This book wasn't so much a history of Shamanism but rather a look at how different aspect of Shamanistic practice could be seem from different aspectsThis book wasn't so much a history of Shamanism but rather a look at how different aspect of Shamanistic practice could be seem from different aspects of burial, art and mythology in Europe. I have to say that in many ways I found this book frustrating. Knowing that there are archaeological and written texts from the 3rd century BCE outlining Shamanism in the state of Chu in China, to have all this guessing seemed a bit annoying. The book started with a definition of shamanism as a religion and world view as seen in different parts of the world and then went and looked at individual practices that were included in that definition and shown how those things could be seen in British (and European) archaeology. In many cases it felt like these were reaching, especially in the later section where it was talking about Celtic and Roman mythologies that had their own religious structure, the fact that there were some similar practices seemed more like a coincidence or a common theme of religion rather than specifically shamanism. That said it did include lots of interesting photos of artifacts and information about early burials and art in Europe, even if their conclusions weren't always convincing....more
I recently finished K.C. Chang's book Shang Civilization written in 1978 it seems a little out of date now, being over 25 years old but it was still aI recently finished K.C. Chang's book Shang Civilization written in 1978 it seems a little out of date now, being over 25 years old but it was still an admirable work. Chang tried to take all the scholarship done so far in all areas of Shang studies and combine them in one easily accessible format. Being an archaeologist the large part of the book was on archaeological work, but he combined this with, oracle bone studies, bronze inscriptions, and a little literary history. He used more Chinese sources than anything else and therefore was exceedingly useful to look at the state of Chinese scholarship as well as Japanese and western works written on the Shang.
The book spent a great deal of time looking at the archaeological works on An yang. Having read several books about the Shang I was surprised by the huge amount of human sacrifice and skeletons they had found. Usually human sacrifice in the Shang gets pleasantly referred to as "accompanier's in death". The idea of a nobles household going with them to the grave. However there were many many descriptions of sacrifices to go under buildings, sacrifices for rituals, as well as in burials. The other most interesting thing was the seemingly much greater role of the consort in Shang society. A woman married to the ruler was in charge of her own area of land/township, she was also a military leader, leading troops into battle, and was a ritual specialist, leading rituals and participating in them! How seemingly egalitarian all three areas usually confined to men, ritual/religion, military, and governing/property were held by the Fu-consorts. That's so interesting I hope it's not been disproved in the past 25 years! Still there were some pretty direct translations from the oracle bones that would make it seem hard to dispute. Another interesting aspect he touched on was the difference in written language formation between China and Mesopotamia. He mentioned how there it was a case of economic need bringing written notation however in China written language started as a social need. It was used early on in pottery that was showing the owners position in society. And was later used to delineate familial ties, and lineages, clans etc and religious purposes. Very little on early economic uses survives.
The book spent a great deal of time on issues which I found not so enthralling however. But the detail was probably good information to have. Chang spent a lot of time trying to figure out exact time lines for different periods and kings. He also spent time on the natural and economic resources which were not so interesting to me. What surprised me the most was he spent very little time on the culture or religion of the Shang. Almost a year ago now I read his book Art, Myth and Religion in Ancient China this book dealt almost exclusively with religion and life in bronze age china, the so called three dynasties period. That book seemed to have been written from a more historical point of view and contained interesting and controversial theories, but gave much more a sense of the life of the people.My review of that work can be found here http://www.livejournal.com/users/robo.... The Shang book gave a very good sense of the death, and burial of the people. Something interesting in itself, just not as interesting to me. Though I do love descriptions of burials and sacrifice I always want to know the why behind them.
I did enjoy this book, though probably not as much as the first book on the three dynasties I read. It's fun to take a break and look at very early Chinese history for a change. Though reading this book I'm glad I decided not to include it as part of my masters as it just seems to have too many boring parts! I fear I'm just too much of a social historian. Politics and economics just don't really do it for me. But still this was a great look into the state of the field at the time, especially due to the rich footnotes for the Chinese language studies that had been done. ...more
This is the book that goes along with the Natural History Museum's exhibition on early man in Britain. The exhibition focuses on interesting research This is the book that goes along with the Natural History Museum's exhibition on early man in Britain. The exhibition focuses on interesting research that has been done in the past decade which places human inhabitation of Britain at much earlier dates than previously thought. I really enjoyed the exhibition and decided to get the book that went along with it.
The book is laid out in the same pattern as the exhibition giving a more in depth analysis of the information presented. The book is perfect for people who don't have a background in the area as it goes over the history in simple and easy to understand terms. It explains the importance of new finds and looks at how the ideas have changed over time. Reading the book gives you a good overview of the history of hominids in Britain.
It has lots of lovely illustrations. Definitely one I'd recommend....more
Chu has always been my favorite of the Warring states, with it’s shamanistic religion and culture I find it very fascinating. I learned a LOT more aboChu has always been my favorite of the Warring states, with it’s shamanistic religion and culture I find it very fascinating. I learned a LOT more about it from reading this book Defining Chu is an excellent collection of papers about the Warring States’ period. The book starts with a series of archeological based essays about Chu, it’s geography, economy, politics, grave goods culture and laws. The later essays that discussed the state and the religion were, to me, by far the most interesting. It ended looking at the rather late interpretation of Chu in Han times, in particular during the reign of Hanwudi. A very interesting book for people interested in early and pre-imperial China....more
I was really happy to have found this book in Paris. It describes in tremendous detail the banner belonging to the Marquis of Dai found in the tombs aI was really happy to have found this book in Paris. It describes in tremendous detail the banner belonging to the Marquis of Dai found in the tombs at Mawangdui. Many books I have read have referred to this banner and how it is a representation of the Chinese afterlife. Having read this book it seems less of a journey of the dead like you'd find in an Egyptian tomb and more of a description of the world, both heavenly and earthly. But that could just be because of the way they chose to describe it.
