Research Catalog

Title

Myths about rock art / Robert G. Bednarik.

Author

Bednarik, Robert G.

Publication

Oxford Archaeopress Archaeology, 2016.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

218 pages : coloured illustrations; 23 cm

Summary

Rather than considering the myths supposedly depicted in the world?s rock art, this book examines the myths archaeologists and others have created about the meanings and significance of rock art. This vast body of opinions dominates our concepts of the principal surviving cultural manifestations of early worldviews. Here these constructs are subjected to detailed analysis and are found to consist largely of misinterpretations. From the misidentification of natural rock markings as rock art to mistaken interpretations, from sensationalist claims to pareidolic elucidations of iconographies, the book presents numerous examples of myths researchers have created about pre-Historic ?art?. The claims about a connection between rock art and the neuropathologies of its producers are assessed, and the neuroscience of rock art interpretation is reviewed. The book presents a comprehensive catalogue of falsities claimed about palaeoart, and it endeavours to explain how these arose, and how they can be guarded against by recourse to basic principles of science. It therefore represents a key resource in the scientific study of rock art.

Subject

• Petroglyphs
• Rock paintings

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents

• A Little Epistemology -- Introduction -- Epistemology of archaeology -- Setting the scene -- Animals and Pareidolia -- Tales of dragons -- Identifying zoomorphs -- Archaeological Folklores about Dating -- The bulls and horses of Iberia -- The Palaeolithic obsession -- Myths about rock art age -- Archaeological excavation -- Iconographic identification -- Stylistic sequences -- Use of analytical methods -- Axiomatic Confusions -- Misidentification of non-anthropic rock markings -- Èxplanations' of cupules -- Other mistaken interpretations -- Misidentifications by combining motifs -- Invented rock art sequences -- The Venus figurines -- Sensationalist Myths and Fringe Legends -- Sensationalist claims -- The writing on the wall -- Seeing things: pareidolia -- Reaching for stars and gods -- The importance of being Palaeolithic -- Rock Art Fairy Tales -- About shamanism and rock art -- Myths about mythologies -- Neuropathologies and rock art --
• Autism -- Asperger's syndrome -- Schizophrenia -- Bipolar disorder -- Brain disorders in human evolution -- Sinister myths about rock art -- Generic Issues -- Effects of fakes, misconceptions and falsities -- Neuroscience and ìdentifications' in rock art interpretation -- The myths are here to stay.

Call Number

JFE 17-3039

ISBN

• 9781784914745
• 1784914746

OCLC

971211763

Author

Bednarik, Robert G.

Title

Myths about rock art / Robert G. Bednarik.

Publisher

Oxford Archaeopress Archaeology, 2016.

Type of Content

text

still image

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Research Call Number

JFE 17-3039