This book takes a new approach to writing about the past. Instead of studying the prehistory of Britain from Mesolithic to Iron Age times in terms of periods or artifact classifications, Tilley examines it through the lens of their geology and landscapes, asserting the fundamental significance of the bones of the land in the process of human occupation over the long durée. Granite uplands, rolling chalk downlands, sandstone moorlands, and pebbled hilltops each create their own potentialiti...

This book provides a general self-reflexive review and critical analysis of Scandinavian rock art from the standpoint of Chris Tilley’s research in this area over the last thirty years. It offers a novel alternative theoretical perspective stressing the significance of visual narrative structure and rhythm, using musical analogies, putting particular emphasis on the embodied perception of images in a landscape context.Part I reviews the major theories and interpretative perspective...

Originally published in 1991, this is the first book-length exploration of post-structuralist discourse theory in archaeology. It tackles the most basic problem of historical and archaeological analysis - the relationship between text and artefact – in an analysis of prehistoric art fusing theory and the practice of interpretation to create a fresh framework for understanding the relationship between past and present. Focusing on a collection of rock carvings from northern Sweden, the auth...

The understanding and interpretation of ancient architecture, landscapes, and art has always been viewed through an iconographic lens—a cognitive process based on traditional practices in art history. But ancient people did not ascribe their visions on canvas, rather on hills, stones, and fields. Thus, Chris Tilley argues, the iconographic approach falls short of understanding how ancient people interacted with their imagery. A kinaesthetic approach, one that uses the full body and all the...

This fascinating volume integrates recent developments in anthropological and sociological theory with a series of detailed studies of prehistoric material culture. The authors explore the manner in which semiotic, hermeneutic, Marxist, and post-structuralist approaches radically alter our understanding of the past, and provide a series of innovative studies of key areas of interest to archaeologists and anthropologists.

This book is the first comprehensive introduction and guide to Sweden’s most spectacular Stone Age monuments: the dolmens and passage graves, which began to be constructed over 5000 years ago. The introduction provides a detailed social interpretation of these monuments outlining how and why they were built and the ways in which they related to economy and landscape, politics, ceremony, symbolism and belief. This is followed by a systematic regional guide to all the major monuments in Skån...

This volume explores why natural places such as caves, mountains, springs and rivers assumed a sacred character in European prehistory, and how the evidence for this can be analysed in the field. It shows how established research on votive deposits, rock art and production sites can contribute to a more imaginative approach to the prehistoric landscape, and can even shed light on the origins of monumental architecture. The discussion is illustrated through a wide range of European examples...

Academic interpretations of Neolithic rock motifs and their location within the landscape and on ancient monuments are often thought-provoking, but they invariably shy away from acknowledging the remarkable coherence exhibited by petroglyphs throughout the British Isles. In Mindscapes of Prehistory, Brian A. Smith and Alan A. Walker have taken the arguments they first developed in Rock Art and Ritual: Interpreting the Prehistoric Landscapes of the North York Moors considerably further. The...

25 Tropical Houses in Indonesia offers a selection of the best contemporary architecture and interior design in the archipelago.Architects working in Indonesia—and elsewhere in Southeast Asia—face the challenge not only of creating spaces to suit the lifestyles of their users but also of addressing the environmental and climatic problems associated with living in the tropics.Featured in this book are twenty-five of the most innovative solutions to ...

How the New Stone Age shaped our worldApproximately 12,000 years ago, early humans in western Asia and Europe who had been itinerant foragers, subsisting on what food they could find, slowly began settling in one place. They farmed and domesticated animals, created new tools, built monuments, and began preserving and storing food. What brought about this shift? What difference did it make to the overall population? And what effects did this Neolithic Revolution hav...

What Are The Ancients Trying To Tell Us?"Why would the Cro-Magnon hunter-gatherers of Europe expend so much time and effort to penetrate into deep, dark, and dangerous caverns, where they might encounter cave bears and lions or get lost and die, aided only by the dim glow of animal fat–burning stone candles, often crawling on all fours for distances of up to a mile or more underground . . . to paint amazing, haunting images of animals?"—From The ...

This illustrated Travel Guide is a part of the Mobi Sights series, our concise guides that only feature the most essential information on city attractions. This guide is designed for optimal navigation on eReaders, smartphones, and other mobile electronic devices. Inside you will find a locator map and a list of top attractions linked to individual articles. Addresses, telephones, hours of operation and admissions information are included. The guide also features an itiner...