[blam]

"Both of us independently discovered that we had both felt at ease and happy inside the profusely decorated "bison sanctuary" at the end of the main corridor. But we both felt distinctly ill at ease in a different, undecorated part of the cave, and were glad to leave."

Boy O Boy. They must not have had their crystals with them.

[blam]

GGG Ping.

[baclava]

Those damn Greys again!

[Servant of the 9]

So What's New?

So9

[Mr Ramsbotham]

Cave men painting for the gods? Not necessarily. Sir James Fraser, the great anthropologist postured that primitive beliefs center around two overriding principles: like begets like and contagion. With the former, if you jump up and down while planting your seeds, the plants are liable to grow very tall; if you draw a picture of an animal you are accustomed to hunting and place a spear in a critical area of the pictured animal, you'll have an equal measure of success in the actual hunt.

[humblegunner]

Many theories have been put forward – "art for art's sake", totemism, hunting magic and so on.

Same reason I have deer paintings.
I like 'em, I hunt 'em, I eat 'em.

Animals are great!

[nicollo]

Worshipping the gods, or thanking them?
(or spanking 'em...)

[dog breath]

I have always believed that these were sacred images since most cultures that did rock paintings into historical times felt that way. While the religious significance of the images is lost to us, the fact that they were done with great difficulty is not. The most common religion found in hunting societies is a form of shamanism. Shamanism often works much like witchcraft, where intent gives objects their power. The images may of worked like a spell giving the shaman power over the images. Later with the invention of writing, magic often is worked with just a name or words written with sacred intent. Some may represent mythical figures and others may represent desired results. Many shamanistic beliefs involved journeys into the underworld to obtain what was needed for the tribe. A descent into the bowels of the earth to work your most sacred magic seems like it would have great power, both for the shaman and the tribe.

[Old Professer]

Much nonsense has been published about "shamans", hallucinations and the like, but these fantasies tell us a great deal about the theorists and nothing about the Ice Age artists.

It is a poor author who heeds not his own caution.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Blam.

Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on, off, or alter the "Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list --
Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
The GGG Digest -- Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

[SunkenCiv]

Cretan Mythology
WebArchive
www.good.co.uk/oneworld/minoan.html [original is a dead link]

Robert Graves mentions in his book The White Goddess that an Aurignacian cave painting at Cogul in Spain depicts a similar ceremony or ritual. The scene shows a young man naked, apart form a pair of leather buskins, surrounded by nine witches with conical hats. Next to them is a black pig or boar which no doubt represents the Dark Goddess synonymous with the Moirae or Fates and running away is a young fawn with another rider on its back representing the escaping soul of the doomed victim. The entire scene parallels the myth of Perseus, his encounter with the Graeae and his decapitation of the Gorgon Medusa apart from the more obvious patriarchal revisions.

---

---

Women and Animals: Rock Shelter Painting, Cogul, Lerida, Spain, c. 4000-3000 BC (BCE), Museo Arqueologico, Barcelona

---

---

FR Lexicon·Posting Guidelines·Excerpt, or Link only?·Ultimate Sidebar Management·Headlines
Donate Here By Secure Server·Eating our own -- Time to make a new start in Free Republic
PDF to HTML translation·Translation page·Wayback Machine·My Links·FreeMail Me
Gods, Graves, Glyphs topic·and group·Books, Magazines, Movies, Music

---

[nopardons]

bttt

[Drammach]

The article / writer does not take into account the possibility that the paintings, engravings, statuary, etc.. were teaching or memory aids, meant to assist in maintaining the oral tradition..
The important points in the history of a tribe or region may be depicted in this art..
Likewise, certain important principles in performance of the hunt may likewise be portrayed, and these symbols and drawings used to communicate those principles to the neophyte hunters..
In a way, they are the first written language, precursor to pictographs and heiroglyphics..

[Bellflower]

I am not understanding the picture. Is that a modern picture drawn over old etchings to give us an idea of their art or is that actually an ancient picture? It seems like a very good rendition of the animal if it is suppose to be "primitive". Also the rock that the picture is on is in the shape of an the animal. Is this part of the art form? Did they shape the rock to draw the animal on it or draw the animal on a rock that seemed in the shape of the animal to draw attention to the fact? Also what are the etchings behind the picture? Are they the original art or what as they do not look like an animal at all to me?

[SunkenCiv]

Macro-Etymology: Paleosigns [writing 20,000 years ago?]
Macro-Etymology Website | prior to May 20, 2005 | the webmasters thereof
Posted on 05/19/2005 11:00:18 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1406892/posts

[SunkenCiv]

· join list or digest · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post a topic ·
	Gods Graves Glyphs	Just updating the GGG info, not sending a general distribution. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. GGG managers are Blam, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach
· Google · Archaeologica · ArchaeoBlog · Archaeology magazine · Biblical Archaeology Society · · Mirabilis · Texas AM Anthropology News · Yahoo Anthro & Archaeo · · History or Science & Nature Podcasts · Excerpt, or Link only? · cgk's list of ping lists ·

[SunkenCiv]

domestication of horse site:freerepublic.com

Google