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Mind in the Cave : Consciousness and the Origins of Art by David Lewis-Williams (2004, Trade Paperback)

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The Mind in the Cave puts forward the most plausible explanation yet proposed for the origins of image-making and art. This is a masterful piece of detective work, casting light on the darkest mysteries of our earliest ancestors and on the nature of our own consciousness and experience.

About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherThames & Hudson

ISBN-100500284652

ISBN-139780500284650

eBay Product ID (ePID)30260754

Product Key Features

Book TitleMind in the Cave : Consciousness and the Origins of Art

Number of Pages320 Pages

LanguageEnglish

TopicArchaeology, History / Prehistoric & Primitive, Anthropology / Cultural & Social

Publication Year2004

IllustratorYes

GenreArt, Social Science

AuthorDavid Lewis-Williams

FormatTrade Paperback

Dimensions

Item Height1.1 in

Item Weight15.6 Oz

Item Length9.1 in

Item Width6.2 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceTrade

LCCN2002-102597

Dewey Edition21

TitleLeadingThe

Dewey Decimal751.7/0901

SynopsisEmerging from the narrow underground passages into the chambers of caves such as Lascaux, Chauvet, and Altamira, visitors are confronted with symbols, patterns, and depictions of bison, woolly mammoths, ibexes, and other animals. Since its discovery, cave art has provoked great curiosity about why it appeared when and where it did, how it was made, and what it meant to the communities that created it. David Lewis-Williams proposes that the explanation for this lies in the evolution of the human mind. Cro-Magnons, unlike the Neanderthals, possessed a more advanced neurological makeup that enabled them to experience shamanistic trances and vivid mental imagery. It became important for people to "fix," or paint, these images on cave walls, which they perceived as the membrane between their world and the spirit world from which the visions came. Over time, new social distinctions developed as individuals exploited their hallucinations for personal advancement, and the first truly modern society emerged. Illuminating glimpses into the ancient mind are skillfully interwoven here with the still-evolving story of modern-day cave discoveries and research. The Mind in the Cave is a superb piece of detective work, casting light on the darkest mysteries of our earliest ancestors while strengthening our wonder at their aesthetic achievements., What does the breathtakingly beautiful art depicted on the walls of caves such as Lascaux, Chauvet and Altamira, tell us about the nature of the ancestral mind? How did these images spring, seemingly from nowhere into the human story? The Mind in the Cave puts forward the most plausible explanation yet proposed for the origins of image-making and art. This is a masterful piece of detective work, casting light on the darkest mysteries of our earliest ancestors and on the nature of our own consciousness and experience., The breathtakingly beautiful art created deep inside the caves of western Europe has the power to dazzle even the most jaded observers., Since its discovery, cave art has provoked great curiosity about why it appeared when and where it did, how it was made, and what it meant to the communities that created it. David Lewis-Williams proposes that the explanation for this lies in the evolution of the human mind. Cro-Magnons, unlike the Neanderthals, possessed a more advanced neurological makeup that enabled them to experience shamanistic trances and vivid mental imagery. It became important for people to "fix," or paint, these images on cave walls, which they perceived as the membrane between their world and the spirit world from which the visions came. Over time, new social distinctions developed as individuals exploited their hallucinations for personal advancement, and the first truly modern society emerged. Illuminating glimpses into the ancient mind are skillfully interwoven here with the still-evolving story of modern-day cave discoveries and research. The Mind in the Cave is a superb piece of detective work, casting light on the darkest mysteries of our earliest ancestors while strengthening our wonder at their aesthetic achievements., In the most convincing explanation for Upper Paleolithic art yet proposed, David Lewis-Williams describes how 19th-century beliefs that the drawings were "art for art's sake, " or totemism, were supplanted in the wake of Darwinian evolutionary theory. 87 illustrations, 26 in color.

LC Classification NumberN5310.L49 2004