The cave paintings are impressive, however the importance comes from the process of making them. Creating paintings and engravings in an unlit or poorly lit cave must have been immensely challenging. There is reason and drive behind these paintings. Either someone or many people spent a great deal amount of time creating these works of art. Why exactly did primitive man spend so much time on them? The article speculated it could have been part of a ritual to become a shaman. It is a decent theory, but there is little or no evidence of the motivations of ancient man. It fits well with modern knowledge of shamanism.
Part of me is inclined to think that the paintings had nothing to do with religious beliefs or complex rituals, but were simply a means of passing time in an age where there was little entertainment. People will go through great lengths to not be bored.
I agree with your point how we can't make speculations about primitive man's motivations. The author of the article says it too, yet still draws his own conclusions on primitive man for some reason. But I'm not sure we should downplay the significance of the Lascaux caves and others just because we can never know for sure their meaning. It could have been a way to pass the time, but prehistoric man probably wasn't quite as bored as we are today, what with hunting and not being trampled by mammoths to think about.
ReplyDeleteOK, there was probably some sort of significance to the paintings. The point I was trying to get at is that people tend to read too much into things without any real proof.
ReplyDeleteBut it is probably best in an assigned blog to try to speculate in an interesting direction. Granted it is hard to know for sure about a lot of things.. but give me a better sense of the possibilities..
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