How can archaeologists interpret ancient art and images if they do not treat them as symbols or signifiers of identity? Traditional approaches to the archaeology of art have borrowed from the history of art and the anthropology of art by focusing on iconography, meaning, communication and identity. This puts the archaeology of art at a disadvantage as an understanding of iconography and meaning requires a detailed knowledge of historical or ethnographic context unavailable to many archaeologists. Rather than playing to archaeology’s weaknesses, the authors argue that an archaeology of art should instead play to archaeology’s strength: the material character of archaeological evidence. Using case studies - examining rock art, figurines, beadwork, murals, coffin decorations, sculpture and architecture from Europe, the Americas, Asia, Australia, and north Africa -the authors develop an understanding of the affective and effective nature of ancient art and imagery. An analysis of a series of material-based practices, from gesture and improvisation to miniaturisation and gigantism, assembly and disassembly and the use of distinctions in colour enable key concepts, such as style and meaning, to be re-imagined as affective practices. Recasting the archaeology of art as the study of affects offers a new prospectus for the study of ancient art and imagery.

This volume presents a collection of interdisciplinary collaborations between contemporary art, heritage, anthropological, and archaeological practitioners. Departing from the proceedings of the Sixth World Archaeological Congress’s ‘Archaeologies of Art’ theme and Ábhar agus Meon exhibitions, it includes papers by seminal figures as well as experimental work by those who are exploring the application of artistic methods and theory to the practice of archaeology. Art and archaeology: collaborations, conversations, criticisms encourages the creative interplay of various approaches to ‘art’ and ‘archaeology’ so these new modes of expression can contribute to how we understand the world. Established topics such as cave art, monumental architecture and land art will be discussed alongside contemporary video art, performance art and relational arts practices. Here, the parallel roles of artists as makers of new worlds and archaeologists as makers of pasts worlds are brought together to understand the influences of human creativity.

The book discusses the creative mental processes of the prehistoric and contemporaryartists, as well as of the archaeologists studying them from the perspective ofcognition and art. Its intention is to highlight the artistic thinking within theimagination of the archaeologist, as well as to discuss the concepts of imagination andart in the current scientific research.From this perspective the book suggests a type of research closer to the complexity ofthe human nature and human thinking that can approach cultural and psychologicalsubjects ignored until now.It is hoped that one of the results of the book will be the formulation of new meaningsfor art from the perspective of archaeology.Responding to the recent ongoing growing interest in the art-archaeology interaction,the editor has carefully selected papers written by a series of eminent European andAmerican scholars with a background in ancient and contemporary art, symbolicthinking, semiotics, and archaeological imagination, with the intention of introducingnew arguments and discussions into the emerging art-archaeology discourse. Thebook is composed of three parts: “Art and the ancient mind”, “Experiencing theancient mind”, and “Exploring the act of creation”.

Rock art is one of the most visible and geographically widespread of cultural expressions, and it spans much of the period of our species' existence. Rock art also provides rare and often unique insights into the minds and visually creative capacities of our ancestors and how selected rock outcrops with distinctive images were used to construct symbolic landscapes and shape worldviews. Equally important, rock art is often central to the expression of and engagement with spiritual entities and forces, and in all these dimensions it signals the diversity of cultural practices, across place and through time. Over the past 150 years, archaeologists have studied ancient arts on rock surfaces, both out in the open and within caves and rock shelters, and social anthropologists have revealed how people today use art in their daily lives. The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology and Anthropology of Rock Art showcases examples of such research from around the world and across a broad range of cultural contexts, giving a sense of the art's regional variability, its antiquity, and how it is meaningful to people in the recent past and today - including how we have ourselves tended to make sense of the art of others, replete with our own preconceptions. It reviews past, present, and emerging theoretical approaches to rock art investigation and presents new, cutting-edge methods of rock art analysis for the student and professional researcher alike.

Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

Digital imaging techniques have been rapidly adopted within archaeology and cultural heritage practice for the accurate documentation of cultural artefacts. But what is a digital image, and how does it relate to digital photography? The authors of this book take a critical look at the practice and techniques of digital imaging from the stance of digital archaeologists, cultural heritage practitioners and digital artists. Borrowing from the feminist scholar Karen Barad, the authors ask what happens when we diffract the formal techniques of archaeological digital imaging through a different set of disciplinary concerns and practices. Diffracting exposes the differences between archaeologists, heritage practitioners and artists, and foregrounds how their differing practices and approaches enrich and inform each other. How might the digital imaging techniques used by archaeologists be adopted by digital artists, and what are the potentials associated with this adoption? Under the gaze of fine artists, what happens to the fidelity of the digital images made by archaeologists, and what new questions do we ask of the digital image? How can the critical approaches and practices of fine artists inform the future practice of digital imaging in archaeology and cultural heritage? Diffracting Digital Images will be of interest to students and scholars in archaeology, cultural heritage studies, anthropology, fine art, digital humanities, and media theory.

An Archaeology of Art and Writing offers an in-depth treatment of the image as material culture. Centring on early Egyptian bone, ivory, and wooden labels--one of the earliest inscribed and decorated object groups from burials in the lower Nile Valley--the research is anchored in the image as the site of material action. A key aim of this book is to outline a contextual and reflexive approach to early art and writing as a complement to the traditional focus on iconographic and linguistic meanings. Archaeological and anthropological approaches are integrated with social theories of practice and agency to develop a more holistic perspective that situates early Egyptian imagery in relation to its manufacture, use and final deposition in the funerary context. The dialectical relationships between past embodied practitioners and materials, production techniques, and compositional principles are examined for the insight they provide into changes and continuities in early Egyptian graphical expression across time and space. The electronic version of this book is accompanied by an online database of the inscribed labels, enabling the reader to explore via hyperlinks the fascinating body of evidence that underpins this innovative study. Kathryn Piquette lectures on the archaeology of ancient Egypt and the Near East at the University of Reading. She also lectures in digital humanities at University College London, where she serves as a senior research consultant in advanced digital imaging techniques for cultural heritage. Recent publications include the co-edited Writing as Material Practice: Substance, surface and medium.