Ancestral Images : : The Iconography of Human Origins / / Stephanie Moser.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Cornell University Press Archive Pre-2000
• VerfasserIn: Moser, Stephanie,
• MitwirkendeR: Gamble, Clive,
• TeilnehmendeR: Gamble, Clive.
• Place / Publishing House: Ithaca, NY : : Cornell University Press, , [2018]; ©1998
• Year of Publication: 2018
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (224 p.) :; 70 halftones, 15 color illustrations in an 8-page insert

Pictorial reconstructions of ancient human ancestors have twin purposes: to make sense of shared ancestry and to bring prehistory to life. Stephanie Moser analyzes the close relationship between representations of the past and theories about human evolution, showing how this relationship existed even before a scientific understanding of human origins developed. How did mythological, religious, and historically inspired visions of the past, in existence for centuries, shape this understanding? Moser treats images as primary documents, and her book is lavishly illustrated with engravings, paintings, photographs, and reconstructions.In surveying the iconography of prehistory, Moser explores visions of human creation from their origins in classical, early Christian, and medieval periods through traditions of representation initiated in the Renaissance. She looks closely at the first scientific reconstructions of the nineteenth century, which dramatized and made comprehensible the Darwinian theory of human descent from apes. She considers, as well, the impact of reconstructions on popular literature in Europe and North America, showing that early visualizations of prehistory retained a firm hold on the imagination—a hold that archaeologists and anthropologists have found difficult to shake.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- List of Illustrations -- Preface -- Foreword -- Introduction -- Chapter 1: The Artist's Eye and the Mind of Science -- Chapter 2: Mythological Visions of Human Creation -- Chapter 3: Religious and Secular Visions of Human Creation -- Chapter 4: Historical Visions of National Origins -- Chapter 5: The Scientific Vision of Prehistory -- Chapter 6: Popular Presentations -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Picture Credits -- References -- Index