Add shamans and stir? A critical review of the shamanism model of forager rock art production

Analogical Evidence and Shamanism in Archaeological Interpretation: South African and European Palaeolithic Rock Art

“…Finally, shamanism became an exercise in exegesis of the meaning of the depictions through the use of ethnographic texts. These different kinds of reasoning can be associated to a broader theoretical change, from the initial materialist framework of shamanism to what we could consider properly an idealist one -or post-processual due to its emphasis on symbolism and meaning (see Barich 1996, McCall 2007.…”

“…It is well known, however, that shamanism has a long history of harsh, repetitive and extensive criticisms, counter-criticisms, replies and counter-replies (see Meighan 1982, Sauvet 1989, Bahn 1993, Demoule 1997, Hamayon 1997, Beaune 1998, Solomon 1998, 2008, Vialou 1998, Taborin 2000, Francfort 2001a, 2001b, Francfort & Hamayon 2001, Le Quellec 2001, Lorblanchet 2001, Helvenston and Bahn 2004, McCall 2007; see replies in Lewis-Williams 1991, 2004a, 2004b, 2006a, 2006b, Lewis-Williams & Clottes 1998b, with the most aggressive attack unleashed by the publication of Les chamanes de la préhistoire, by Jean Clottes and David Lewis-Williams (Clottes & Lewis-Williams 1996). Some of the most important problems that have been pointed out in this debate refer to the speculative character of shamanism, 3 its lack of historical context, 4 its reliance on scarce ethnographic evidence and, most importantly, its lack of explanatory power (Francfort 2001a, Bahn 2001, Le Quellec 2001, McCall 2007 and lack of testability (Sauvet 1989, Bahn 1997, Francfort 2001a, 2001b.…”

“…Some of the most important problems that have been pointed out in this debate refer to the speculative character of shamanism, 3 its lack of historical context, 4 its reliance on scarce ethnographic evidence and, most importantly, its lack of explanatory power (Francfort 2001a, Bahn 2001, Le Quellec 2001, McCall 2007 and lack of testability (Sauvet 1989, Bahn 1997, Francfort 2001a, 2001b. Some radical proposals ask for a return to empiricism in light of the problems of shamanism (Bahn 2001:81).…”

Everything Old Is New Again: Recent Approaches to Research on the Archaic Period in the Western United States

“…Instead, that art has been interpreted as shamanistic in origin, showing not hunters and prey, as suggested by Hildebrandt and McGuire, but instead depicting the experiences of shamans as they enter states of trance, including aggression, ''death'' or entrance into the supernatural, sexual arousal, and bodily transformation (Whitley 2000(Whitley , 2005. It is interesting to note that this shamanistic reading of Great Basin forager rock art has itself come under criticism for assumptions that all forager shamans are like those in South Africa, where the neuropsychological approach was first developed (McCall 2007). More specifically, some Great Basin rock art researchers (Cannon and Ricks 2007, pp.…”

Estudio arqueológico y fisicoquímico de pinturas rupestres en Hornillos 2 (Puna de Jujuy)

“…Este modelo parte de la base de que el chamanismo es universal en el mundo cazador recolector (Lewis-Williams 2002). Esta teoría ha sido criticada recientemente en relación a que justamente el chamanismo no es un rasgo universal de los cazadores recolectores, generando un debate considerable en torno a su aplicación a otros contextos etnográficos y arqueológicos (Conkey 2001;McCall 2007). Para nuestra región, Aschero (1999: 101) propuso que "la práctica del arte rupestre es un fenómeno que aparece cuando distintos espacios sociales y geográficos comienzan a ser articulados".…”