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Archaeology & Anthropology — page 2
856 public-domain archaeology & anthropology books, summarised. Page 2 of 18.
Olympic Victor Monuments and Greek Athletic Art
Walter Woodburn Hyde
An ancient athletic festival produced a vast forest of bronze and marble, yet almost all of it vanished into lime kilns and melting pots. Walter Woodburn Hyde sets out to rebuild these lost masterpieces using only broken stone bases, classical literature, and secondhand Roman copies.
An Illustrated Dictionary of Words used in Art and Archaeology: Explaining terms frequently used in works on architecture, arms, bronzes, Christian art, colour, costume, decoration, devices, emblems, heraldry, lace, personal ornaments, pottery, painting, sculpture, &c., with their derivations
John W. (John William) Mollett
A sprawling compendium bridges antiquity, classical legend, and medieval craftsmanship into an accessible guide for art lovers, antiquarians, and readers seeking the physical reality of human culture.
Omens and Superstitions of Southern India
Edgar Thurston
Every turn of daily life in historic Southern India—from the flight of a bird to the placement of a home’s doorway—is governed by unseen spiritual forces.
Old Indian trails
Walter McClintock
A young forest surveyor ventures into the Rocky Mountains of Montana and finds himself adopted into the Blackfoot tribe. There he records a vanishing way of life centered around sacred ceremonies, wilderness survival, and deep spiritual communion with nature.
The Geography of Strabo, Volume 1 (of 3): Literally Translated, with Notes
Strabo
A expansive survey of the ancient world unfolds through geometry, poetry, and imperial ambition.
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 - Volume 40 of 55, 1690-1691: Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and Their Peoples, Their History and Records of the Catholic Missions, as Related in Contemporaneous Books and Manuscripts, Showing the Political, Economic, Commercial and Religious Conditions of Those Islands from Their Earliest Relations with European Nations to the Close of the Nineteenth Century
Unknown
Colonial observers attempt to decode an unfamiliar archipelago, creating a dense portrait of island life shaped by faith, bias, and imperial ambitions.
Influences of Geographic Environment: On the Basis of Ratzel's System of Anthropo-Geography
Ellen Churchill Semple
The shape of human history, its migrations, and the development of its political boundaries are bound to the soil, climate, and topography of the earth.
Japanese Homes and Their Surroundings
Edward Sylvester Morse
A quiet revolution in domestic design awaits where timber, straw, and open air replace the heavy stonework of the West.
The Negro
W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt) Du Bois
This sweeping historical survey recovers the neglected legacy of African civilizations, challenging the pervasive racial prejudices of its time to reveal the foundational role of Black peoples in the story of humanity.
Beast and Man in India: A Popular Sketch of Indian Animals in their Relations with the People
John Lockwood Kipling
An observant Englishman walks through the markets, fields, and shrines of nineteenth-century India, watching how everyday life turns upon the bodies of working animals and the ancient stories attached to them.
Commentary Upon the Maya-Tzental Perez Codex: with a Concluding Note Upon the Linguistic Problem of the Maya Glyphs
William Gates
A rigorous attempt to reconstruct damaged Mesoamerican manuscripts reveals a grander vision: deciphering ancient ideographs might fundamentally reshape our understanding of human intellectual history.
Cave Hunting: Researches on the evidence of caves respecting the early inhabitants of Europe
William Boyd Dawkins
Deep beneath the surface of Europe lies an astonishing archive of early human history, where subterranean chambers preserve the bones, toolkits, and art of prehistoric peoples alongside the remains of extinct beasts.
The uncivilized races of men in all countries of the world
J. G. (John George) Wood
Behind the grand claims of nineteenth-century imperial exploration lies an intricate world of everyday human ingenuity, where complex social orders, exquisite craftsmanship, and sharp-witted diplomacy flourish far beyond the borders of Western industrial civilization.
Evidence as to Man's Place in Nature
Thomas Henry Huxley
A rigorous examination of primate anatomy strips away centuries of myth to reveal humanity’s precise place alongside the great apes.
The foundations of Japan
J. W. (John William) Robertson Scott
Behind Japan’s swift industrial rise lies a quiet, enduring backbone: millions of small-scale farmers working microscopic plots, balancing ancient communal obligations against the demands of a modernizing state.
