The most up-to-date and comprehensive study available of the enigmatic prehistoric culture of Rapa Nui. This book explores the mysteries of Easter Island, overturning many of Thor Heyerdahl’s well-publicized but ill-founded theories. The authors consider the possible methods by which the islanders transported their massive, stone effigies over long distances and erected them on platforms. The authors also look at the largely undeciphered Rongorongo script engraved on wooden boards, and the bizarre cult of the birdman, with its complex egg-hunting ritual. Why, the authors ask, did the islanders deliberately topple the figures after the first Europeans visited the island in the 18th century? Includes 200 terrific illustrations, 15 in color. CS

Publisher: Thames and Hudson
Paperback: 240 pages
Illustrated

Pictorial essay on the works of African coffin maker Kane Kwei and his cousin and onetime apprentice, Paa Joe. They specialize in a most unique type of coffin which bears the characteristics of the newly deceased. These coffins are a reflection of the dead person’s occupation: a fish coffin for a fisherman, a lion coffin for a hunter, etc. The folk art of coffin building by the people known as the Ga (a dominant ethnic group from the Accra region in Africa) began around 1904 with Ata Owoo, who founded the business. After his death in 1976, the business was carried on by Kane Kwei. The reader sees the step-by-step creation of these ornate, wooden coffins, beginning alongside the death bed and ending when they are buried. Each coffin is hand-crafted and beautifully painted, and can take the shape of anything from an eagle to a Mercedes-Benz (for a car salesman). Some have even been commissioned by art galleries and private art collectors. Many color photos document these creations and the elaborate funeral ceremonies of Accra. DW

Publisher: Thames and Hudson
Paperback: 128 pages
Illustrated

“Companion volume to Michael D. Coe’s The Maya, revised and expanded in this fourth edition. Includes enlarged sections on early village life and the rise of the Olmec civilization. Extraordinary recent discoveries—such as the stela from La Mojarra inscribed in the mysterious Isthmian script, or the mass sacrifice of 200 victims at Teotihuacan —receive full coverage. A new chapter on Aztec life and society, based on fresh readings of the ethnohistorical sources, has also been added.”

Publisher: Thames and Hudson
Paperback: 215 pages
Illustrated

Thomas covers Oceanic art from prehistory to modern times by presenting illustrations of many artifacts used ceremonially and in everyday life. He explains the symbolism and recounts many of the myths depicted on the bark-cloth, buildings, mats and shields which are characteristic of the differing regions. “Looking beyond surfaces also means looking into the contexts… A carving that has human characteristics is not necessarily a ‘representation’ of a human being or an ancestor. It may be better understood as an embodiment of that ancestor, as one expression of that ancestor, or it may be a physical container that an ancestor or spirit can be induced to inhabit at certain times.” Includes 182 illustrations, 26 in color. TR

Publisher: Thames and Hudson
Paperback: 216 pages
Illustrated

“Based on extensive firsthand research, this volume provides an island-by-island examination of the history, materials, traditions and techniques of Indonesian building forms. Supported by explanatory drawings and historical photographs, the illustrations are mostly in color and have been specially photographed by Barry Dawson. The highlights are photos taken from the balconies of the spectacular hill villages of south Nias which were inspired by the bulbous poopdecks of Dutch galleons, and the chief’s great house, the omo sebua, at Bawamataluo.”

Publisher: Thames and Hudson
Hardback: 192 pages
Illustrated

“The history of the American continent does not begin with Christopher Columbus, or even with Leif the Lucky, but with those Maya scribes in the Central American jungles who first began to record the deeds of their rulers some two thousand years ago. Of all the peoples of the pre-Columbian New World, only the ancient Maya had a complete script: they could write down anything they wanted to, in their own language… the inside story of one of the great intellectual breakthroughs of our time—the last great decipherment of an ancient script.”

