The editor of this stunning large-format book has assembled an impressive collection of 19 essays that cover the whole array of Native American art and archaeology in the Midwestern and Southern United States from about 3500 B.C. to European conquest in the 1500s. Written by leading archaeologists, art historians, and tribal scholars, these essays tell the dramatic story of a fantastic artistic tradition that is little known in this country. Produced to accompany a major exhibition now showing at the Chicago Institute of Art and then traveling to St. Louis and Washington, D.C., this is a beautifully designed book with 320 color and 120 black and white illustrations, maps and drawings.
This is the story of the fabled moundbuilders and their art. Beginning around 3500 B.C. in northern Louisiana, American Indians developed a succession of distinct cultures centered around the building of mounds—burial mounds, platform mounds, effigy mounds, and mounds built in circles, squares, parallels and other formations. Some were small and unobtrusive, but others towered above the forests or spread over hundred of acres. They once numbered in the tens of thousands, but sadly only a handful remain, saved from the scourges of modern agriculture, urban sprawl, and looting.
A common world view is reflected in their works of art, which were crafted from stone, ceramics, shell, and a few pieces of surviving wood. There are realistic, symbolic, and abstract works in a wide variety of shapes and decorations. They represent the cosmic and social order of the ancients, including their view of the earth and sky. Domains of the hunt and animal powers are another important theme, and many of the pieces represent natural and mythical animals. Gods, heroes, and ancestors are omnipresent. The authors’ interpretations give added meaning to the extraordinary works of art, and place them in an historical and archaeological context the cover the entire 5,000-year period. Hero, Hawk, and Open Hand is an outstanding addition to the literature of ancient America.
