<< Books/Products >> The Mind in the Cave
Submitted by Thorgrim on Wednesday, 12 May 2004 Page Views: 10423
ReviewsDavid Lewis-Williams, Thames & Hudson, ISBN 0-500-28465-2. £12.95 320pp 94 illus.How did man learn to draw? Why were only certain types of animals painted on cave walls? Why were some paintings located deep underground at the end of narrow labyrinthine passages where it was totally dark? These are just some of the questions that Professor David Lewis-Williams of the Rock Art Research Institute of the University of Witwatersrand considers in this well researched and detailed book. But this is not just another book on the wonders of Palaeolithic Art. It is concerned with the workings of the human nervous system and levels of consciousness and perception.
Beginning with a critical overview of the way that Palaeolithic Art has been regarded since its 19th century discovery, the author shows that interpretations of the purpose of the paintings as being decorative "art for arts sake", hunting magic or simple totemism are no longer valid. He then looks in some detail at intelligence and consciousness in prehistory and maintains that as Palaeolithic people were thoroughly modern human beings, then their nervous system was identical to that of ourselves. He looks at how the human nervous system shapes visual hallucinations in altered states of consciousness and compares abstract patterns painted on walls with shapes seen by people under laboratory conditions of altered consciousness. Much of this considerable section is heavy going, but it is worth persevering as his arguments are well presented and come together when he looks at the rock paintings of the San people of South Africa and early Native Americans. Their paintings have much in common with those of the Palaeolithic - not just the animals, but the abstract shapes of zigzags, tunnels and lattice squares. Such designs, he argues, are entoptic phenomena caused by the spatial relationship between the retina and the visual cortex. (Although totally outside the scope of the book, it occurred to me that this could also be true for the designs at New Grange and the cups and rings etc. of much later British rock art).
The world of the Shaman is central to the book and the roles of the "wounded healer" in Siberia, the Amazon, North America, the Arctic and elsewhere are examined. He believes that the Palaeolithic shamans were instigators of Palaeolithic Art and the book is particularly vivid when it demonstrates how natural contours in the rock face were enhanced with paint in order to draw the animals out of the rock surface. He suggests that shamans seeking power on vision quests used the deepest, inner caves and that the subterranean world was a portal to the spirit world. There, they had visions of animals and shapes and used paint to fix them on the rock surface, which was a membrane between this world and the world of spirit. Paintings in the upper cave levels were used more for communal rituals (rites of passage and initiation ceremonies).
The book deals mainly with paintings on the walls of caves, but also briefly with portable objects - atlatls (spear throwers) and "batons". It is to be regretted that he does not mention the female "Venus" figurines at all as his interpretation of these in terms of Shamanistic visions would have been most interesting as they are conventionally seen as mother or fertility goddesses. Also, there is no consideration of the apparent humour of Palaeolithic Art - the atlatl from Le Mas d'Azil carved in the form of an ibex defecating with two birds perched on and pecking at the emerging turd. Up to ten examples of this design have been found so it must have been a popular joke. Or did it have a different, religious meaning? Similarly, he makes no reference to the "humorous" human caricatures scratched on stone slabs at La Marche.
It must be stressed that although this book deals extensively with shamans and altered states of consciousness (drug induced, fasting, sensory deprivation etc.) - it is in no way a mystic "new age" book. The author is to be applauded for moving outside the confines of archaeology and bringing together art history, neuro-psychology, hallucinogenics and anthropology.
Review by PeterH
Click here to order from amazon.co.uk