Social Symbolism in Ancient & Tribal Art

5. Vol. 2, Book 1 - Family Tree: Stacked Ancestors, Y-Posts & Heavenly Ladders

Family Tree: Stacked Ancestors, Y-Posts & Heavenly Ladders is the first book of five in Volume Two. This series reorganizes, under new headings, the data outlined in Volume One. Carpenter's presentation deals with the origin of the iconography, stressing design as a cultural document, and argues in favor of Schuster's emphasis on ephemeral materials over archeological evidence. Carpenter introduces the concept of family trees, citing their manifestations in tree worship and sacrificial posts, as representative of genealogy. He examines Y-posts and Y-staffs, double-headed anthropomorphic figures and vessels, shaved sticks, stacked ancestors and heavenly ladders.