Poison Romance and Poison Mysteries
C. J. S. (Charles John Samuel) Thompson
A single drop of venom, a pinch of arsenic, or a dusted glove can redraw the boundaries of empires and ruin whole dynasties.
The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 08 of 12)
James George Frazer
Sacredness and uncleanness blend together in early human thought, turning every harvest and hunt into a high-stakes encounter with the divine.
The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India, Volume 4
R. V. (Robert Vane) Russell
An expansive survey of central Indian communities illuminates how daily labor, sacred ritual, ancient migrations, and rigid social boundaries shaped the human landscape of early twentieth-century India.
The Races of Man: An Outline of Anthropology and Ethnography
Joseph Deniker
A sweeping, systematic taxonomy of global humanity maps the physical traits, cultural customs, and geographical distributions that define the world's diverse populations. It transforms anatomical measurements and material artifacts into a comprehensive science of human variation.
The Tinguian: Social, Religious, and Economic Life of a Philippine Tribe
Fay-Cooper Cole
This ethnographic study documents the complex cultural traditions, social structures, and daily practices of the Tinguian people of the Philippine island of Luzon. It offers an exhaustive, objective record of a way of life preserved through oral history and ritual.
A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms: Being an account by the Chinese monk Fa-hsien of travels in India and Ceylon (A.D. 399-414) in search of the Buddhist books of discipline
Faxian
A Chinese monk traverses the grueling deserts and mountain ranges of Central Asia to reach the heart of India, seeking the sacred texts that define his faith. His singular quest becomes a pilgrimage of endurance.
The Swastika, the Earliest Known Symbol, and Its Migration: With Observations on the Migration of Certain Industries in Prehistoric Times
Thomas Wilson
Tracing the global history of a single, ubiquitous geometric mark, this rigorous study examines the migration of the swastika from ancient Eastern origins to its manifestations in the Americas and Europe.
The Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees: Seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1885-1886, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1891, pages 301-398
James Mooney
This foundational ethnographic work documents the private spiritual and medical traditions of the Cherokee people, preserved in their own hand-written manuscripts. It recovers a complex, systematic worldview where every aspect of life—from hunting and romance to the treatment of illness—is governed by sacred,…
The Popular Religion and Folk-Lore of Northern India, Vol. 1 (of 2)
William Crooke
A vast, intricate archive of the rural spirit, this work captures the living mythology of Northern India, where ancient deities and village superstitions weave together into a single, enduring tapestry of belief.
English Villages
P. H. (Peter Hampson) Ditchfield
To know the history of the English village is to uncover the layered, living foundations of a nation, where every lane and church wall preserves the echoes of those who walked there centuries ago.
The science of fairy tales
Edwin Sidney Hartland
A foundational work of nineteenth-century folklore, this investigation explores the hidden connections between fairy legends and the primitive social structures from which they emerged. It treats myth not as mere fancy, but as a living record of human evolution.
The Story of Switzerland
Richard Stead
A rugged, alpine chronicle of a nation forged from diverse tribes, feudal scraps, and an enduring, stubborn commitment to communal independence.
The Religion of the Ancient Celts
J. A. (John Arnott) MacCulloch
The Celts were a race of dreamers whose empire was built not of stone and iron, but of spirit and myth, shaping the cultural consciousness of the West long after their political power faded.
The Babylonian Legends of the Creation
Budge, E. A. Wallis (Ernest Alfred Wallis), Sir
This collection of ancient Mesopotamian texts reconstructs the foundational myths of the Babylonian universe, preserved on fragile clay tablets unearthed from the ruins of Nineveh. It offers a rare, scholarly window into how the people of the Euphrates Valley understood the origins of the heavens, the earth, and…
Primitive culture, vol. 1 (of 2)
Edward B. (Edward Burnett) Tylor
Tracing the evolution of human thought from its earliest origins to modern civilization, this foundational work maps the development of mythology, religion, and custom through a global lens. It stands as a pillar of modern anthropology, famously defining "culture" as the complex whole that includes knowledge,…
The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 04 of 12)
James George Frazer
This massive scholarly inquiry explores the ancient, often brutal rituals surrounding the "Dying God," mapping how human societies have long attempted to preserve the fertility of the earth through the sacrifice of kings and spirits.
