Most popular History of art: pre-history books

An archaeological exploration of the mysterious world of cave art through the ages.

Mary Ellen Miller's rich visual and scholarly survey of pre-Hispanic art and architecture, including the most recent archaeological finds.

The essential guide to the most important masterpieces in history, revised and fully updated for 2018.

Illustrating the Past explores the history of reconstruction art and archaeology. Through the exploration of seven artists' work, the reader is shown how the artist's way of seeing illustrates the past and sometimes how it has changed the way the past is seen.

Embark on a tour of the world's greatest artistic movements and works, from prehistoric cave paintings to performance art with The Art Book, the latest in the stunning Big Ideas series. The Art Book explores the most celebrated artworks by history's most influential painters, sculptors, and artists with stunning visuals and insightful quotes. Discover profiles of the most important artists from across the globe, stretching from the prehistoric Altamira cave paintings and Chinese jade carvings to movements including impressionism, symbolism, and cubism. Understand the ideas which inspired masterpieces by Botticelli, Rembrandt, Klimt, Matisse, Picasso, and dozens more, with The Art Book's fascinating coverage of painting, drawing, printing, sculpture, conceptual art, and performance art, from ancient history to the modern day. This hardback book has 352 pages and measures: 23.8 x 20 x 2.6cm

Despite vanishing from Earth 66 million years ago, dinosaurs are one of our favorite cultural fascinations. In this history of paleoart, writer Zoe Lescaze and artist Walton Ford scour the globe for dinosaur paintings, drawings, prints, mosaics, and murals. Dating from early 19th century to the digital era, this collection is a celebration of...

This is the story of the discovery, in 2003, of Britain's first Ice Age cave art at Creswell Crags. It includes a definitive list, photographs, drawings and description of the motifs and sets the discovery in its archaeological and geological context.

Can cognitive science explain the potency of such images? Does evolutionary psychology hold a key to understanding the transmission of symbols? How is our making and perception of images influenced by institutions and technologies? This title deals with these questions.

Leading archaeologist Paul Bahn explores the caves, rocks, and objects decorated by our Ice Age ancestors, giving us a unique opportunity to marvel at some of the earliest evidence of artistic expression. Images of the Ice Age provides a visual feast and an absorbing synthesis of this crucial aspect of human history.

First comprehensive consideration of the role, function, social context and significance of pots shaped to mimic the human body or parts thereof among prehistoric communities

Two of the greatest living authorities on Ice Age art take the reader on a journey across the globe and hundreds of thousands of years into the past to discover the deepest origins of art.

This new history of over 5000 years of African art reveals its true diversity for the first time. Challenging centuries of misconceptions that have obscured the sophisticated nature of African art, Peter Garlake uses the latest research and archaeological findings to offer exciting new insights.

The first guide to all the decorated Ice Age caves in Europe that are open to the public. Covers 50 caves in England, France, Spain, Portugal and Italy, and the relevant museums and centres.

A beautiful and simple introduction to the Book of Kells. George Otto Simms, a world-renowned authority on the Book of Kells, reveals the mysteries hidden in this magnificent manuscript, and the lives of the monks who made it. Newly-expanded colour plate section.

Breaking the Surface offers comprehensive discussions of the philosophy of holes and perforations, the linguistic anthropology of cut- and break-words, and the perceptual psychology of concavities. The book offers a revelatory way to handle the archaeological past and is a major step forward in the growing subdiscipline of art and archaeology.

This book is for students and scholars of ancient civilizations who would benefit from an approach to Ancient Greece which compares anthropological approaches to other early civilizations, including ancient China, the Maya, the Inca, the Harappan, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Japan.

The Erligang culture is best known for the remains of an immense walled city at Zhengzhou, a smaller site at Panlongcheng in Hubei, and a large-scale bronze industry of remarkable artistic and technological sophistication. This book deals with Erligang culture.

'Troy. City, Homer and Turkey' presents the latest insights and discoveries relating to both the historical and the legendary Troy.

This book examines the sub-genre of prehistoric-themed paintings and how it captured the imagination of French academic painters from the 1880s to early 1900s. Its primary focus is the oeuvre of Fernand Cormon (1845-1924), one of the foremost history painters during the final quarter of the nineteenth century.

The first-ever exploration of the little-known geometric images that accompany most cave art around the world.

This book explores the nature of creativity in a critical period of human history - the European Bronze Age - through developments in three key crafts - pottery, textiles, and metalwork. It will interest students and teachers of prehistory/archaeology, craft studies (especially textiles, metal, and pottery), as well as those interested in creativity.