Debra J. DeWitte Livres

An award-winning archaeologist and journalist chronicles England's history--as told through the country's recent archaeological discoveries.

Take a cast of archaeologists and historians who inhabit different worlds. Add a medieval king who died in battle, and was revived by Shakespeare as the ultimate anti-hero. Throw in a forensic quest with almost unbelievable twists, and a theatrical modern burial with no parallel, and you have the material for an irresistible story for our times.

Icon of the New Stone Age, sculptural and engineering marvel, symbol of national pride: there is nothing quite like Stonehenge. These great sarsen and bluestone slabs, arranged with simple, graphic genius, attract visitors from across the world. The monument stands silent in the face of the questions its unlikely existence raises: who built it? Why? How? 0 There has been endless speculation about why Stonehenge was built, inspiring theories ranging from the academically credible to the improbable, but far less investigation into how. In the millennia since its creation, pieces of Stonehenge have been knocked over by heavy machinery, found their way to Florida (and back again), and been exposed to radioactive sodium, but the seemingly impossible endeavour of raising the stones with Neolithic technology has remained inexplicable - until now. 0 In the past decade ground-breaking discoveries, made possible by cutting-edge scientific techniques, have traced the precise provenance of the bluestones in Wales, but can we plot their journeys to the Salisbury Plain? And how might teams of labourers lacking machinery or even pack animals have dragged them 150 miles to the site? How did they carve joints into the sarsen boulders, among the hardest stones in the world, and then raise them into place? Mike Pitts draws on a lifetime's study to answer these questions, revealing how Stonehenge stood not in austere isolation, as we see it today, but as part of a wider world, the focus of a megalithic cosmology of belief, ritual and creativity. 0 With 109 illustrations

This is a bestselling and comprehensive introductory textbook that uses a four-part structure to cover all aspects of the visual arts, including: how art is designed the visual language of art; how art is made the media and processes, covering everything from painting and sculpture to graphic design, digital media, film and installations; the history of art, from prehistoric times to the twenty-first century and including art from all parts of the world; and major themes that recur across cultures and throughout history. A unique feature, the Gateways to Art, uses eight iconic images, examined repeatedly from different points of view (compositional, stylistic, etc.), to stimulate perceptions about how great works are created and take their effect. No other book currently available has such a wide coverage, provided in a modular form that enables students and teachers to learn or teach in a truly flexible way. Beautifully illustrated with more than 1,000 images of art, this dynamic and accessible book will appeal as much to the art enthusiast as to those looking for an outstanding educational resource