The mind in the cave pdf

Then, in a dramatic and electrifying change, described by scientists as "the greatest riddle in human history," all the skills and qualities that we value most highly in ourselves appeared already fully formed, as though bestowed on us by hidden powers. In Supernatural Graham Hancock sets out to investigate this mysterious "beforeandafter moment" and to discover the truth about the influences that gave birth to the modern human mind.

His quest takes him on a detective journey from the stunningly beautiful painted caves of prehistoric France, Spain, and Italy to rock shelters in the mountains of South Africa, where he finds extraordinary Stone Age art. He uncovers clues that lead him to the depths of the Amazon rainforest to drink the powerful hallucinogen Ayahuasca with shamans, whose paintings contain images of "supernatural beings" identical to the animalhuman hybrids depicted in prehistoric caves.

Hallucinogens such as mescaline also produce visionary encounters with exactly the same beings. Scientists at the cutting edge of consciousness research have begun to consider the possibility that such hallucinations may be real perceptions of other "dimensions. Could it be that human evolution is not just the "meaningless" process that Darwin identified, but something more purposive and intelligent that we have barely begun to understand?

By contrast, other about the 'reception' of west European Upper societies - post-Enlightenment, post-Darwin West- Palaeolithic images. Knut Helskog would like more ern society is the prime example - offer an alterna- about the chronology of images, the significance of tive cosmology that does not require any belief alfresco art, and colour symbolism. Paul Mellars, whatsoever in supernatural entities. We now know who provides an authoritative summary of the prin- that the 'rather natural' human propensity to believe cipal features of the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic to us manifestly absurd beliefs about spirits is cre- Transition, wants more on 'exactly when and how ated by the electro-chemical functioning of the hu- this radical evolutionary transformation occurred'.

David intellectual circumstances, not ineluctable. Whitley, too, asks for more about what happened in Beliefs about spiritual things do, of course, take the rest of the world. A point that I make in the book many forms. Helskog therefore wonders why I do is that one does not have to explain everything in not pay more attention to sympathetic magic he order to explain something.

So my response to these discounts hunting magic , mythical narratives, and requests is to take my place in the line behind the totemism. Let us take each in turn. I did not write about most Strictly speaking, sympathetic magic is founded of these issues because I do not know the answers.

Why do ordinary people, he asks, lieved, happen to the real creature. I believe that who have never experienced an altered state of con- underground image-making was a more complex sciousness, believe what the seers tell them about process.

Less strictly, I agree with Helskog that sub- spirits and other realms? What we need to ask is: What was the concep- beings to respond to representations of the "super- tual framework for such beliefs and for, specifically, natural" It does not take much to be responsive underground image-making? Here, I respond that a to ideas about gods, spirits, and other worlds.

Transitions, both psy- respond: What does 'rather natural' mean? What is chic and physical, between cosmological levels may the 'not Everyone Without any recorded myths it is hard to find has experienced profound, enveloping reveries, hyp- something to say about Upper Palaeolithic mythol- nagogic hallucinations, and dreams.

Moreover, many ogy that goes beyond naive assertions about the im- people have found bliss in the mental introversion portance of myth in all kinds of societies. In southern of meditation and prayer. This work led me to realize that San including some of the dead. Be that as it may, 'death' shamanistic myths are studded with metaphors of is a socially and historically situated construct; we transition that also appear in their rock art, but the cannot assume that Upper Palaeolithic people 'vocabulary' of the art is by no means the same as thought about death as modern Westerners do.

Moreover, Helskog questions whether spirit ani- Accordingly, I wrote in The Mind in the Cave: 'Rather, mals and beings were only behind the rock walls. Upper Palaeolithic images did not merely their way through the chthonic realms. We must not 'illustrate' myths. Subterranean image-making was be too precise and dogmatic about such points; Up- an autonomous practice.

