Iconographic Method in New World Prehistory

This book offers an overview of iconographic methods and their application to archaeological analysis.

Vernon James Knight, Jr (Author)

9781107022638, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 29 October 2012

214 pages, 45 b/w illus.
23.5 x 16 x 1.2 cm, 0.49 kg

"Knight offers a revolutionary departure from earlier studies, and at the same time advances an extraordinary and timely contribution forged from the best that art history and archaeology have to offer the iconographic study of American Indian symbolic forms. Significantly, the author advances 18 essential principles or propositions critical to the rigorous analysis and interpretation of iconographic forms, and these alone will undoubtedly prompt new directions and revolutionary new interpretations in New World prehistory. Essential." --Choice

This book offers an overview of iconographic methods and their application to archaeological analysis. It offers a truly interdisciplinary approach that draws equally from art history and anthropology. Vernon James Knight, Jr begins with an historiographical overview, addressing the methodologies and theories that underpin both archaeology and art history. He then demonstrates how iconographic methods can be integrated with the scientific methods that are at the core of much archaeological inquiry. Focusing on artifacts from the pre-Columbian civilizations of North and Meso-American sites, Knight shows how the use of iconographic analysis yields new insights into these objects and civilizations.

1. Preliminaries: an iconography of prehistoric images
2. Style
3. Form and referent
4. Configurational analysis
5. Ethnographic analogy
6. The logic of iconographic method in prehistory.

Subject Areas: Hispanic & Latino studies [JFSL4], Prehistoric archaeology [HDDA], Archaeological theory [HDA], History of the Americas [HBJK], History of art: pre-history [ACC]