Author: Maringer, Johannes

Concise, scholarly, and well illustrated, here is a wonderfully accessible introduction to the religious practices of prehistoric man. Follow the countless traces left behind by ancient peoples, extracted from the earth's immense archives: these artifacts--including a hunting scene painted at the Cueva de los Caballos in Spain; clay fertility figures from Czechoslovakia; and the famed monument at Stonehenge--have been woven into an enthralling narrative of the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic periods. Belief in the afterlife, the cult of the dead, ritual cannibalism, sacrificial offerings, burial practices, votive gifts, and fertility goddesses are just a few of the areas uncovered and investigated in this absorbing volume.