock art, sexe and the symbolic gift -- Late Mesolithic sexe in rock art -- Animism and totemism through time, and the introduction of the symbolic gift |
| Summary |
"? Rock Art and the Wild Mind presents a study of Mesolithic rock art on the Scandinavian peninsula, including the large rock art sites in Alta, Nämforsen and Vingen. Hunters' rock art of this area, despite local styles, bears a strong commonality in what it depicts, most often terrestrial big game in diverse confrontations with the human realm. The various types of compositions are defined as visual thematizations of the enigmatic relationship between humans and big game animals. These thematizations, here defined as motemes, are explained as being products of the Mesolithic mind 'in action', observed through repetitions, variations and transformations of a number of defined motemes. Through a transformational logic, the transition from 'animic' to 'totemic' rock art is observed. Totemic rock art reaches a peak during the final stages of the Late Mesolithic, and it is suggested that this can be interpreted as representing an increasing focus on human society towards the end of this era. The move from animism to totemism is explained as being part of the overall social development on the Scandinavian peninsula. This book will be of interest to students of rock art generally and scholars working on the historical developments of prehistoric hunter-gatherers in northern Europe. It will also appeal to students and academics in the fields of art history and aesthetics and to those interested in the work of Lévi-Strauss."--Provided by publisher |
| Notes |
Print version record |
| Subject |
Petroglyphs -- Scandinavia
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Rock paintings -- Scandinavia
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Mesolithic period -- Scandinavia
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Hunting, Prehistoric -- Social aspects -- Scandinavia
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Hunting and gathering societies -- Scandinavia -- History -- To 1500
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Visual communication -- Scandinavia -- History -- To 1500
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Social archaeology -- Scandinavia
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Antiquities
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Hunting and gathering societies
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Mesolithic period
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Petroglyphs
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Rock paintings
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Social archaeology
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Visual communication
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Scandinavia -- Antiquities.
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Scandinavia
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| Genre/Form |
History
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| Form |
Electronic book
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| ISBN |
9781351610483 |
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1351610481 |
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