San rock art: evidence and argument

Lewis‐Williams, J. D.; Pearce, David

doi:10.15184/aqy.2014.51

Cited by 18 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…The earliest directly dated rock paintings from southern Africa: new AMS radiocarbon dates Later Stone Age (LSA) communities related to the contemporary Bushman (San) peoples of the Kalahari, and it is their ethnography, along with accounts obtained from Bushman informants in the late nineteenth century, that provides the basis for its understanding (Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004). Research over the past 40 years has shown that the art is most productively and comprehensively explained as the material expression of the powers of ritual specialists (shamans) and of the wider cosmology within which those powers were exercised, often in altered states of consciousness (trance) (Lewis-Williams 1981;Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004, 2015. This research in southern Africa has influenced rock art studies around the world (e.g.…”

Section: Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

The earliest directly dated rock paintings from southern Africa: new AMS radiocarbon dates

et al. 2017

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Section: Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

The earliest directly dated rock paintings from southern Africa: new AMS radiocarbon dates

et al. 2017

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“…S. Henshilwood et al, 2011). Furthermore, it has been applied for abstract and figurative mark making on cave and rock walls (Aubert et al, 2018;Dayet et al, 2016;Lewis-Williams & Pearce, 2015). The use of ochre likely emerged during or before the African MSA (C. S. Henshilwood, 2007;C.…”

Section: The Cognitive Affordances Of Ochre Pigmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Honing Tools of the Mind: A Dynamic Framework for the Study of Symbolic Behavior in Early Human Evolution

Tylén,

Hussain,

Velliky

et al. 2024

Preprint

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The emergence of symbolic behavior is often considered a hallmark development in hominin evolution, ultimately giving rise to the complex communicative practices, abstract reasoning patterns, aesthetic discourses and religious institutions surrounding us today. In recent years, archaeologists have provided substantial evidence for the remarkable time-depth of symbolic artifact utilization and have made groundbreaking methodological advances (e.g, with respect to dating techniques, microscopy and 3d modeling). However, a systematic and rigorous framework for the investigation of the symbolic function of past artifacts is still lacking, that is, what kind of purpose these tools may have served and what kind of symbolic work they were designed or co- opted to do. This paper responds to this lacuna and outlines a new conceptual framework for the investigation of early symbolic artifacts. Symbolic artifacts are special in the sense of being mind- directed as they do their work primarily in the social and cognitive domain. That is, they support their function only to the extent that their structural properties affect relevant cognitive processes related to symbolic cognition (including e.g., attention, memory, and discrimination). To inform our understanding of past symbolic behavior, we therefore introduce the concept of cognitive affordances, defined as the capacity of symbolic forms to support such relevant cognitive processes. The cognitive affordances constitute a mediating layer of analysis between the observable, structural traits of symbolic artifacts and their hypothesized role in past social and pragmatic behaviors of hominins, related to, for instance, aesthetic, communicative, or ritual/cosmological practices. We show that by studying the cognitive implications of variation and change in the structural properties of symbolic artifacts recovered from the archaeological record, we can inform inferences and test new hypotheses about what pragmatic functions they may have served in past Paleolithic society.

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“…Scholars tend to correlate Upper Paleolithic cave depictions with symbolic or religious expressions that might be part of a shamanic practice conducted probably during a state of trance and aimed at a connectedness with the different entities inhabiting the world and the worlds beyond (Arias 2009;Berrocal 2011;Clottes and Lewis-Williams 1998;Lewis-Williams 1997, 2002aLewis-Williams and Clottes 2007;Whitley 2009). However, a general consensus is lacking as to whether the concepts of shamanism and trance contribute to our understanding of Upper Paleolithic cave depictions (Bahn 2001;Helvenston et al 2003;Lewis-Williams 2007;Lewis-Williams and Pearce 2015;McCall 2007;Solomon 2006).…”

Section: Upper Paleolithic Decorated Caves: Towards An Understandingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hypoxia in Paleolithic decorated caves: the use of artificial light in deep caves reduces oxygen concentration and induces altered states of consciousness

Kedar

Kedar²,

Barkai

2021

Time and Mind

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In this paper, we present a novel hypothesis as to what led humans in the Upper Paleolithic to penetrate and decorate deep, dark caves. Many of the depictions in these caves are located in halls or narrow passages deep in the interior, navigable only with artificial light. We simulated the effect of torches on oxygen concentrations in structures similar to Paleolithic decorated caves and showed that the oxygen quickly decreased to levels known to induce a state of hypoxia. Hypoxia increases the release of dopamine in the brain, resulting in hallucinations and out-of-body experiences. We discuss the significance of caves in indigenous world views and contend that entering these deep, dark environments was a conscious choice, motivated by an understanding of the transformative nature of an underground, oxygen-depleted space. The cave environment was conceived as both a liminal space and an ontological arena, allowing early humans to maintain their connectedness with the cosmos. It was not the decoration that rendered the caves significant; rather, the significance of the chosen caves was the reason for their decoration.

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San rock art: evidence and argument

Cited by 18 publications

References 24 publications

The earliest directly dated rock paintings from southern Africa: new AMS radiocarbon dates

The earliest directly dated rock paintings from southern Africa: new AMS radiocarbon dates

Honing Tools of the Mind: A Dynamic Framework for the Study of Symbolic Behavior in Early Human Evolution

Hypoxia in Paleolithic decorated caves: the use of artificial light in deep caves reduces oxygen concentration and induces altered states of consciousness

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