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The Origins of Monsters : Image and Cognition in the First Age of Mechanical Reproduction / David Wengrow.

By: Material type: TextTextSeries: The Rostovtzeff Lectures ; 2Publisher: Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, [2013]Copyright date: ©2014Edition: Course BookDescription: 1 online resource (184 p.) : 10 halftones. 23 line illus. 1 mapContent type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9780691159041
  • 9781400848867
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 701.03 23
LOC classification:
  • N72.S6
Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources: Available additional physical forms:
  • Issued also in print.
Contents:
Frontmatter -- Contents -- Illustrations -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1. Image and Economy in the Ancient World: The Bronze Age of Mikhail Rostovtzeff -- 2. Materials for an Epidemiology of Culture -- 3. The Hidden Shaman: Fictive Anatomy in Paleolithic and Neolithic Art -- 4. Urban Creations: The Cultural Ecology of Composite Animals -- 5. Counterintuitive Images and the Mechanical Arts -- 6. Modes of Image Transfer: Transformative, Integrative, Protective -- Conclusion. Persistent, but Not Primordial: Emergent Properties of Cognition -- Notes -- References -- Index
Summary: It has often been claimed that "monsters"--supernatural creatures with bodies composed from multiple species--play a significant part in the thought and imagery of all people from all times. The Origins of Monsters advances an alternative view. Composite figurations are intriguingly rare and isolated in the art of the prehistoric era. Instead it was with the rise of cities, elites, and cosmopolitan trade networks that "monsters" became widespread features of visual production in the ancient world. Showing how these fantastic images originated and how they were transmitted, David Wengrow identifies patterns in the records of human image-making and embarks on a search for connections between mind and culture. Wengrow asks: Can 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? Wengrow considers the work of art in the first age of mechanical reproduction, which he locates in the Middle East, where urban life began. Comparing the development and spread of fantastic imagery across a range of prehistoric and ancient societies, including Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and China, he explores how the visual imagination has been shaped by a complex mixture of historical and universal factors. Examining the reasons behind the dissemination of monstrous imagery in ancient states and empires, The Origins of Monsters sheds light on the relationship between culture and cognition.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number URL Status Notes Barcode
eBook eBook Biblioteca "Angelicum" Pont. Univ. S.Tommaso d'Aquino Nuvola online online - DeGruyter (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Online access Not for loan (Accesso limitato) Accesso per gli utenti autorizzati / Access for authorized users (dgr)9781400848867

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Illustrations -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1. Image and Economy in the Ancient World: The Bronze Age of Mikhail Rostovtzeff -- 2. Materials for an Epidemiology of Culture -- 3. The Hidden Shaman: Fictive Anatomy in Paleolithic and Neolithic Art -- 4. Urban Creations: The Cultural Ecology of Composite Animals -- 5. Counterintuitive Images and the Mechanical Arts -- 6. Modes of Image Transfer: Transformative, Integrative, Protective -- Conclusion. Persistent, but Not Primordial: Emergent Properties of Cognition -- Notes -- References -- Index

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http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec

It has often been claimed that "monsters"--supernatural creatures with bodies composed from multiple species--play a significant part in the thought and imagery of all people from all times. The Origins of Monsters advances an alternative view. Composite figurations are intriguingly rare and isolated in the art of the prehistoric era. Instead it was with the rise of cities, elites, and cosmopolitan trade networks that "monsters" became widespread features of visual production in the ancient world. Showing how these fantastic images originated and how they were transmitted, David Wengrow identifies patterns in the records of human image-making and embarks on a search for connections between mind and culture. Wengrow asks: Can 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? Wengrow considers the work of art in the first age of mechanical reproduction, which he locates in the Middle East, where urban life began. Comparing the development and spread of fantastic imagery across a range of prehistoric and ancient societies, including Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and China, he explores how the visual imagination has been shaped by a complex mixture of historical and universal factors. Examining the reasons behind the dissemination of monstrous imagery in ancient states and empires, The Origins of Monsters sheds light on the relationship between culture and cognition.

Issued also in print.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 30. Aug 2021)