Overview

The book discusses the creative mental processes of the prehistoric and contemporary artists, as well as of the archaeologists studying them from the perspective of cognition and art. Its intention is to highlight the artistic thinking within the imagination of the archaeologist, as well as to discuss the concepts of imagination and art in the current scientific research. From this perspective, the book suggests a type of research closer to the complexity of human nature and human thinking that can approach cultural and psychological subjects ignored until now.

It is hoped that one of the results of the book will be the formulation of new meanings for art from the perspective of archaeology. Responding to the recent ongoing growing interest in the art-archaeology interaction, the editor has carefully selected papers written by a series of eminent European and American scholars with a background in ancient and contemporary art, symbolic thinking, semiotics, and archaeological imagination, with the intention of introducing new arguments and discussions into the emerging art-archaeology discourse.

Structure

The book is composed of three parts: “Art and the ancient mind”, “Experiencing the ancient mind”, and “Exploring the act of creation”.