Museum of Antiquity: A Description of Ancient Life
L. W. (Levi W.) Yaggy
A sweeping tour across thousands of years reveals how ordinary people and legendary heroes lived, built, worshipped, and died in the ancient world.
The Magic and Science of Jewels and Stones
Isidore Kozminsky
Ancient lore and modern science converge in a sweeping study of precious stones, unlocking the hidden sympathic energies that connect the earth's minerals to human destiny.
Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley: Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, Vol. I
E. G. (Ephraim George) Squier
Across the floodplains of the American Heartland lie thousands of massive, forgotten earthworks—monumental geometrical enclosures, mysterious stone altars, and colossal effigies of giant serpents and alligators—built by a lost ancient civilization.
The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 09 of 12)
James George Frazer
Across cultures and centuries, human societies have attempted to cleanse themselves of misfortune by burdening a physical entity with their collective sins and driving it away into the wilderness.
Curious Facts in the History of Insects
Frank Cowan
A vast archive of human fascination, fear, and folk wisdom reveals how deeply the insect world has shaped human cultures across centuries and continents.
A New System
Jacob Bryant
All pagan mythology stems from a single historical truth: ancient religions were corrupted memories of the Great Flood and the deified ancestors who survived it.
The North American Indian, Vol. 1
Edward S. Curtis
A monumental ethnographic undertaking opens with an intimate look into the Southwestern desert, recording the spiritual traditions, origin myths, and everyday subsistence of the Apache, Jicarilla, and Navaho peoples.
Lancashire Folk-lore: Illustrative of the Superstitious Beliefs and Practices, Local Customs and Usages of the People of the County Palatine
John Harland
Highland boggarts, domestic charms, and ancient rituals animate a landscape where pagan memory and Christian belief collide.
An Account of The Kingdom of Nepal: And of the Territories Annexed to this Dominion by the House of Gorkha
Francis Hamilton
A rigorous, multi-layered survey of the Himalayan borderlands offers an unvarnished window into a period of dramatic political expansion and cultural consolidation.
The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion (Vol. 2 of 2)
James George Frazer
Across human civilisations, the impulse to slay the divine reveals not a rejection of the sacred, but an urgent attempt to capture, preserve, and redirect its vital power.
The Geography of Strabo, Volume 2 (of 3): Literally Translated, with Notes
Strabo
A meticulous inventory of the ancient Mediterranean, this volume maps the cities, mountain ranges, and mythic landscapes of Greece and Asia Minor through the exacting eyes of a master geographer.
The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the Dead, Volume 1 (of 3): The Belief Among the Aborigines of Australia, the Torres Straits Islands, New Guinea and Melanesia
James George Frazer
Natural theology begins not in refined sanctuaries, but in the raw terrors and practical anxieties of early humanity. This monumental study uncovers how the fear of death shaped the dawn of human belief.
An Introduction to the Study of the Maya Hieroglyphs
Sylvanus Griswold Morley
Before the Spanish conquest, Maya scribes created a complex calendrical graphic system, recording vast cycles of time in intricate stone glyphs and painted bark manuscripts.
Archaic England
Harold Bayley
A ancient world re-emerges from underfoot, where earthworks, place-names, and folk memory preserve the forgotten roots of British civilization.
A History of Art in Ancient Egypt, Vol. 1 (of 2)
Georges Perrot
This expansive study meticulously reconstructs the origins and development of Egyptian creative expression. It treats the civilization’s architecture and sculpture as an organic, unfolding history rather than a static collection of relics.
The Antiquarian Magazine & Bibliographer
Various
This collection captures the Victorian obsession with the past, serving as a time capsule for nineteenth-century scholars who found deep, almost spiritual significance in the weathered stones and faded parchments of Great Britain.
Pictographs of the North American Indians. A preliminary paper: Fourth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1882-83, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1886, pages 3-256
Garrick Mallery
Deep within the silent stone carvings and painted hides of North American indigenous history lies a complex system of communication that predates and informs the written word. This foundational study decodes the visual language of the continent’s first peoples.