Early Rock Art of the American West

The Geometric Enigma

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Archaeology, Art & Architecture, Art History, History, Americas, United States
Cover of the book Early Rock Art of the American West by Ekkehart Malotki, Ellen Dissanayake, University of Washington Press
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Author: Ekkehart Malotki, Ellen Dissanayake ISBN: 9780295743622
Publisher: University of Washington Press Publication: June 17, 2018
Imprint: University of Washington Press Language: English
Author: Ekkehart Malotki, Ellen Dissanayake
ISBN: 9780295743622
Publisher: University of Washington Press
Publication: June 17, 2018
Imprint: University of Washington Press
Language: English

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 ethnology, 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.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

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 ethnology, 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.

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