Visualizing the Sacred
Cosmic Visions, Regionalism, and the Art of the Mississippian World
Published on 15. January 2011
Book
Hardback
375 pages
978-0-292-72308-5 (ISBN)
Description
The prehistoric native peoples of the Mississippi River Valley and other areas of the Eastern Woodlands of the United States shared a complex set of symbols and motifs that constituted one of the greatest artistic traditions of the pre-Columbian Americas. Traditionally known as the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex, these artifacts of copper, shell, stone, clay and wood were the subject of the groundbreaking 2007 book Ancient Objects and Sacred Realms: Interpretations of Mississippian Iconography, which presented a major reconstruction of the rituals, cosmology, ideology and political structures of the Mississippian peoples. Visualizing the Sacred advances the study of Mississippian iconography by delving into the regional variations within what is now known as the Mississippian Iconographic Interaction Sphere (MIIS). Bringing archaeological, ethnographic, ethnohistoric and iconographic perspectives to the analysis of Mississippian art, contributors from several disciplines discuss variations in symbols and motifs among major sites and regions across a wide span of time and also consider what visual symbols reveal about elite status in diverse political environments.
These findings represent the first formal identification of style regions within the Mississippian Iconographic Interaction Sphere and call for a new understanding of the MIIS as a network of localized, yet interrelated religious systems that experienced both continuity and change over time.
These findings represent the first formal identification of style regions within the Mississippian Iconographic Interaction Sphere and call for a new understanding of the MIIS as a network of localized, yet interrelated religious systems that experienced both continuity and change over time.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Austin, TX
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
With dust jacket
Illustrations
76 line drawings, 56 b&w photos, 1 map, 4 tables
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 29 mm
Weight
738 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-292-72308-5 (9780292723085)
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
Persons
Content
Acknowledgments; Introduction; F. Kent Reilly III, James F. Garber, and George E. Lankford;; General Studies;; Chapter 1. Regional Approaches to Iconographic Art; George E. Lankford; Chapter 2. The Cosmology of the Osage: The Star People and Their Universe; James R. Duncan;; Regional Studies: Middle Mississippi Valley;; Chapter 3. The Regional Culture Signature of the Braden Art Style; James A. Brown; Chapter 4. Early Manifestations of Mississippian Iconography in Middle Mississippi Valley Rock-Art; Carol Diaz-Granados;; Regional Studies: Lower Mississippi Valley;; Chapter 5. Mississippian Ceramic Art in the Lower Mississippi Valley: A Thematic Overview; David H. Dye; Chapter 6. The Great Serpent in the Lower Mississippi Valley; F. Kent Reilly III;; Regional Studies: Cumberland Valley;; Chapter 7. Iconography of the Thruston Tablet; Vincas P. Steponaitis, Vernon James Knight, Jr., George E. Lankford, Robert V. Sharp, and David H. Dye; Chapter 8. Woman in the Patterned Shawl: Female Effigy Vessels and Figurines from the Middle Cumberland River Basin; Robert V. Sharp, Vernon James Knight, Jr., and George E. Lankford;; Regional Studies: Moundville;; Chapter 9. A Redefinition of the Hemphill Style in Mississippian Art; Vernon James Knight, Jr., and Vincas P. Steponaitis; Chapter 10. The Raptor on the Path; George E. Lankford; Chapter 11. The Swirl-Cross and the Center; George E. Lankford;; Regional Studies: Etowah and Upper Tennessee Valley;; Chapter 12. Iconography of the Hightower Region of Eastern Tennessee and Northern Georgia; Adam King; Chapter 13. Dancing in the Otherworld: The Human Figural Art of the Hightower Style Revisited; F. Kent Reilly III and James F. Garber; Chapter 14. Raptor Imagery at Etowah: The Raptor Is the Path to Power; Adam King and F. Kent Reilly III;; Bibliography; Contributors; Index;