The Mind in the Cave

Consciousness and the Origins of Art

£19.99
£19.99

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What does the breathtakingly beautiful art depicted on the walls of caves such as Lascaux, Chauvet and Altamira, tell us about the nature of the ancestral mind? How did these images spring, seemingly from nowhere into the human story?<br><br><i>The Mind in the Cave</i> puts forward the most plausible explanation yet proposed for the origins of image-making and art

What does the breathtakingly beautiful art depicted on the walls of caves such as Lascaux, Chauvet and Altamira, tell us about the nature of the ancestral mind? How did these images spring, seemingly from nowhere into the human story?

The Mind in the Cave puts forward the most plausible explanation yet proposed for the origins of image-making and art. This is a masterful piece of detective work, casting light on the darkest mysteries of our earliest ancestors and on the nature of our own consciousness and experience.
Extent: 320 pp
Format: Paperback with flaps
Illustrations: 94
Publication date: 2004-04-05
Size: 23.4 x 15.6 cm
ISBN: 9780500284650
Preface; Three Time-Bytes; 1. Discovering Human Antiquity; 2 Seeking Answers; 3. Creative Illusion; 4. The Matter of the Mind; 5. Case Study 1: Southern African San Rock Art; 6. Case Study 2: North American Rock Art; 7. An Origin of Image-Making; 8. The Cave in the Mind; 9. Cave and Community; 10. Cave and Conflict

Press Reviews

A fascinating and closely argued analysis
Colin Renfrew, University of Cambridge

The most comprehensive and convincing explanation for the cave art in Europe so far
Chris Stringer, Evening Standard

A thorough, accessible and beautifully illustrated history of the origins of art based on anthropological and neurological research
Observer

A genuine masterpiece
Jean Clottes

About the Author

David Lewis-Williams is Professor Emeritus and Senior Mentor in the Rock Art Research Institute, University of the Witswatersrand, Johannesburg. Among his books are The Mind in the Cave, Inside the Neolithic Mind (with David Pearce) and The Shamans of Prehistory (with Jean Clottes).

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