The History of Magic

by Chris Gosden

Taking the stance that magic ‘is one of the oldest world-views and yet it is capable of constant renewal’, Chris Gosden traces its relationship to religion and science and how its influence has shaped human societies, from Central Europe during the Ice Age to its place in the modern world.

Paperback

About the author

Chris Gosden is a Professorial Fellow in European Archaeology at the University of Oxford. He teaches students in the Archaeology and Anthropology degree. He is also an author of several books on human links with the material world, the long term history of creativity, intelligence, the emotions, and aesthetics; the archaeology of colonisation in the recent past, as well as in older periods such as the setting up of the Roman empire;late Prehistoric periods in Europe from the late Bronze Age to AD 400. Celtic art and other aspects of material culture;issues of identity, especially what it means to be English;the history of museums, their collections, archaeology and anthropology as disciplines.