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Latest News [ Back To News Index ] For more news articles click the News Index link above. Bozeman Montana USA - June 2001: Written in Stone: 'Shamans and the Origin of Art' A public symposium on the world's oldest rock art, co-hosted by the Bradshaw Foundation, the Center for Computational Biology and the MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY's Museum of the Rockies Dr Jean Clottes from France, Professor David Lewis Williams South Africa and David Whitley USA gave lectures that explored the human thought processes associated with making of Rock Art, while Professor Jack Cowan USA lectured on Geometric visual hallucinations and what they tell us about the visual brain. The goals were: * to educate the public in the most recent understanding of the beginnings of art; * to bring together the world's leading scholars and experts on the origin of art; * to offer the academic community the opportunity for a dialogue with these scholars; * to show the interrelationship between religion and art. The Origin of Art The discovery of 32,000-year-old paintings in Chauvet Cave brings a completely new way of thinking to previous held concepts, because now the oldest paintings are seen to be realistic representations of the animals portrayed in vivid and dynamic compositions. The animals were executed in multiple colors, shown in perspective and with intricate details, such as eyelashes (Clottes 1996). Art and Religion Traditional thinking links the roots of art with religion, but in the past decade or so, scholars have expanded upon this belief to argue that art is part of the human psyche and related to shaman trance states (Lewis-Williams and Dowson 1988). The ability to enter and control a trance or altered state of consciousness is at the heart of shamanism throughout the world. Shamans achieve trance states through a variety of ways. They may use drugs, but more commonly they engage in some other means, such as sensory deprivation (prolonged absence of light and sound) or through body deprivation achieved by dancing for hours in one in place or going without food and water for days. Cave and rock paintings are thought to be the product of shamans painting their visions on walls, which include examples of all the stages of the altered state of consciousness (Lewis-Williams and Dowson 1988). As archaeologists are able to place rock art within past cultures, they can make some powerful inferences about former belief systems. This is precisely what Jean Clottes and David Lewis-Williams (1996) did in the book "The Shamans of Prehistory: Trance and Magic in the Painted Caves." These new interpretive ideas, identified as the neuropsychological model, have revolutionized the accepted wisdom regarding the origin of cave and rock paintings. The model has important implications for understanding of rock art because when it is applied these sites are viewed as religious places rather than ancient graffiti. In fact the most important aspect of the model is its utility in any setting or culture in the world. In other words, humans experience similar physical responses to body deprivation, and regardless of cultural background, they go through stages when entering trance states. Of course, the cultural background of the individual entering the trance regulates the visions, but the physical aspects of the trance (seeing flickers of light, construing these into something sensible, and ultimately experiencing the full vision) are the same for humans in all parts of the world. This makes the neuropsychological model very useful for researchers throughout the world. One of the more effective uses of the model has been in the research of David Whitley (2000), as illustrated in "The Art of the Shaman: Rock Art of California." Jack Cowan, an eminent theoretical neuroscientist, has studied hallucinogenic images called form constants and been able to make a direct correlation between images generated in the brain and the types of images expressed in cave art. "Written in Stone: Shamans and the Origin of Art" was comprised of four related events: Event one: Opening of the 'Dabous Giraffe' cast exhibit. A 20-foot mould of spectacular rock engravings of two life-size giraffes was exhibited at the Museum of the Rockies by the Bradshaw Foundation, for their first public showing in America. [The Giraffe Cast next goes on show at the National Geographic Society's Explorer Hall August 15th and will remain there for the nine month duration of their African Exhibition] These giraffes (plus 828 other small to tiny petroglyphs) were carved with extreme artistry into rock called Dabous near the Air mountains of Niger approximately 9000 years ago. Designs engraved along with the giraffe images suggest a shamanistic significance for the engravings. In January and February 1999, Jean Clottes and David Coulson of Trust for African Rock Art studied the engravings, and supervised the moulding of these two exceptional giraffes. The scientific study of the engravings was funded by the Bradshaw Foundation and the National Geographic Society, and the moulding of the engravings was funded by the Bradshaw Foundation. This moulding expedition was the topic of an exciting article in the September 2000 issue of National Geographic Magazine. Jean Clottes will discuss the giraffe images and their shamanistic significance in his presentations. Event two: Friday evening. Dr Jean Clottes "Lessons from Chauvet" Jean Clottes, a well-known French archaeologist, is the director of an international team of scientists who are working in Chauvet Cave. In the presentation, Dr. Clottes discussed the 28,000 to 35,000-year-old paintings in Chauvet Cave and their implications for the evolution of prehistoric art and outline the problems associated with interpreting a large site like Chauvet. Dr Clottes ended by showing for the first time in public the Chauvet 35,000 year old Venus painting. See above latest news. Event three: David Lewis-Williams' lecture "Shamanism and the origins of art and religion". For many years the origins of art and religion have been thought to be related. Dr. Lewis-Williams will argue that a third factor, social relations, was the catalyst that brought aspects of the human mind under control and, in the process, spawned art and religion. He proposes that an 'aesthetic' sense was subsequent to the production of art, not the cause. David Whitley's presentation was titled "Minding the Past: Shamanism and Rock Art in Far Western North America". In it he discussed how recent cognitive neurosciences research provides substantial information about different brain-mind states and cognitive processes. When combined with Native American ethnography (particularly verbal accounts of shamans entering altered states of consciousness) and rock art evidence, it is possible to reconstruct aspects of the prehistoric mind. Not only may we be able to determine aspects of what prehistoric peoples thought, but we may also partly infer their emotional feelings. Jack Cowan's presentation was titled "Geometric visual hallucinations and what they tell us about the visual brain." Dr. Cowan focused on visions of geometric patterns in visual hallucinations or trances. Various reports indicate that these types of patterns are generated, not in the eyes, but somewhere in the visual brain. Since all humans in trance states see one or another of these forms, it follows that the patterns may reflect common features of brain architecture. Dr. Cowan will discuss his recent investigation of the relationships between brain architecture and geometrical visual hallucination patterns. He showed a variety of graphical, computer-generated images of patterns predicted by his theoretical studies, and demonstrate that many of those images are similar to the types of images expressed in cave art Jean Clottes' presentation was titled "The Dabous Giraffes in Niger". He described the site and the problems associated with the making of a mould of such large engravings in a setting like Dabous in the Sahara Desert. A goal of the Dabous Project was to record all of engravings at the site, so in 2000 the Bradshaw Foundation sponsored a second Scientific research visit. A total of 828 petroglyphs were recorded by Dr Jean Clottes, Renee Clottes, Valerie Feruglio and Yanik Le Guillou. Event Four: Saturday morning following the lectures Public Forum, introduced and moderated by Dr. Alexandra New Holy. As the forum began, the speakers assembled at a table on the stage of the auditorium. Dr. New Holy began the forum by presenting her perspective on rock paintings and engravings and their relationship with Native Americans. She then selected some of the written questions from the audience to initiate discussion about the origin of art and other topics covered in the speakers presentations. The audience participated in this discussion by introducing new questions. Peter L Robinson Project Controller Bradshaw Foundation [ Back To News Index ] |
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