The Hunter, the Stag, and the Mother of Animals offers an in-depth exploration of the changing traditions of belief in pre-Bronze and Bronze Age North Asia. Esther Jacobson-Tepfer centers her argument on a female deity and her evolution up until the early Iron Age, across a 2,000 year period. Through the art historical and archaeological evidence of the symbolic systems left behind, she traces the progression of the deity from an originating animal mother through her incarnation as the mother of animals, her late embodiment as the guardian of the road to the land of the dead, the transformation of her essential liminality into the structures of predation and, in the form of a predated stag, her subsequent destruction. In detailed commentaries on rock art structures and monuments, Jacobson-Tepfer reconstructs and explores how the deity's power was embedded in the Janus-faced concept of life/death: how, in all her forms, the deity occupied the threshold between the worlds of humans and ancestors, humans and animals. More broadly, this study details how her fate was directly related to the sociological evolution at the onset of the Iron age: the transition of the cultures in South Siberia and Mongolia from hunting-based settlement to horse-dependent semi-nomadism, and with that the rise of a heroic narrative tradition. Jacobson-Tepfer has had unparalleled access to regional data still unavailable in the West, and the collection of this data in English as well as her extensive collection of color photographs and drawings will fill a gaping hole in the literature and prove invaluable to both archaeologists and art historians.The Hunter, the Stag, and the Mother of Animals will surely become a standard reference for both disciplines as well as a guide to those interested in rock art and beliefs systems more generally.

This book is an analysis of a collection of artefacts from the Neolithic period of the southern Levant. Although they have traditionally been identified as human images, the relationship of some of them to naturalistic human anatomy is tenuous, and, drawing on comparative examples from other periods and locations, Estelle Orrelle interprets them as images of Gods. Situating the artefacts in the context of the Neolithic transition, she shows how a Darwinian symbolic origins theory can explain the emergence of this iconography; that it lies in ancient sexual selection strategies, as power relations changed from an original social contract underpinned by female ritual power, to a new social contract driven by competing male elites."

From 1997 to 2004, we executed Photographic VR shooting of Palaeolithic cave paintings in 23 major caves and about 150 Mobile Arts in 5 museums in Northern Spain as a co-project between the University of Cantabria, Spain and Texnai, Inc., Japan and the result was published in Spanish and English in 2003 by GOBIERNO de CANTABRIA as "ARTE PALEOLITICO EN LA REGION CANTABRICA, PALAEOLITHIC ARTS IN NORTHERN SPAIN" with a DVD ROM of the image database. This book is published based on these book and database in POD(Publishing On Demand) format. For this publishing, the images of cave paintings and mobile arts are scheduled to be published as the catalog editions in POD so that readers are able to see those images without PC.
And on June 15, 2012, an extremely interesting report on the cave paintings of Northern Spain was published in Science. The report was written by Prof. Alistair Pike of University of Bristol, UK and his colleagues and it was reported that Uranium-series disequilibrium dating was executed that year for calcite deposits overlying art found in 11 caves in Northern Spain and the results demonstrated that some paintings of El Castillo extended back at least to the Early Aurignacian period, with minimum ages of 40.8 thousand years for a red disk, 37.3 thousand years for a negative hand. It was surprising because if this dating is correct, the red disk becomes about 4.000 years earlier than the paintings of Grotte Chauvet that has been said to be the world's oldest, and not only that, it can not be ruled out that the earliest paintings were created by Neanderthals, which were estimated to present in the Cantabrian regions until at least 42,000 to 36,000 years B.P. This is our main reason why we decided to publish this book in POD.
Contents] 1. The Art of Upper Paleolithic hunters. Introduction to cave art in the Iberian Peninsula.
2. Everyday art. Upper Paleolithic decorated objects in the Cantabrian Region.
3. The western Cantabrian Region. Introduction to Paleolithic Cave Art in Asturias.
3.1. Cueva de la PeOa de Candamo
3.2. Cueva de La Lluera I
3.3. Cueva de Tito Bustillo
3.4. Cueva de El Buxu
3.5. Cueva de El Pindal
3.6. Cueva de La Loja
4. The Central Cantabrian Valleys. Introduction to Paleolithic Cave Art in Cantabria.
4.1. Cueva de ChufIn
4.2. Cueva de Altamira
4.3. Cueva de Hornos de la Pe n a
4.4. Cueva del Castillo
4.5. Cueva de Las Chimeneas
4.6. Cueva de La Pasiega
4.7. Cueva de Las Monedas
4.8. Cueva de Sant i an
4.9. Cueva de El Pendo
4.10. Cueva de La Haza
4.11. Cueva de Covalanas
4.12. Cueva de Pondra
5. The End of the Cantabrian Corridor. Introduction to Paleolithic Art assemblages in the Basque Country.
5.1. Cueva de Venta de la Perra
5.2. Cueva de Arenaza
5.3. Cueva de Santimami n e
5.4. Cueva de Ekain
6. General Bibliography

