You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
Imagine the North American Indians as astronomers carefully watching the heavens, charting the sun through the seasons, or counting the sunrises between successive lumar phases. Then imagine them establishing observational sites and codified systems to pass their knowledge down through the centuries and continually refine it. A few years ago such images would have been abruptly dismissed. Today we are wiser. Living the Sky describes the exciting archaeoastronomical discoveries in the United States in recent decades. Using history, science, and direct observation, Ray A. Williamson transports the reader into the sky world of the Indians. We visit the Bighorn Medicine Wheel, sit with a Zuni sun priest on the winter solstice, join explorers at the rites of the Hopis and the Navajos, and trek to Chaco Canyon to make direct on-site observations of celestial events.
None
An Archaeology of the Cosmos seeks answers to two fundamental questions of humanity and human history. The first question concerns that which some use as a defining element of humanity: religious beliefs. Why do so many people believe in supreme beings and holy spirits? The second question concerns changes in those beliefs. What causes beliefs to change? Using archaeological evidence gathered from ancient America, especially case material from the Great Plains and the pre-Columbian American Indian city of Cahokia, Timothy Pauketat explores the logical consequences of these two fundamental questions. Religious beliefs are not more resilient than other aspects of culture and society, and people are not the only causes of historical change. An Archaeology of the Cosmos examines the intimate association of agency and religion by studying how relationships between people, places, and things were bundled together and positioned in ways that constituted the fields of human experience. This rethinking theories of agency and religion provides readers with challenging and thought provoking conclusions that will lead them to reassess the way they approach the past.
"A much needed antidote to 'Art Writing' as it is encountered in the art mags . . . his writing is fluent and the style attractive and engaging."--Stephen Foster, University of Iowa
Take a fascinating journey through Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde with leading southwestern archaeologists, historians, architects, artists, and urban planners as guides. Twenty-two essays identify Anasazi building and cultural features related to design and site planning, history, mythology, and ecology. 40 halftones. 5 maps.
In the Image of God is a compilation of lectures by Stanley Leavy, a psychoanalyst approaching retirement, reflecting on his experience as a follower of Freud and his method and also as a lifelong, faithful Episcopalian. The overarching idea linking the individual lectures is Leavy's belief that "the deliberate study of the operations of the mind must yield results that are not just compatible with religious faith but amplify it," eschewing the faith versus science argument for a more inclusive worldview.
Describes the river, including ruins, small wildlife, and the experiences of early travelers