Description
Book SynopsisCan cognitive science explain the potency of such images? Does evolutionary psychology hold a key to understanding the transmission of symbols? How is our making and perception of images influenced by institutions and technologies? This title deals with these questions.
Trade Review"Few archaeologists would venture into as many regions or across as many disciplinary boundaries as David Wengrow does in his eloquent and ambition analysis."--Christina Riggs, Times Literary Supplement "The Origins of Monsters is a fascinating exposition of the archaeology of the ancient world as a topic that has current resonance. Well written and presented, wonderfully informed and confident, it is well placed to achieve Wengrow's worthy ambition to start a particular dialogue between disciplinary approaches to the topic of monsters."--Michael Punt, Leonardo Reviews
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations xi Acknowledgments xv Introduction 1 1 Image and Economy in the Ancient World: The Bronze Age of Mikhail Rostovtzeff 8 2 Materials for an Epidemiology of Culture 19 3 The Hidden Shaman: Fictive Anatomy in Paleolithic and Neolithic Art 33 4 Urban Creations: The Cultural Ecology of Composite Animals 50 5 Counterintuitive Images and the Mechanical Arts 74 6 Modes of Image Transfer: Transformative, Integrative, Protective 88 CONCLUSION Persistent, but Not Primordial: Emergent Properties of Cognition 108 Notes 113 References 133 Index 161
