Like people in prehistory

Bibliographic Data

ID3919221
AuthorsThomas A Dowson (University of Southampton, corresponding author)
Year1998
Volume29
Issue3
Pages333-343
Publication date1998-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueWorld Archaeology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0043-8243 • E-ISSN: 1470-1375
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00438243.1998.9980383
OpenAlexW2081969727
LanguageEN
Citations received12
References cited30

The interpretation of shamanic art runs into a number of hermeneutic problems. Most noticeably, hallucinatory images are perceived as graphic metaphors produced simply to explain shamans’ experiences in the spirit‐world. Interpretations along these lines downplay the vast diversity of shamanic expression as well as diminishing the role these images play in structuring social relations. Shamans’ experiences, which include relations with supernatural beings, are at the heart of those shamans’ identities. For shamans, then, these supernatural relations are as real as the everyday social relations we all recognize and accept. In this paper I take a specific set of rock paintings and demonstrate how politically prominent shamans use supernatural relations and their depiction in rock art images to underwrite social relations, and vice versa

Aesthetics · Archaeology · Art · Art history · Depiction · Diversity (politics · Epistemology · Expression (computer science · Interpretation (philosophy · Linguistics · Literature · Painting · Prehistory · Set (abstract data type · Shamanism · Social relation · Sociology · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Anthropology · Archaeology and Rock Art Studies · Computer Science · History · Philosophy · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology

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