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"Stone Age Handaxes, Art & Ritual (Second Edition)" has over a hundred full-colour photographs.
Beginning by introducing handaxes crafted by the earliest inhabitants of the British Isles, one million years ago, this work details that they carved, pecked and knapped these artefacts as art. In this respect, handaxes of all types, shapes and forms were not so much meant for use as weapons, but more as tools and ceremonial objects, having dual ritualistic and practical functions, as well often being beautiful objects.
Passed down as ancestral heirlooms, they became enthused with 'mana' and were often placed as offerings in streams, or at tomb and grave sites, or by sacred groves. Until now, the designs seen on these artefacts have not generally been recognised as art.
The main theme of this work therefore is to introduce, in detail, these handaxes as art forms to the world of archaeology and the public alike. Intangible, ritualistic meanings they once held, yet tangible stone art they remain, preserved as monuments to the skill and cognitive abilities of our most distant ancestors.
Über den Autor / die Autorin
Stepping outside the proverbial box and resetting fixed narratives, is challenging. After tackling several topics of world interest over the past 45 years of his writing career, from Okinawan martial history to ancestry, the author set out to discover and report on Stone Age art. "Stone Age Rock Art, A Three-Million-Year Journey (In colour)" is his forth book on this challenging subject; a topic that has eluded the archaeological community for so long, but sorely needs to be addressed. Most of his published works can be discovered in the Facebook group, Q&I Publications.
