Stones, Ships, and Symbols

Stones, Ships, and Symbols PDF Author: Erik Nylén
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789178441167
Category : Decoration and ornament, Medieval
Languages : en
Pages : 209

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Book Description

Stones, Ships, and Symbols

Stones, Ships, and Symbols PDF Author: Erik Nylén
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789178441167
Category : Decoration and ornament, Medieval
Languages : en
Pages : 209

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Book Description


Soils Stones and Symbols Cultural Perceptions of the Mineral World

Soils Stones and Symbols Cultural Perceptions of the Mineral World PDF Author: Nicole Boivin
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134057490
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
Ethnographic and archaeological records feature a rich body of data suggesting that understandings of the mineral world are in fact both culturally variable and highly diverse. Soils, Stones and Symbols highlights studies from the fields of anthropology, archaeology and philosophy that demonstrate that not all individuals and societies view minerals as commodities to be exploited for economic gain, or as passive objects of disembodied scientific enquiry. In visiting such diverse contexts as contemporary India, colonial-period Australia and prehistoric Europe and the Americas, the papers in this volume demonstrate that in pre-industrial societies, minerals are often symbolically meaningful, ritually powerful, and deeply interwoven into not just economic and material, but also social, cosmological, mythical, spiritual and philosophical aspects of life. In addressing the theme of the mineral world, this book is not only unique within the social and geo-sciences, but also at the forefront of recent attempts to demonstrate the importance of materiality to processes of human cognition and sociality. It draws upon theoretical developments relating to meaning, experience, the body, and material culture to demonstrate that studies of rock art, landscapes, architecture, technology and resource use are all linked through the minerals that constantly surround us and are the focus of our never-ending attempts to understand and transform them.

The Boundless Sea

The Boundless Sea PDF Author: David Abulafia
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0199934983
Category : Navigation
Languages : en
Pages : 1115

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Book Description
"David Abulafia's new book guides readers along the world's greatest bodies of water to reveal their primary role in human history. The main protagonists are the three major oceans-the Atlantic, the Pacific, and the Indian-which together comprise the majority of the earth's water and cover over half of its surface. Over time, as passage through them gradually extended and expanded, linking first islands and then continents, maritime networks developed, evolving from local exploration to lines of regional communication and commerce and eventually to major arteries. These waterways carried goods, plants, livestock, and of course people-free and enslaved-across vast expanses, transforming and ultimately linking irrevocably the economies and cultures of Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Americas"--

The Ship as Symbol in Prehistoric and Medieval Scandinavia

The Ship as Symbol in Prehistoric and Medieval Scandinavia PDF Author: Ole Crumlin-Pedersen
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Excavations (Archaeology)
Languages : en
Pages : 204

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Symbols in Stone

Symbols in Stone PDF Author: Matthew B. Brown
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781524404178
Category : Christian art and symbolism
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description


The End of Roman Britain

The End of Roman Britain PDF Author: Michael E. Jones
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 9780801485305
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 340

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Book Description
Jones offers a lucid and thorough analysis of the economic, social, military, and environmental problems that contributed to the failure of the Romans, drawing on literary sources and on recent archaeological evidence.

Dictionary of Norse Myth & Legend

Dictionary of Norse Myth & Legend PDF Author: Andrew Orchard
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
ISBN: 1399601423
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 522

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Book Description
From Loki to Thor, Ragnarok to Beowulf A gripping and truly mesmerising delve into the Norse legends From bestselling books to blockbusting Hollywood movies, the myths of the Scandinavian gods and heroes are part of the modern day landscape. For over a millennium before the arrival of Christianity, the legends permeated everyday life in Iceland and the northern reaches of Europe. Since that time, they have been perpetuated in literature and the arts in forms as diverse as Tolkien and Wagner, graphic novels to the world of Marvel. This book covers the entire cast of supernatural beings, from gods to trolls, heroes to monsters, and deals with the social and historical background to the myths, topics such as burial rites, sacrificial practices and runes.

Early Medieval Stone Monuments

Early Medieval Stone Monuments PDF Author: Howard Williams
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
ISBN: 1783270748
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 295

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Book Description
New insights into inscribed and stone monuments from across Europe in the early middle ages.

Myths and Symbols in Pagan Europe

Myths and Symbols in Pagan Europe PDF Author: H. R. Ellis Davidson
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
ISBN: 9780815624417
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Book Description
Most people know of Valhalla, the World-Tree and the gods of Norse mythology, or the strange hunts and voyages of the ancient lrish tales. Yet few people realise the significance of the similarities and contrasts between the religions of the pre-Christian people of north-western Europe. The Celts and Germans and Scandinavians had much in common in their religious practices and beliefs, and this is the first serious attempt that has been made to compare them. There are striking resemblances in their ideas about battle-goddesses and protective spirits, holy places, sacrificial rituals, divination and ideas about the Other World; and Myths and Symbols in Pagan Europe poses questions like: do such parallels go back to early times or are they owing to late Viking contact? Hilda Ellis Davidson has worked for many years on pre-Christian Scandinavian and Germanic religion and now compares them with the Celts from the background of previous studies, using evidence from archaeology, iconography, later literature and folklore, in a search for basic patterns which will add to our knowledge of the early peoples in Europe. Aimed at teachers and libraries but also accessible to students of history, religion and Celtic, Norse and German languages and cultures.

On the Ocean

On the Ocean PDF Author: Sir Barry Cunliffe
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0191075345
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 846

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Book Description
For humans the sea is, and always has been, an alien environment. Ever moving and ever changing in mood, it is a place without time, in contrast to the land which is fixed and scarred by human activity giving it a visible history. While the land is familiar, even reassuring, the sea is unknown and threatening. By taking to the sea humans put themselves at its mercy. It has often been perceived to be an alien power teasing and cajoling. The sea may give but it takes. Why, then, did humans become seafarers? Part of the answer is that we are conditioned by our genetics to be acquisitive animals: we like to acquire rare materials and we are eager for esoteric knowledge, and society rewards us well for both. Looking out to sea most will be curious as to what is out there - a mysterious island perhaps but what lies beyond? Our innate inquisitiveness drives us to explore. Barry Cunliffe looks at the development of seafaring on the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, two contrasting seas -- the Mediterranean without a significant tide, enclosed and soon to become familiar, the Atlantic with its frightening tidal ranges, an ocean without end. We begin with the Middle Palaeolithic hunter gatherers in the eastern Mediterranean building simple vessels to make their remarkable crossing to Crete and we end in the early years of the sixteenth century with sailors from Spain, Portugal and England establishing the limits of the ocean from Labrador to Patagonia. The message is that the contest between humans and the sea has been a driving force, perhaps the driving force, in human history.