The Mind in the Cave

Consciousness and the Origins of Art

David Lewis-Williams author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Thames & Hudson Ltd

Published:5th Apr '04

£19.99

Available for immediate dispatch.

The Mind in the Cave cover

An intellectual adventure story, built around the quest to understand the nature of human consciousness and the dawning of art

The author combines a lifetime of anthropological research with the most recent neurological insights in this text. Illuminating glimpses into the ancient mind are interwoven with the self-evolving story of modern-day cave discoveries and research.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.

'It is hard to praise this book too highly. I have read nothing more fascinating all year' - John Carey, Sunday Times
'The most comprehensive and convincing explanation for the cave art in Europe so far' - Chris Stringer, Evening Standard
'A genuine masterpiece' - Jean Clottes
'A masterly piece of detective work' - Sunday Telegraph
'A thorough, accessible and beautifully illustrated history of the origins of art based on anthropological and neurological research' - Observer
'A fascinating and closely argued analysis' - Colin Renfrew, University of Cambridge

ISBN: 9780500284650

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 540g

320 pages