Nevertheless, amongst their per Palaeolithic people themselves were probably multifarious experiences, shamans sometimes visit more flexible in their beliefs - within certain pa- the supernatural realm of myth and meet mythic rameters. This 'shamanism' and 'mythology' as two incompatible point takes us to what I think is the heart of discus- categories of interpretations. Often one reads that a writer has not even more slippery word, as Claude Levi-Strauss 'proved' his or her point.

Proof is an inappropriate long ago showed The possibility of some sort and meaningless concept in such discussions. I ven- of totemism in the Upper Palaeolithic was suggested ture to suggest that nothing of interest in archaeol- at the beginning of the twentieth century by Salomon ogy is ever 'proved', though arguments may be Reinach.

More recently, Robert Layton has addressed strong enough to warrant acceptance. That is why it the issue. He sees totemism and shamanism as 'two is boring to present readers with supposedly de- opposed ways of appropriating motifs from the vo- scriptive but actually tendentious chapters of 'data', cabulary of a cultural tradition' Layton , That is also why, in Helskog's phrase, I cast manistic pattern.

He continues: 'On phor of a multi-strand cable - and presented relevant balance, however, this tends to support Clottes and data along the way Wylie Method the form Lewis-Williams' interpretation of the [subterranean] of argument employed to reach a conclusion is per- animal art' Layton , ; second parenthesis haps the central issue demanding attention in Upper added. I cannot entirely agree with Layton's method, Palaeolithic image-making research.

That is why The Mind in the Cave fo- Palaeolithic caves. He provides further examples of cuses on shamanism. I do not experience the Williams b. Here we have to walk a tightrope 'necrological reaction' that he 'personally had when between homogenizing shamanism world wide and visiting deep caves', but I of course accept that the paying so much attention to differences between dead were probably associated with the underworld.

That there Most of what he says about the topographic features should be differences comes as no surprise. What are of the caves is indeed what I too argue. The caves led surprising are the similarities between shamanisms both physically and mentally into an underworld in that have no connections with one another.

If so, what was the nature of that difference? In answering some - by no means all - not borrow from Aurignacians suggest a different of the questions about that period, I hope that the form of consciousness and thus perhaps subtly but book will contribute to a diminution in, not an esca- none the less highly significant a different wiring of lation of, controversy and that it will encourage a the brain.

The shamanisms that must have come and tighter research focus in some areas of enquiry. References Continuing in a positive vein, Whitley points out that archaeology is more than 'the science of Bar-Yosef, 0. On the nature of transitions: the Mid- material culture'; we should also be after the cogni- dle to Upper Palaeolithic transition and the Neolithic tive past. He contends that we need to intertwine revolution. Cambridge ArchaeologicalJournal8 1 , Edwards, When did Neanderthals to achieve this broader understanding.

This is also and modern humans diverge? Evolutionary Anthro- what Mellars means when he points to the engraved pology, supplement 1, Bolus, Radiocarbon dating the The Mind in the Cave: 'The archaeological evidence appearance of modern humans and timing of cul- from Africa still shows a much earlier appearance of tural innovations in Europe: new results and new explicitly "symbolic" representation Henshilwood challenges.

Journal of Human Evolution 44, Similarly, Helskog states that 'Africa Deacon, H. Modern human emergence: an African should become a centre for future research' into the archaeological perspective, in Humanity from Afri- origins of art and modem human behaviour. Tobias, holds the keys to understanding the evolution of M. Raath, J. Zilhao, M. Julien, D. Pelegrin, As one of those who have worked for a long Neanderthal acculturation in western Europe?

David Pearce and A critical review of the evidence and its interpreta- I argue that beliefs about material objects can be tion. Current Anthropology 39, S1-S Harmondsworth: Penguin. These traces over Gamble, C. The Palaeolithic Societies of Europe. Cam- bridge: Cambridge University Press.