This early work by Franz Boas was originally published in 1897 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introductory biography. 'The Decorative Art of the Indians of the North Pacific Coast' is an analysis of the various carving techniques and symbolism present in Native American art. Franz Boas was born on July 9th 1958, in Minden, Westphalia. Even though Boas had a passion the natural sciences, he enrolled at the University at Kiel as an undergraduate in Physics. Boas completed his degree with a dissertation on the optical properties of water, before continuing his studies and receiving his doctorate in 1881. Boas became a professor of Anthropology at Columbia University in 1899 and founded the first Ph.D program in anthropology in America. He was also a leading figure in the creation of the American Anthropological Association (AAA). Franz Boas had a long career and a great impact on many areas of study. He died on 21st December 1942.

This early work by Franz Boas was originally published in 1927 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introductory biography. 'Primitive Art' is an attempt to give an analytical description of the fundamental traits of primitive art. Franz Boas was born on July 9th 1958, in Minden, Germany. Boas enrolled at the University at Kiel as an undergraduate in Physics. He completed his degree with a dissertation on the optical properties of water, before continuing his studies and receiving his doctorate in 1881. He became a professor of Anthropology at Columbia University in 1899 and founded the first Ph.D program in anthropology in America. He was also a leading figure in the creation of the American Anthropological Association

Rocks, Riddles and Mysteries: Folk Art, Inscriptions and Other Stories in Stone, by Edward J. Lenik

Archaeologist and author Ed Lenik is widely known for his expertise in northeastern Native American rock art. In the course of his travels and research, he has encountered many strange and curious historical rock and stone carvings and structures, some of which may be regarded as Indian, but the majority of which by his reckoning are "white guy" art. This book describes those sites and objects and the fascinating stories behind their creation.

Puzzling, captivating, and at time bewildering, these historical curiosities include faces, animals, designs, patterns and scenes carved on rocks through New England, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The author has personally probed and researched each site in some detail, learning when it was first noticed and what the local people had to say about why it was there and who carved or painted it.

Tourist attractions? Boy Scout art? Idle play among quarry workers? Archaeological fraud? Hebrew inscriptions? Outsider art? Norse runes? You can decide, since a "See For Yourself" section invites you to visit the sites that are publicly accessible so that you may draw your own conclusions.

Lenik, a Registered Archaeologist, is a past president of the Archaeological Society of New Jersey and the Eastern State Archaeological Federation. As Honorary curator of archaeology at Bear Mountain's (New York) Trailside Museums, he is a well-known speaker and hike leader in northern New Jersey and southeastern New York.,

Designed to be used in the field, or as an enjoyable read in the armchair, this guide will transport the reader on an adventure of discovery, visiting curious places, looking at mysterious rocks and hearing the stories they have to tell.

These essays, from a session of the 15th uispp congress, investigate the ways in which prehistoric rock art interacted with the landscape to define symbolic space. The authors look at how the study of rock art can help to define prehistoric cultures and territories, as well as to symbolicaly demarcate space both in the context of a broad landscape and in, for example, an individual cave. Essays in French and English.

With 49 drawings by the author and over 60 photographs, this attractive and user-friendly book guides the reader through all the steps necessary to make a successful and effective atlatl and dart system for competition, hunting, or just plain fun. Along with redesigned atlatl plans and all new dart designs, the reader will find information and instruction on traditional hafting and fletching techniques, how to use sinew, making and attaching weights, tips on atlatl mechanics and how they effect dart performance, and more. THE NEW ATLATL AND DART WORKBOOK is a valuable reference and resource for both beginning and more knowledgeable atlatl enthusiasts.

