Ancestral Images: The Iconography of Human Origins By Stephanie Moser

Ancestral ImagesThe Iconography of Human Origins\nAuthor(s): Stephanie Moser, Clive Gamble\nFormat: Hardback\nPublisher: Cornell University Press, United States\nImprint: Cornell University Press\nISBN-13: 9780801435492, 978-0801435492\nSynopsis\nPictorial reconstructions of ancient human ancestors have twin purposes: to make sense of shared ancestry and to bring prehistory to life. Stephanie Moser analyzes the close relationship between representations of the past and theories about human evolution, showing how this relationship existed even before a scientific understanding of human origins developed. How did mythological, religious, and historically inspired visions of the past, in existence for centuries, shape this understanding? Moser treats images as primary documents, and her book is lavishly illustrated with engravings, paintings, photographs, and reconstructions.\n\n In surveying the iconography of prehistory, Moser explores visions of human creation from their origins in c.