Naturalisme og skjematisme i nord- and fragmented ochre suggest the infiltration of norske helleristninger, in Framskrittfor fortida i nord. Bertelsen, P. Tromso Museums Skrifter ded. The material correlates rather than merely XXII. Troms0: Troms0 Museum, The shore connection: cognitive land- can be found - if we know what to look for.

Infor- scapes and communication with rock carvings in mation will come not only from new excavations but northernmost Europe. Norwegian Archaeological Re- view 32 2 , Marean, in press. The origin of earlier decades. Current An- ficulties of such a quest, but a partial insight is better thropology.

The course of true research Henshilwood, C. Yates, Z. Jacobs, C. Mellars is therefore correct in Tribolo, G. Duller, N.

Mercier, J. Sealy, H. Wintle, Emergence seek to rehabilitate the Neanderthals. Was there a of modern human behavior: Middle Stone Age en- difference in mental capacity between them and Homo gravings from South Africa.

Science , The Neanderthal problem continued. The archaeological records of the Krings, M. Geisert, R. Schmitz, H. Neandertal-Modern human transition in France, in Paiabo, Bar- specimen.

Peabody Museum Bulletin 8. Cambridge MA : Harvard University, Kroeber, A. Handbook of the Indians of California. Mellars, P. The Homo sapiens peopling of Europe, Bulletin Landscape, eds. Oxford: Oxford Layton, R. It also generates altered states of consciousness that are easier though not much to define, even if only in relation to an intuitively understood "normal consciousness. Add "dreaming" to this list, and the experience by at least some Upper Paleolithic people of altered states becomes indisputable.

Altered states of consciousness are part of being human, part of a "package deal" for a review of research on altered states see Siegel and West What Upper Paleolithic people made of their altered states is another question altogether. The ways in which altered states are experienced and interpreted are not "given" or universal. In understanding this point it is useful to think of consciousness as a spectrum. At one end is "normal" or "alert" consciousness.

This grades into day- dreaming, deep reveries, dreaming, "light" trance states, and, at the far end, "deep" trances in which subjects are not aware of their surroundings at all, but are part of a fully hallucinatory realm with its own rules of causality and transformation.

That is the way that many Westerners think of it. But the spectrum is divided up by each society or subculture in its own way. What passes for madness in one community may be esteemed as divine revelation in another. What is a vision to some people is, to others, hallucination. The definitions of variously distinguished altered states are therefore socially situated. But there is more to it.

The definition of altered states is also implicated in the negotiation of social statuses and political power. Visions of the future may earn a person admiration in some societies, but they will hamper rather than facilitate election to Congress. Because altered states are part of being human, all people have to come to terms with them in one way or another.

So too, it must have been during the Upper Paleolithic. Were those people hyper-rationalists who dismissed all altered states as aberrations? Or were they like all known hunter-gatherers and, of course, others as well who place high value on certain precisely defined altered states?

Indeed, the ubiquity of cross- culturally very similar altered states among hunter-gatherers points to the high antiquity of the form of ritualized altered states that we call shamanism. The Shamanic Cosmos We now consider two features of altered states of consciousness that contribute to these cross-cultural similarities Lewis-Williams First, as people go into altered states, they often experience sensations of attenuation, rising up and flying.

As images appear before them, they believe that they are entering a spiritual realm set in or above the sky. The sensation of flight, naturally enough, suggests transformation into a bird, and, with changes in perspective, they look down onto the level of daily life. Birds are, of course, closely associated with shamans in many cultures.

Secondly, as people move towards the "far" end of the spectrum, they experience and are drawn into a vortex. On the sides of this vortex there is sometimes a lattice, in the segments of which appear the first iconic images Siegel Feelings of constriction, difficulty in breathing, and of being drawn into the vortex often suggest entrance into a tunnel that leads underground. At the other end of the tunnel is a new realm inhabited by its own beings, spirits, animals, and monsters.

