Free Delivery Over $100
|
|
|||
|
||||
Overview"As the nomadic hunters and gatherers of the ancient Near East turned to agriculture for their livelihood and settled into villages, religious ceremonies involving dancing became their primary means for bonding individuals into communities and households into villages. So important was dance that scenes of dancing are among the oldest and most persistent themes in Near Eastern prehistoric art, and these depictions of dance accompanied the spread of agriculture into surrounding regions of Europe and Africa. In this pathfinding book, Yosef Garfinkel analyzes depictions of dancing found on archaeological objects from the Near East, southeastern Europe, and Egypt to offer the first comprehensive look at the role of dance in these Neolithic (7000- 4000 BC) societies. In the first part of the book, Garfinkel examines the structure of dance, its functional roles in the community (with comparisons to dance in modern pre-state societies), and its cognitive, or symbolic, aspects.This analysis leads him to assert that scenes of dancing depict real community rituals linked to the agricultural cycle and that dance was essential for maintaining these calendrical rituals and passing them on to succeeding generations. In the concluding section of the book, Garfinkel presents and discusses the extensive archaeological data - some 400 depictions of dance - on which his study is based. Also of interest How writing came about Denise Schmandt-Besserat 1996 0-292-77704-3 PB GBP15.95 An American Scientist ""Top 100 books that shaped a century of science book""" Full Product DetailsAuthor: Yosef GarfinkelPublisher: University of Texas Press Imprint: University of Texas Press Dimensions: Width: 17.80cm , Height: 2.50cm , Length: 25.40cm Weight: 0.998kg ISBN: 9780292728455ISBN 10: 029272845 Pages: 346 Publication Date: 01 June 2003 Audience: Professional and scholarly , Professional & Vocational Format: Hardback Publisher's Status: Out of Print Availability: Out of stock  Table of Contents"List of Figures List of Tables Acknowledgments Part I. The Dance Analysis Chapter 1. Introduction Chapter 2. Structural Analysis of the Dance Chapter 3. Functional Analysis of the Dance Chapter 4. Cognitive Analysis of the Dancing Scenes Chapter 5. Conclusions Part II. The Data Chapter 6. General Remarks Concerning the Data Chapter 7. Neolithic Near East Chapter 8. Halafian and Samarra Cultures Chapter 9. Neolithic and Chalcolithic Iran Chapter 10. Neolithic Southeast Europe Chapter 11. Predynastic Egypt Chapter 12. Later Examples from the Near East Chapter 13. Appendix: The Figures with ""Turned-Upwards Legs"" Bibliography Index"ReviewsIn a highly original and impeccably researched book, Professor Garfinkel examines the cultural origins of primitive dance... Dancing at the Dawn of Agriculture offers fresh insights into life in the Cradle of Civilization, and will hopefully serve as great sustenance for future thought on this intriguing issue. --Minvera, November/December, 2004 Author InformationYosef Garfinkel is a Senior Lecturer in the Institute of Archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |
||||
