How Ancient Europeans Saw the World : Vision, Patterns, and the Shaping of the Mind in Prehistoric Times

A revolutionary approach to how we view Europe's prehistoric culture The peoples who inhabited Europe during the two millennia before the Roman conquests had established urban centers, large-scale production of goods such as pottery and iron tools, a money economy, and elaborate rituals and ceremonies. Yet as Peter Wells argues here, the visual world of these late prehistoric communities was profoundly different from those of ancient Rome's literate civilization and today's industrialized societies. Drawing on startling new research in neuroscience and cognitive psychology, Wells reconstructs how the peoples of pre-Roman Europe saw the world and their place in it. He sheds new light on how they communicated their thoughts, feelings, and visual perceptions through the everyday tools they shaped, the pottery and metal ornaments they decorated, and the arrangements of objects they made in their ritual places—and how these forms and patterns in turn shaped their experience. How Ancient Europeans Saw the World offers a completely new approach to the study of Bronze Age and Iron Age Europe, and represents a major challenge to existing views about prehistoric cultures. The book demonstrates why we cannot interpret the structures that Europe's pre-Roman inhabitants built in the landscape, the ways they arranged their settlements and burial sites, or the complex patterning of their art on the basis of what these things look like to us. Rather, we must view these objects and visual patterns as they were meant to be seen by the ancient peoples who fashioned them. Europeans during the two millennia before Roman conquest had established urban centers, mass production of goods like pottery & iron tools, a money economy, elaborate rituals & ceremonies. Yet as Peter Wells argues, the visual world of these late prehistoric communities was very different from those of ancient Rome's literate civilization & today's industrialized societies. Drawing on research in neuroscience & cognitive psychology, he reconstructs how pre-Roman Europeans saw the world & their place in it. He sheds light on how they communicated their thoughts, feelings & visual perceptions thru the everyday tools they shaped, the pottery & metal ornaments they decorated & the arrangements of objects they made in their ritual places--& how these forms & patterns in turn shaped their experience. "How Ancient Europeans Saw the World" offers a new approach to the study of Bronze & Iron Age Europe, challenging views about prehistoric cultures. It demonstrates why we cannot interpret the structures pre-Roman Europeans built in the landscape, the ways they arranged their settlements & burial sites, or the complex patterning of their art on the basis of how they look to us. Rather, we must view these objects & visual patterns as they were meant to be seen by those fashioning them. List of Illustrations Preface Acknowledgments Of monsters & flowers Seeing & shaping objects The visual worlds of early Europe Frame, focus, visualization Pottery: the visual ecology of the everyday Attraction & enchantment: fibulae Status & violence: swords & scabbards Arranging spaces: objects in graves Performances: objects & bodies in motion New media in the late Iron Age: coins & writing Changing patterns in objects & in perception Contacts, commerce & the dynamics of new visual patterns The visuality of objects, past & present Bibliographic Essay References Cited Index

The peoples who inhabited Europe during the two millennia before the Roman conquests had established urban centers, large-scale production of goods such as pottery and iron tools, a money economy, and elaborate rituals and ceremonies. Yet as Peter Wells argues here, the visual world of these late prehistoric communities was profoundly different from those of ancient Rome's literate civilization and today's industrialized societies. Drawing on startling new research in neuroscience and cognitive psychology, Wells reconstructs how the peoples of pre-Roman Europe saw the world and their place in it. He sheds new light on how they communicated their thoughts, feelings, and visual perceptions through the everyday tools they shaped, the pottery and metal ornaments they decorated, and the arrangements of objects they made in their ritual places—and how these forms and patterns in turn shaped their experience.

How Ancient Europeans Saw the World offers a completely new approach to the study of Bronze Age and Iron Age Europe, and represents a major challenge to existing views about prehistoric cultures. The book demonstrates why we cannot interpret the structures that Europe's pre-Roman inhabitants built in the landscape, the ways they arranged their settlements and burial sites, or the complex patterning of their art on the basis of what these things look like to us. Rather, we must view these objects and visual patterns as they were meant to be seen by the ancient peoples who fashioned them.

The peoples who inhabited Europe during the two millennia before the Roman conquests had established urban centers, large-scale production of goods such as pottery and iron tools, a money economy, and elaborate rituals and ceremonies. Yet as this book argues, the visual world of these late prehistoric communities was profoundly different from those of ancient Rome's literate civilization and today's industrialized societies. Drawing on startling new research in neuroscience and cognitive psychology, the book reconstructs how the peoples of pre-Roman Europe saw the world and their place in it. It sheds new light on how they communicated their thoughts, feelings, and visual perceptions through the everyday tools they shaped, the pottery and metal ornaments they decorated, and the arrangements of objects they made in their ritual places—and how these forms and patterns in turn shaped their experience. The book offers a completely new approach to the study of Bronze Age and Iron Age Europe, and represents a major challenge to existing views about prehistoric cultures. It demonstrates why we cannot interpret the structures that Europe's pre-Roman inhabitants built in the landscape, the ways they arranged their settlements and burial sites, or the complex patterning of their art on the basis of what these things look like to us. Rather, we must view these objects and visual patterns as they were meant to be seen by the ancient peoples who fashioned them. Cover 1 Contents 6 List of Illustrations 8 Preface 12 Acknowledgments 18 PART I: THEORY AND METHOD 20 Chapter 1: Of Monsters and Flowers 20 Chapter 2: Seeing and Shaping Objects 37 Chapter 3: The Visual Worlds of Early Europe 53 Chapter 4: Frame, Focus, Visualization 71 PART II: MATERIAL: OBJECTS AND ARRANGEMENTS 91 Chapter 5: Pottery: The Visual Ecology of the Everyday 91 Chapter 6: Attraction and Enchantment: Fibulae 118 Chapter 7: Status and Violence: Swords and Scabbards 131 Chapter 8: Arranging Spaces: Objects in Graves 150 Chapter 9: Performances: Objects and Bodies in Motion 174 Chapter 10: New Media in the Late Iron Age: Coins and Writing 195 PART III: INTERPRETING THE PATTERNS 207 Chapter 11: Changing Patterns in Objects and in Perception 207 Chapter 12: Contacts, Commerce, and the Dynamics of New Visual Patterns 219 CONCLUSION 241 Chapter 13: The Visuality of Objects, Past and Present 241 Bibliographic Essay 250 References Cited 268 Index 300 The peoples who inhabited Europe during the two millennia before the Roman conquests had established urban centers, large-scale production of goods such as pottery and iron tools, a money economy, and elaborate rituals and ceremonies. Yet as the author argues here, the visual world of these late prehistoric communities was profoundly different from those of ancient Rome's literate civilization and today's industrialized societies. Drawing on startling new research in neuroscience and cognitive psychology, this text reconstructs how the peoples of pre-Roman Europe saw the world and their place in it The people who inhabited Europe during the two millennia before the Roman conquests had established urban centers, large-scale production of goods such as pottery and iron tools, a money economy, and more. This title argues the visual world of these late prehistoric communities was different from those of ancient Rome's literate civilization.