Kenneth Lapatin. Mysteries of the Snake Goddess: art, desire, and the forging of history.

Kenneth Lapatin. Mysteries of the Snake Goddess: art, desire, and the forging of history. KENNETH LAPATIN. Mysteries of the Snake Goddess Snake Goddess describes a number of figurines of a woman holding a serpent in each hand found during excavation of Minoan archaeological sites in Crete dating from approximately 1600 BCE. : art, desire, andthe forging of history. xii+274 pages, 111 figures, 1 table. 2002.Cambridge (MA): Da Capo Press; 0-306-81328-9 paperback $16.95 &CAN$25.95. MILES RUSSELL. Piltdown Man Piltdown man,name given to human remains found during excavations (1908–15) at Piltdown, Sussex, England, by Charles Dawson. The find led to much speculation and argument. : the secret life of Charles Dawson andthe world's greatest archaeological hoax. 288 pages, 105 figures.2003. Stroud: Tempus; 0-7524-2572-2 paperback 14.99 [pounds sterling]. Widely ranging, extensive and imaginative exploration distinguishesboth Mysteries and Piltdown. 'For those who continue to hope thatthe Boston [Museum of Fine Arts Museum of Fine Arts,Boston, chartered and incorporated (1870) after a decision by the Boston Athenaeum, Harvard, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to pool their collections of art objects and house them in adequate public galleries. ] Snake Goddess ... might contain ...some genuine Minoan kernel', Dr LAPATIN concedes (pp. 187-8) that'the bulk of her ... was fashioned by skilled Cretancraftsmen'--inspired by the imagination of Arthur Evans andcolleagues. What, then, was the nature of Minoan religion? That'answers ... have ... been ... of their own ages' is 'atonce less satisfactory and more fascinating' (p. 65). Thebook's readability springs from the author's fascination withthe trail of his investigation. The Piltdown tale is more familiar toANTIQUITY readers, no doubt, but has not, perhaps, been exposed soextensively before: evidently, much personal and cultural background isneeded in order to understand the wretched prank; Dr RUSSELL'saccount is absorbing and witty.