How did ancient peoples - those living before written records - think?
This intriguing book demonstrates that the 'prehistoric' mind was as complex and sophisticated as our own.
Researchers over the years have believed their modes of thought fundamentally different from ours. Along with the Aborigines of Australia, the San people of southern Africa - among the last hunter-gatherers on Earth - were viewed either as irrational fantasists or childlike, spiritual conservationists.
New research has overturned these misconceptions. Here, the great authority David Lewis-Williams and his colleague Sam Challis reveal how the rock paintings and engravings can be made to yield insights into San beliefs and ways of thought.
Comprehensive transcriptions, made in the nineteenth century, exist of interviews with San people who were shown copies of the art and gave their interpretations of them. Using these and the analogy of the Rosetta Stone with its parallel texts, the authors move between the rock art and the San texts, teasing out the subtle meanings behind them both. The picture that emerges is very different from past analysis: this art is not a naïve narrative of daily life but rather is imbued with power and religious depth.
Il n'y a pas encore de discussion sur ce livre
Soyez le premier à en lancer une !
Des incontournables et des révélations viendront s'ajouter à cette liste au fil des semaines !
A gagner : des exemplaires de cette BD jeunesse sur fond de légendes celtiques !
L'autrice coréenne nous raconte l'histoire de son pays à travers l’opposition et l’attirance de deux jeunes adolescents que tout oppose
Mêlant la folie à l’amour, l’auteur nous offre le portrait saisissant d’une « femme étrange » bousculant les normes binaires de l’identité sexuelle
