1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910464247203321

Autore

Lesure Richard G.

Titolo

Interpreting ancient figurines : context, comparison, and prehistoric art / / Richard G. Lesure [[electronic resource]]

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cambridge : , : Cambridge University Press, , 2011

ISBN

0-511-99411-7

1-107-21491-2

0-511-99191-6

0-511-99291-2

9786613050151

0-511-98912-1

1-283-05015-3

0-511-98733-1

0-511-99091-X

0-511-97337-3

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (xiv, 256 pages) : digital, PDF file(s)

Disciplina

738.8/209

Soggetti

Figurines, Ancient

Art - Historiography

Art and anthropology

Art and society

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Universalist explanation and prehistoric figures -- Comparison and context -- The questions we ask of images -- A cross-cultural explanation for female figurines? -- Mesoamerican figurines and the contextualist appeal to universal truths -- Figurines, goddesses, and the texture of long-term structures in the Near East -- On figurines, femaleness, and comparison.

Sommario/riassunto

This book examines ancient figurines from several world areas to address recurring challenges in the interpretation of prehistoric art. Sometimes figurines from one context are perceived to resemble those from another. Richard G. Lesure asks whether such resemblances play a



role in our interpretations. Early interpreters seized on the idea that figurines were recurringly female and constructed the fanciful myth of a primordial Neolithic Goddess. Contemporary practice instead rejects interpretive leaps across contexts. Dr Lesure offers a middle path: a new framework for assessing the relevance of particular comparisons. He develops the argument in case studies that consider figurines from Paleolithic Europe, the Neolithic Near East and Formative Mesoamerica.