A Cosmos in Stone

Reviews / Votes

The ideas of David Lewis-Williams, director of the Rock Art Research Institute at the University of Witwatersrand, have had a profound impact on rock art studies in southern Africa, and more recently, on the interpretation of Upper Paleolithic art...The book brings together the development of Lewis-Williams's thoughts about rock art, published between 1972-1997...A Cosmos in Stone is a valuable source for students of rock art... -- Lawrence H. Robbins, Michigan State University * American Antiquity, Vol. 69, No. 1, 2004 * Individuals with an interest in the extensive rock art found on the Northwest Coast should consider A Cosmos in Stone indispensable. -- Amanda Adams * The Midden * This volume is a compilation of David Lewis-Williams' seminal papers. Though his data are primarily the rock art of the San (bushmen) of southern Africa and the cave art of the European Paleolithic, this book equally is about archaeological method and especially theory. Even more, it represents an intellectual achievement of the greatest historical importance. In these papers Lewis-Williams bridges the longest-lived divide in our western intellectual tradition, the opposition between science, religion and art, showing how science is necessary to understand art and religion, and how any apprehension of human social life likewise must foreground the importance of religion and art. -- David S. Whitley, author, The Art of the Shaman; editor, Archaeology of Religion series