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The universality of shamanistic power and practice among today's hunter-gatherers - along with the similarity of rock art found in varied sites around the world - has led Jean Clottes and David Lewis-Williams to suggest in this new book that the great art of paleolithic caves can be best understood through the lens of shamanism. Indeed, this is not a monograph on a particular site, but a general discussion of the art of painted caves and their shamanistic meaning. Through the authors' revealing words and the abundant full-color illustrations, we follow shamans into their trance states, and we watch as they carefully paint and engrave on rock surfaces the shapes of animals whose power they seek. As we learn how drawings and rituals were likely modes of shamanistic contact, we understand best the actions, accomplishments, and traces left behind by prehistoric shamans.… (more)
User reviews
The authors review previous theories (art for art’s sake, totemism, sympathetic magic and structuralism) gauging how these theories helped or hindered our current
Well written but occasionally appears sentences were muddled in translation from the French. The arguments build nicely up to the last chapter; at that point, where it does become more hypothetical, I did not always follow the argument. To keep the book shorter, I think some connecting thoughts and explanations may have been lost. A very good introduction to the cave art itself (although more images from other parts of the world would have been very helpful in seeing connections) and a solid foundation for proposing a shamanistic interpretation.