The book gives a brief background on the object and it's significance and then goes through the banner and examines each figure, animal and talks about the meaning of that figure within Chinese cosmology/thought and how it fits in with the other images. Most of the descriptions related to yin/yang theory. There are plenty of ilustrations so it's easy to see what they are talking about. Often reading the descriptions you start to see things that you didn't see to start with. It focuses mostly on yin/yang and the five elements and I did wonder if more had been done putting it in more of a religious context but I wasn't able to find any more articles about it on Jstor.
But I would definitely recommend this book. I really enjoyed it. I felt that I learned a lot reading it. Not only is it a good description of the banner but can also be used as a reference book for Chinese symbolism....more
I found this book in our local remainders shop for £6, when I checked amazon it was selling new for 100 and used for 60 so I thought I'd buy it cause I found this book in our local remainders shop for £6, when I checked amazon it was selling new for 100 and used for 60 so I thought I'd buy it cause even if I hated it I could sell it for a huge profit. Thankfully I didn't hate it.
I thought it was a very interesting look at Australian Aboriginal culture and religion. While I've read mythology books about the Dreaming before I'd not read any academic texts. Despite that I was able to follow along the different arguments and ideas that David put forth as he gave lots of background and theory to his arguments and points. As a historian and not an archaeologist I wasn't able to judge the methodology used but it seemed quite balanced. The historical arguments at least were all familiar to me and seemed quite sound. While he used a lot of what I call "post modern terminology" (there was actually a subheading called subverting the dominant paradigm). He did it in such a way that you could still understand what he was talking about and I found myself agreeing with many of the points he raised.
His theory behind the book that the idea of the Dreaming as this timeless religious idea and the idea that the religion and the aborigine culture remaining unchanged for thousands of years grew out of the racist assumptions of the past that as they used stone tools they must just be like the stone age people from Europe and must have remained in a static state for the intervening time. He went to look at different archaeological evidence to challenge this preconception, pointing out it's racist origins and find out how much validity to this idea there was.
David examined ritual practices, cave art, beliefs about certain areas, population centres and food sources as different ways of assessing these ideas. He found that there were distinct periods were there was noticable change. That while still very old, in some cases several thousand years, there was not a "timelessness" to the past. But rather there were definite changes, growth periods, and changes in both belief and practice that could be shown. One of the most interesting examples was of an area that was considered unsafe to live in because of religious beliefs from the dreaming figures that occupied it but that had been a source of habitation up until about 600 years ago.
This was not a book that went into detail about the Australian Aboriginal culture, though there was quite a lot that was covered including gender relations, religion, work, rituals, art, food to name a few. But when given these were used to look at how they were now in relation to how they had changed.
I found this book very interesting, not only because I learned much more about Aboriginal culture but also from a theory point of view about the way we view history and in particular the history and religion of other cultures. I'm very glad I found it. ...more
I bought this book as it had the best reproduction of the Han dynasty picture of Xiwangmu that I've seen. It looked like a fairly typical basic art boI bought this book as it had the best reproduction of the Han dynasty picture of Xiwangmu that I've seen. It looked like a fairly typical basic art book about China, but then I noticed it was written by Edward Shaughnessy who is a proper Chinese historian so I decided it was worth getting. The book has some amazing pictures and gives a very good brief overview of Chinese history from the Bronze Age to the An Lushan rebellion in the mid-Tang. The book looks at all aspects of life in early Imperial China, from politics, war, art and religion. This book is a really great introduction to early dynastic history. And it has a fantastic list of references at the back for those who wish to learn more, most of which I've read and really enjoyed. I would highly recommend this book as an excellent starting point to anyone who is wanting to learn more about China's early history....more
I bought this book because I've always been vaguely interested in the Tarim mummies but have learnt nothing about them. Also because it was written byI bought this book because I've always been vaguely interested in the Tarim mummies but have learnt nothing about them. Also because it was written by Victor Mair who is an excellent scholar. I've really enjoyed books by him in the past, and got to hear him talk at the Dunhuang conference I went to a couple years ago. The book is actually so much more than a book on the mummies. It's actually a history of East Central Asia. It looks at the different people and cultures that lived in the area, what ancient European and Chinese sources had to say about them, what archaeological expeditions from the early 20th century on have found, as well as an incredibly detailed history of the linguistics of the region, as well as indo-european languages in general (The other author being an expert in prehistoric archeology). While it claims to be a popular history it does go into a great deal of depth about archeology, linguistics and history. I feel like I know so much more about the region than when I started and that it will make a great reference book in the future. The chapters on the mummies themselves are interesting, they give details of the burials, the clothes, the grave goods and the different areas and time frames. The only criticism of the book I have is that they do this divided by theme, so you get all the stuff on the textiles together, rather than each individual burial. As there are so many different sites and burials it can be a bit confusing to remember who came from where and when so I found myself flipping back quite a bit. I think it would have been better to have gone into detail about each burial all together. But still otherwise it was great, and the burial with the screaming baby was very easy to remember! The book has lots and lots of great illustrations, black and white as well as lovely colour plates of the mummies. As well as illustrations of the mummies tattoos, maps and diagrams of the graves. It was a very interesting book. Definitely one I'd recommend....more
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