An Archaeology of the Cosmos PDF Download

Author: Timothy R. Pauketat
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0415521289
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 246

View

Book Description
An Archaeology of the Cosmos seeks answers to two fundamental questions of humanity and human history. The first question concerns that which some use as a defining element of humanity: religious beliefs. Why do so many people believe in supreme beings and holy spirits? The second question concerns changes in those beliefs. What causes beliefs to change? Using archaeological evidence gathered from ancient America, especially case material from the Great Plains and the pre-Columbian American Indian city of Cahokia, Timothy Pauketat explores the logical consequences of these two fundamental questions. Religious beliefs are not more resilient than other aspects of culture and society, and people are not the only causes of historical change. An Archaeology of the Cosmos examines the intimate association of agency and religion by studying how relationships between people, places, and things were bundled together and positioned in ways that constituted the fields of human experience. This rethinking theories of agency and religion provides readers with challenging and thought provoking conclusions that will lead them to reassess the way they approach the past.

Author: J. Grant Stauffer
Publisher: Oxbow Books
ISBN: 1789258456
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 505

View

Book Description
This volume examines how pre-Columbian societies in the Americas envisioned their cosmos and iteratively modeled it through the creation of particular objects and places. It emphasizes that American societies did this to materialize overarching models and templates for the shape and scope of the cosmos, the working definition of cosmoscape. Noting a tendency to gloss over the ways in which ancestral Americans envisioned the cosmos as intertwined and animated, the authors examine how cosmoscapes are manifested archaeologically, in the forms of objects and physically altered landscapes. This book’s chapters, therefore, offer case studies of cosmoscapes that present themselves as forms of architecture, portable artifacts, and transformed aspects of the natural world. In doing so, it emphasizes that the creation of cosmoscapes offered a means of reconciling peoples experiences of the world with their understandings of them.

Author: Donald A. Yerxa
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472591003
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 321

View

Book Description
It is often assumed that religion is the backward-looking servant of tradition and the status quo, utterly opposed to the new. This refrain in so much of recent polemical writing has permeated the public mind and can even be found in academic publications. But recent scholarship increasingly shows that this view is a gross simplification - that, in fact, religious beliefs and practices have contributed to significant changes in human affairs: political and legal, social and artistic, scientific and commercial. This is certainly not to say that religion is always innovative. But the relationship between religion and innovation is much more complex and instructive than is generally assumed. Religion and Innovation includes contributions from leading historians, archaeologists, and social scientists, who offer findings about the relationship between religion and innovation. The essays collected in this volume range from discussions of the transformative power of religion in early societies; to re-examinations of our notions of naturalism, secularization, and progress; to explorations of cutting-edge contemporary issues. Combining scholarly rigor with clear, accessible writing, Religion and Innovation: Antagonists or Partners? is essential reading for anyone interested in the history of religion and the ongoing debates about its role in the modern world and into the future.

Author: Robin A Parry
Publisher: Lutterworth Press
ISBN: 0718843940
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 303

View

Book Description
Welcome to the weird and wonderful world of the Bible.Robin Parry takes the reader on a guided tour of the biblical cosmos with the goal of opening up the Bible in its ancient world. He then goes further and shows how this very ancient biblical way of seeing the world is still revelatory and can speak God's word afresh into our own modern worlds.

Author: Annick Daneels
Publisher: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd
ISBN: 1784912840
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 73

View

Book Description
Proceedings from a session held as part of the XVII World UISPP Congress, Burgos, 2014. The theme of the symposium was the archaeology of earthen architecture in pre- and protohistoric cultures, with an emphasis on constructive techniques and systems, and diachronic changes in those aspects.

Author: Pabitra Banerjee
Publisher: Pabitra Banerjee
ISBN:
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 387

View

Book Description
"Marvels of the Cosmos" invites you on an extraordinary journey through the celestial tapestry that graces our night skies. In this captivating exploration, the book unveils the wonders of the cosmos with a poetic and insightful narrative that transcends the boundaries of ordinary stargazing. Each page is an invitation to wander the vast expanses of space, where stars shimmer like ethereal jewels, planets dance in cosmic ballets, and galaxies unfold their majestic arms in celestial symphonies. Through vivid descriptions and awe-inspiring storytelling, "Marvels of the Cosmos" paints a breathtaking portrait of the universe, guiding readers beyond the veil of city lights to behold the true splendor of a dark night sky. From the ancient myths that trace constellations to the cutting-edge discoveries that unravel the mysteries of distant galaxies, the book seamlessly weaves together the threads of human fascination with the cosmos. As you turn the pages, you will find yourself immersed in the enchanting tales of ancient astronomers who first dared to map the stars, the profound revelations of modern astrophysics, and the cosmic wonders that continue to captivate our imaginations. Whether you are a seasoned astronomer or a curious stargazer, "Marvels of the Cosmos" is an odyssey that beckons you to gaze upward and contemplate the profound beauty and complexity of the universe. This literary masterpiece doesn't merely depict the cosmos as a scientific canvas but transforms it into a celestial poem, inviting readers to ponder the timeless questions that have fueled humanity's quest for understanding. "Marvels of the Cosmos" is not just a book; it's an odyssey into the heart of the night sky, a lyrical exploration that kindles a sense of wonder and reverence for the vastness that surrounds us.

