Visualising the Neolithic
Published on 30. September 2012
Book
Paperback/Softback
304 pages
978-1-84217-477-7 (ISBN)
Description
Prehistoric imagery is enigmatic and has been largely overlooked by archaeologists; it is only in the last two decades that it has garnered serious academic attention. This volume addresses this lacuna and discusses visual expression across Neolithic Europe. The papers in this volume result from a meeting of the Neolithic Studies Group on the topic of 'Neolithic visual culture' at the British Museum in November 2010. The intention of the meeting was to assess new studies of rock art from across Britain and Ireland, and to compare these with studies of Neolithic visuality from continental Europe. Here, the scope of the original meeting is widened, and includes further papers to provide a broader context and more coherent analysis of prehistoric expressionism. The volume is organised so that the rock art and passage tomb art traditions of the Neolithic in Britain and Ireland are compared for the first time to the rock art traditions of Northern and Southern Europe, with the mortuary costumes and figurines of South-eastern Europe.
Reviews / Votes
In summary, this volume will be an important addition for those researching artistic endeavour in Neolithic and Bronze Age Europe. -- Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society This volume - one of a number of high-quality books to be published recently by the Neolithic Studies Group - deals with what can be loosely termed as artistic endeavour within a Neolithic context...The chapter layout is supported by a well-written and informative introduction by the editors...The Gaysarska and Robinson papers provide excellent contextual value to the book, especially given that the majority of the papers are site/area focused...One clear visual attribute to the book is the excellent and innovative photography of Ken Williams, especially the cover image, showing an inquisitive bovine pondering over an open-air rock art site. His work is scattered throughout the British chapters and do much to enhance the visual (and saleable) quality of the volume. In conclusion, this volume will be an important addition for those researching artistic endeavour in the northern and western peripheries of Neolithic Europe -- George Nash The Archaeological JournalMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Illustrations
b/w illus
Dimensions
Height: 239 mm
Width: 170 mm
Thickness: 18 mm
Weight
739 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-84217-477-7 (9781842174777)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Cochrane Andrew Cochrane | Jones Andrew Meirion Jones
Visualising the Neolithic
E-Book
09/2012
1st Edition
Oxbow Books
€26.49
Available for download
Cochrane Andrew Cochrane
Visualising the Neolithic
E-Book
09/2012
1st Edition
OXBOW BOOKS
€26.49
Available for download
Persons
Andrew Meirion Jones is Professor of Archaeology, University of Southampton, UK. He has taught and written extensively on the archaeology of art, particularly rock art. His most recent book is The Archaeology of Art. Materials, Practices, Affects (2018) written with Andrew Cochrane.
Content
Visualising the Neolithic: an introduction (Andrew Cochrane and Andrew Meirion Jones)
Strange Swans and Odd Ducks: Interpreting the Ambiguous Waterfowl Imagery of Lake Onega (Antti Lahelma)
'Noble death': images of violence in the rock art of the White Sea (Lila Janik)
Reading between the grooves: Regional variations in the style and deployment of 'cup and ring' marked stones across Britain and Ireland (Kate Sharpe)
Ben Lawers: Carved rocks on a Loud Mountain (Richard Bradley and Aaron Watson)
Living rocks: animacy, performance and the rock art of the Kilmartin region, Argyll, Scotland (Andrew Meirion Jones)
The halberd pillar at Ri Cruin cairn, Kilmartin, Argyll (Stuart Needham and Trevor Cowie)
Painting a picture of Neolithic Orkney: decorated stonework from the Ness of Brodgar (Nick Card and Antonia Thomas)
Inside and Outside: Visual culture at Loughcrew, Co Meath (Elizabeth Shee Twohig)
The Figurative part of an abstract Neolithic Iconography: hypotheses and directions of research in Irish and British Passage tomb art (Guillaume Robin)
Assuming the Jigsaw had only one piece: abstraction, figuration and the interpretation of Irish Passage tomb art (Robert Hensey)
Composing the Neolithic at Knockroe (Andrew Cochrane)
Lara Bacelar Alves)
The Grimes Graves Goddess: an inscrutable smile (Gillian Varndell)
The life and death of Linearbandkeramik figurines (Daniela Hofmann)
'The 'no's' to the left have it!': sidedness and materiality of prehistoric artefacts (Bisserka Gaydarska)
The shell, the pin and the earring: Balkan Copper age Mortuary Costumes in Context (John Chapman)
Trapped in Postures (Stratos Nanoglou)
Discussion: Personality and Neolithic Visual Media (David Robinson)
Strange Swans and Odd Ducks: Interpreting the Ambiguous Waterfowl Imagery of Lake Onega (Antti Lahelma)
'Noble death': images of violence in the rock art of the White Sea (Lila Janik)
Reading between the grooves: Regional variations in the style and deployment of 'cup and ring' marked stones across Britain and Ireland (Kate Sharpe)
Ben Lawers: Carved rocks on a Loud Mountain (Richard Bradley and Aaron Watson)
Living rocks: animacy, performance and the rock art of the Kilmartin region, Argyll, Scotland (Andrew Meirion Jones)
The halberd pillar at Ri Cruin cairn, Kilmartin, Argyll (Stuart Needham and Trevor Cowie)
Painting a picture of Neolithic Orkney: decorated stonework from the Ness of Brodgar (Nick Card and Antonia Thomas)
Inside and Outside: Visual culture at Loughcrew, Co Meath (Elizabeth Shee Twohig)
The Figurative part of an abstract Neolithic Iconography: hypotheses and directions of research in Irish and British Passage tomb art (Guillaume Robin)
Assuming the Jigsaw had only one piece: abstraction, figuration and the interpretation of Irish Passage tomb art (Robert Hensey)
Composing the Neolithic at Knockroe (Andrew Cochrane)
Lara Bacelar Alves)
The Grimes Graves Goddess: an inscrutable smile (Gillian Varndell)
The life and death of Linearbandkeramik figurines (Daniela Hofmann)
'The 'no's' to the left have it!': sidedness and materiality of prehistoric artefacts (Bisserka Gaydarska)
The shell, the pin and the earring: Balkan Copper age Mortuary Costumes in Context (John Chapman)
Trapped in Postures (Stratos Nanoglou)
Discussion: Personality and Neolithic Visual Media (David Robinson)