Although cave paintings from the European Ice Age have has gained considerable renown, for many people the term "rock art" remains full of mystery. Yet it refers to perhaps the oldest form of artistic endeavor, splendid examples of which exist on all continents and from all eras. Rock art stretches in time from about forty thousand to less than forty years ago and can be found from the Arctic Circle to the tip of South America, from the caves of southern France to the American Southwest. It includes animal and human figures, complex geometrical forms, and myriad mysterious markings.
Illustrated in color throughout, this book provides an engaging overview of rock art worldwide. An introductory chapter discusses the discovery of rock art by the West and the importance of landscape and ritual. Subsequent chapters survey rock art sites throughout the world, explaining how the art can be dated and how it was made. The book then explores the meaning of these often enigmatic images, including the complex role they played in traditional societies. A final chapter looks at the threats posed to rock art today by development, tourism, pollution, and other dangers, and discusses current initiatives to preserve this remarkable heritage.

Traditional approaches to studying rock art centred on the production of gazetteers of sites and examples, but in recent years the tide has turned significantly. This study adds to the genre of research that seeks to provide meaningful interpretations of the purpose and significance of rock-art. Drawing on ideas and theories from other, non-British and non-Irish traditions, Edward Evans looks at the creation of images in the Neolithic and early Bronze Age of Britain and Ireland, and looks at its relationship with the landscape and architecture in new ways.

" Rock Art of Kentucky is the first comprehensive documentation of the fragile remnants of Kentucky's prehistoric Native American rock art sites. Found in twenty-two of Kentucky's counties, these sites pan a period of more than three thousand years. The most frequent design elements in Kentucky rock art are engravings of the footprints of birds, quadrupeds, and humans. Other design elements include anthropomorphs, mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, and abstract and geometric figures. Included in the book are stunning illustrations of the sixty confirmed sites and ten destroyed or questionable sites. In the thirty some years during which this information was collected, there has been an alarming deterioration of many of the sites. Ancient carvings have been destroyed by graffiti or have lost extensive detail because of climatic or environmental conditions, such as acid rain. Although all the Kentucky sites are officially listed on the National register of Historic Places, several no long exist or are at present inaccessible. In addition to making data available for the first time to the national and international archaeological community for further comparative and interpretive studies, Rock Art of Kentucky is also for nonspecialists interested in prehistoric Kentucky and Native American studies.

This book contains a series of selected papers presented at two symposia entitled 'Scientific study of rock art', one held in the IFRAO Congress of Rock Art in La Paz, Bolivia, in June 2012, the other held in the IFRAO Congress in Caceres, Spain, in September 2015; as well as some invited papers from leading rock art scientists. The core topic of the book is the presentation of scientific approaches to the materiality of rock art, ranging from recording and sampling methods to data analyses. These share the fact that they provide means of testing hypotheses and/or of finding trends in the data which can be used as independent sources of evidence to support specific interpretations. The issue of the materiality of visual productions of the distant past, which in archaeological theory has attracted much attention recently and has stimulated much conceptual debate, is addressed through a variety of scientific approaches, including fieldwork methods, laboratory work techniques and/or data analysis protocols. These, in turn, will provide new insights into human agency and people-image engagements through the study of rock art production, display and use.

Named after an archaeological site discovered in 1951 in Zhengzhou, China, the Erligang civilization arose in the Yellow River valley around the middle of the second millennium BCE. Shortly thereafter, its distinctive elite material culture spread to a large part of China's Central Plain, in the south reaching as far as the banks of the Yangzi River. The Erligang culture is best known for the remains of an immense walled city at Zhengzhou, a smaller site at Panlongcheng in Hubei, and a large-scale bronze industry of remarkable artistic and technological sophistication.

This richly illustrated book is the first in a western language devoted to the Erligang culture. It brings together scholars from a variety of disciplines, including art history and archaeology, to explore what is known about the culture and its spectacular bronze industry. The opening chapters introduce the history of the discovery of the culture and its most important archaeological sites. Subsequent essays address a variety of important methodological issues related to the study of Erligang, including how to define the culture, the usefulness of cross-cultural comparative study, and the difficulty of reconciling traditional Chinese historiography with archaeological discoveries. The book closes by examining the role the Erligang civilization played in the emergence of the first bronze-using societies in south China and the importance of bronze studies in the training of Chinese art historians.

The contributors are Robert Bagley, John Baines, Maggie Bickford, Rod Campbell, Li Yung-ti, Robin McNeal, Kyle Steinke, Wang Haicheng, and Zhang Changping.