Author: David Lewis-Williams
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
ISBN: 050077045X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 355

View

Book Description
An exploration of how brain structure and cultural content interacted in the Neolithic period 10,000 years ago to produce unique life patterns and belief systems. What do the headless figures found in the famous paintings at Catalhoyuk in Turkey have in common with the monumental tombs at Newgrange and Knowth in Ireland? How can the concepts of "birth," "death," and "wild" cast light on the archaeological enigma of the domestication of cattle? What generated the revolutionary social change that ended the Upper Palaeolithic? David Lewis-Williams's previous book, The Mind in the Cave, dealt with the remarkable Upper Palaeolithic paintings, carvings, and engravings of western Europe. Here Dr. Lewis-Williams and David Pearce examine the intricate web of belief, myth, and society in the succeeding Neolithic period, arguably the most significant turning point in all human history, when agriculture became a way of life and the fractious society that we know today was born. The authors focus on two contrasting times and places: the beginnings in the Near East, with its mud-brick and stone houses each piled on top of the ruins of another, and western Europe, with its massive stone monuments more ancient than the Egyptian pyramids. They argue that neurological patterns hardwired into the brain help explain the art and society that Neolithic people produced. Drawing on the latest research, the authors skillfully link material on human consciousness, imagery, and religious concepts to propose provocative new theories about the causes of an ancient revolution in cosmology and the origins of social complexity. In doing so they create a fascinating neurological bridge to the mysterious thought-lives of the past and reveal the essence of a momentous period in human history. 100 illustrations, 20 in color.

Author: Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319217925
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 361

View

Book Description
The essays in this book respond to Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka’s recent call to explore the relationship between the evolution of the universe and the process of self-individuation in the ontopoietic unfolding of life. The essays approach the sensory manifold in a number of ways. They show that theories of modern science become a strategy for the phenomenological study of works of art, and vice versa. Works of phenomenology and of the arts examine how individual spontaneity connects with the design(s) of the logos – of the whole and of the particulars – while the design(s) rest not on some human concept, but on life itself. Life’s pliable matrices allow us to consider the expansiveness of contemporary science, and to help create a contemporary phenomenological sense of cosmos.

Author: Sarah B. Barber
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 131744082X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 323

View

Book Description
This exciting collection explores the interplay of religion and politics in the precolumbian Americas. Each thought-provoking contribution positions religion as a primary factor influencing political innovations in this period, reinterpreting major changes through an examination of how religion both facilitated and constrained transformations in political organization and status relations. Offering unparalleled geographic and temporal coverage of this subject, Religion and Politics in the Ancient Americas spans the entire precolumbian period, from Preceramic Peru to the Contact period in eastern North America, with case studies from North, Middle, and South America. Religion and Politics in the Ancient Americas considers the ways in which religion itself generated political innovation and thus enabled political centralization to occur. It moves beyond a "Great Tradition" focus on elite religion to understand how local political authority was negotiated, contested, bolstered, and undermined within diverse constituencies, demonstrating how religion has transformed non-Western societies. As well as offering readers fresh perspectives on specific archaeological cases, this book breaks new ground in the archaeological examination of religion and society.

Author: Hannah Cobb
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0191087092
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 227

View

Book Description
Assembling Archaeology provides a radical rethinking of the relationships between teaching, researching, digging, and practicing as an archaeologist in the 21st century. The issues addressed here are global and applicable wherever archaeology is taught, practiced, and researched. At its heart this book addresses the undervaluation of teaching, demonstrating that this affects the fundamentals of contemporary archaeological practice and is particularly connected to the lack of diversity in disciplinary demographics. It proposes a solution which is grounded in a theoretical rethinking of archaeological teaching, training, and practice by advocating a holistic 'assemblage' approach which challenges traditional power structures and the global marketization of the higher education system. Drawing on insights from archaeology's current material turn, this book approaches the discipline as a subject of investigation and offers a new perspective founded upon the notion of the learning assemblage, which resituates teaching and learning as a central focus and contributes to broader discourses on critical pedagogy and rhizomatic learning. It ultimately argues for a robust archaeological pedagogy that is rooted in and emergent from the material realities of the profession, and will be valuable to everyone from academia to Cultural Resource Management (CRM), heritage professional to undergraduate student.