Publisher: Thames and Hudson
Paperback: 304 pages
Illustrated

“Long established as the best general introduction to the New World’s greatest ancient civilization, this fifth edition has been enlarged and entirely revised, placing new emphasis on the pre-Classic period, discussing the rise of such cities as Nakbé and El Mirador during the first millennium BC. An additional chapter on the terminal Classic period highlights the increasing evidence for overpopulation and deforestation as the prime causes of the catastrophic southern Maya collapse in the ninth century AD. But the focal point remains the glorious Classic period, with its magnificent art and architecture. New discoveries at such Classic cities as Copán and Dos Pilas receive full coverage, as do the epigraphic breakthroughs that continue to shed light on Maya dynastic history and cosmology. The final chapter pays tribute to the 6 million or more contemporary Maya, guardians of so many of the ancient traditions, whose long struggle against persecution and extermination continues to this day.”

Publisher: Thames and Hudson
Paperback: 224 pages
Illustrated

In ancient Celtic legend, the great giant Gargantua was slain by the gods and his body became the flesh of the Earth, his blood the rivers and seas, and his soul the anima loci, the soul of a place. The interaccommodating latticework of Celtic art expresses the form and flow of the soul as it was perceived by Northern European peoples, not only within themselves but throughout the land they inhabited. The Celts, like so many tribal peoples the world over, worshiped the Earth and felt their beings inseparably linked to its sentient spirit. Those places where the link between man and Earth was felt the strongest were venerated as sacred: inviolable superimpositions of the spirit world upon the mortal Earth. Celtic Sacred Landscapes is an impressive compendium of the lore of these places. The myths, miracles, rituals and traditions surrounding the origin and perpetuation of the anima loci, as it resides in humble roadside shrines, in springs, caves, labyrinths, mountains, ley lines, cathedrals and many other places, are eloquently described in this handsomely illustrated volume. DN

Publisher: Thames and Hudson
Paperback: 224 pages
Illustrated

Letters of the alphabet have always held a strange magical power. Each symbol represents a sound that when arranged in the proper sequence creates a new sound that unlocks the code to produce a meaning that is understood by only those familiar with the language. It is something that we all take for granted, this incredibly complex system of communication. The Alphabetic Labyrinth examines the strange history of this familiar tool: Plato saw the letterforms as reflecting ideas, Pythagoreans assimilated them to number theory, Romans made them monumental and an instrument of power, Judaism gave rise to the complex theory of the Kabbalah, Christ became the alpha and omega, the Middle Ages gave them magical powers to be used in spells, divination and occult practices; through to the emergence of Renaissance humanism and the invention of printing, which finally began to rationalize the alphabet. Theories of its divine origin and mystical significance continued into the 18th and 19th centuries but became more involved with nationalism and revolutionary political theory.
Drucker presents a well-researched and -illustrated book that compares the alphabets of many languages throughout the ages. Each one borrowed from another, but continued to pass the torch to allow the letters and language to evolve. The amount of thought and concern that our predecessors put into the development of different alphabets and the powers associated with them is sometimes strange, but more often amusing. The last chapter provides some of the more unique interpretations of the alphabet including one based on the Atlantis myth put forth by G.F. Ennis in a 1923 publication, The Fabric of Thought. “He suggested that in the nonsense syllables of a single nursery rhyme were preserved the sounds and symbols of an original human language. This rhyme, full of racist bias, he gave as: 'Ena Dena Dina Do/Catch a Nigger by the Toe/If he hollers let him go/Ina Mena Mina Mo.' Through elaborate charts arranging the letters in rows, squares, and columns, Ennis demonstrated that the nonsense syllables spelled out a primal code, each letter of which was the name of a god or king and filled with profound significance. As the English version of the rhyme was so close to the original language it proved that England was very close—geographically and spiritually—to the old Atlantis… Children and rustics, he concluded, were the true guardians of culture, and thus the continual repetition of this rhyme in the mouths of school children perpetuated the 'wonder of the code and the glory of life and death.'” AN

Publisher: Thames and Hudson
Paperback: 328 pages
Illustrated

“Writing is perhaps humanity's greatest invention. Without it there would be no history and no civilization as we know it. The Story of Writing is the first book to demystify writing… explains the interconnection between sound, symbol and script, and goes on to discuss each of the major writing systems in turn, from cuneiform and Egyptian and Mayan hieroglyphs to alphabets and the scripts of China and Japan today.”

Publisher: Thames and Hudson
Hardback: 224 pages
Illustrated