All this is wired into the human nervous system. There is a cave in the mind. In shamanic societies these experiences lead to belief in a chthonic realm, an underworld that shamans have the power to visit. The shamanic cosmos is thus tiered. The realm above and the realm below impinge on daily life, and it is the shamans who, by travelling the axis mundi often thought of as a tree or a hole in the ground are able to mediate the cosmos.

During the Upper Paleolithic, we argue, the limestone caves of western Europe were regarded as topographical equivalents to the psychic experience of the vortex and a nether world. The caves were the entrails of the underworld, and their surfaces — walls, ceilings and floors —were but a thin membrane between those who ventured in and the beings and spirit-animals of the underworld. This is the context of west European cave art, a context created by Figure J.

A horse's head painted on a flint interaction between universal nodule. The rest of the animal seems to be neuropsychological experiences and behind the rock wall. Rouffignac, Dordogne, topographically situated caves. Membranous Rock Many images incorporate features ot the rock surface on which they were placed. Sometimes a small nodule became an animal's eye, sometimes a natural swell of the rock face was taken to delineate the chest or shoulder ot an animal; sometimes the edgeot ashclfbecameadorsal line.

To these naturalfeatures,the artists added lines, thereby transforming the given into the created. Frequently, these images appear to be coming out of the rock wall. At Rouffignac, for instance, i horse's head is painted on the. The n. These and other features of the art suggest that people were searching for animals, by touch as much a. Shamans sought to draw animals through this permeable membrane. This interpretation is strengthened by a common char- acteristic of certain hallucinations, again created by the wiring of the human nervous system and therefore universal.

Hallucin- ations are often projected onto surfaces such as walls or ceilings. Western subjects liken this experience to a slide or film show: Figure 2.

The dorsal line the "screen" Siegel Given is created by shadow. There are fascinating discussions of specific aspects of altered states in relation to the art in various sites, embracing aural and somatic as well as visual hallucinations. Some points furrow the brow, but some trigger uncanny resonances across many aspects of human experience.

If these neurobiologists are correct, and they have a persuasive case, the fundamental dichotomy in human behaviour and experience that I noted in the Preface—rational and non-rational beliefs and action—will not go away in the foreseeable future.

We are still a species in transition. Presumably, then, he looks forward to a future when we have either evolved or engineered ourselves past these troubling hallucinatory experiences. For Lewis-Williams, "the content of dreams. Studying these constructions, and the supposedly meaningless experiential detritus of biology that necessitate them, is his concern.

It is, of course, too much to ask that salaried academics entertain the notion that there are meanings beyond culture, which are adapted according to local tastes. I also took issue with his view of Neanderthals.

The depiction of interactions between them and modern humans seems flawed. Neanderthals were able to borrow only certain activities [chiefly stone technologies and maybe basic ornaments] from their new Homo sapiens neighbours not because they were hopelessly bemired in animality and stupidity but because they lacked a particular kind of consciousness.

They could entertain a mental picture of the present and, by learned processes, sense the presence of danger or reward. It seems like a reasonable ethnographic inference to say that like most hunter-gatherers of recent times, they probably deeply respected these animals, whether as opponents in the struggle for survival, as creatures to whom they were indebted for providing meat, or more abstractly as powerful forces in the spiritual life of nature.

Perhaps Neanderthals were viewed by early humans as being somehow more in touch with this potent realm, and their lack of distinctly "human" characteristics was seen as a source of wonder, even envy. Maybe we borrowed some things from them , near the end, much as the modern West is now learning a great deal from the more technologically primitive cultures it has all but eradicated.

In any case, what is clear is that, beyond any for-and-against squabbles about the possible range of the "shamanic hypothesis", there are hugely valuable perspectives here that will continue to inform open-minded research into archaic art. Opponents of the hypothesis are certainly valuable as hard, abrasive tools for honing the argument down; but reach for this book first as an excellent introduction to current thinking about altered states, prehistory, and the origins of art.