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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities

The Meaning Of Dark, Light And Shadows: Inferences In Art, Materiality And Cultural Practices, Frank Prendergast Jan 2022

The Meaning Of Dark, Light And Shadows: Inferences In Art, Materiality And Cultural Practices, Frank Prendergast

Book/Book Chapter

Our visual awareness relies on light acting on the eye to perceive materiality and colour. Medieval thought wrestled to articulate and comprehend its nature. The notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci, for example, included his descriptions to define light and make comparisons so as to differentiate between light and shadow. His focus was on the illumination of surfaces from the perspective of a painter, seeing shadows as ‘the diminution of light by the intervention of an opaque body’ and ‘the counterpart of luminous rays’. In his mind, a shadow ‘stood between light and darkness’, with darkness being ‘the absence of light’. …


The North Sky And The Otherworld: Journeys Of The Dead In The Neolithic Considered, Frank Prendergast Jan 2021

The North Sky And The Otherworld: Journeys Of The Dead In The Neolithic Considered, Frank Prendergast

Book/Book Chapter

The majority of Irish passage tombs (c. 230) predominantly date to the Middle Neolithic (c. 3600–3000 BC). A small number of summit cairns may also contain passage tombs because of their round form, proximity and intervisibility. The island’s passage tombs and related cairns share distinguishing characteristics – elevated siting, visibility and long-range views of distant horizons in varying directions of the compass. This chapter presents the findings of the first scenic analysis of the horizon and views at these sites recorded at an island scale. The method uses measured orientations of horizon sectors related to observed variation in horizon range. …


Editorial—Culture And Cosmos : The Marriage Of Astronomy And Culture, Volume 21, Frank Prendergast, Nicholas Campion, Liz Henty, Bernadette Brady, Darrelyn Gunzburg, Fabio Silva Jan 2017

Editorial—Culture And Cosmos : The Marriage Of Astronomy And Culture, Volume 21, Frank Prendergast, Nicholas Campion, Liz Henty, Bernadette Brady, Darrelyn Gunzburg, Fabio Silva

Book/Book Chapter

This volume of Culture and Cosmos draws together a selection of papers delivered at the 24th annual conference of the European Society for Astronomy in Culture (SEAC). The conference, titled 'The Marriage of Astronomy and Culture: Theory and Method in the Study of Cultural Astronomy', occurred between the 12th and the 16th September 2016 and was held at The Bath Literary and Scientific Institution (BRLSI), which has been hosting research endeavours since it foundation in 1824. SEAC 2016 combined history with the latest in twenty-first century developments and, for the very first time, was webcast to SEAC members who could …


Grange Stone Circle (B):New Thoughts On An Old Monument, Frank Prendergast Jan 2016

Grange Stone Circle (B):New Thoughts On An Old Monument, Frank Prendergast

Book/Book Chapter

No abstract provided.


The Pleiades, Frank Prendergast Jan 2013

The Pleiades, Frank Prendergast

Book/Book Chapter

The prominence of the Pleiades star cluster in the night sky, as well as its recurring seasonal reappearance, has brought it to the attention of many cultures in more recent times, as well as in the prehistoric past. This summary description includes references to its mythical and traditional importance, and an example of how it was depicted on a bark painting by an unknown indigenous Australian artist.


The Lismullin Enclosure: Design Beyond The Obvious In The Iron Age, Frank Prendergast Aug 2012

The Lismullin Enclosure: Design Beyond The Obvious In The Iron Age, Frank Prendergast

Book/Book Chapter

No abstract provided.