Intelligence in Nature - Jeremy Narby [71]
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P. 37: TROIS FRÃRES âSORCERERâ
Bégouën (1929) writes: âHere we see an amazing masked human figure with a long beard, the eyes of an owl, the antlers of a stag, the ears of a wolf, the claws of a lion and the tail of a horse. It is engraved and outlined in black paint, about ten feet from the ground, in a nook most difficult of access in a small round chamber known as the Sanctuary. It seems to dominate and preside over all the hundreds of other creatures, of thirteen different species, engraved and drawn on the walls below. It is the supreme mystery of the cave. Can it be some weird deity of those primitive people? Perhaps rather it is the Arch-Sorcerer who has taken unto himself the diverse attributes of the beasts he enchants, a character personified even in our own day by the Shaman of the primitive tribes of Siberiaâ (p. 17).
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P. 38: CHAUVET CAVE FELINE BISON WOMAN
Chauvet et al. (1996) write: âEveryone knows that humans are extremely rare in Palaeolithic art. Chauvet cave is no exception, since not one image of a complete human figure has been found there yet. There are only some segments of the body and one composite beingâ¦a black creature, upright and leaning slightly forward: the top of its body is that of a bison, and the bottom that of a human, with the two legs well indicatedâ (p. 110). The paintings at the Chauvet cave have been carbon-dated on the basis of 28 samples, which is more than any other prehistoric cave, the great majority of which belong to a period situated between 30,000 and 33,000 years ago (see Clottes et al. 2001, pp. 32â33).
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P. 38: SHAMANS AND CHIMERA IMAGERY IN PREHISTORY
Clottes and Lewis-Williams (1998) write in their book The Shamans of Prehistory: Trance and Magic in the Painted Caves: ââ¦the images that seem to represent half-human, half-animal beings, though comparatively rare, were clearly highly significant in Upper Paleolithic times. The placing of the so-called Sorcerer in a commanding position high above the Sanctuary in Les Trois-Frères is particularly strikingâ¦. Most researchers have interpreted these and other images as disguised or costumed âsorcerersâ; some writers have compared them with Witsenâs [eigthteenth-century] picture of a Siberian shaman. The general shamanic context of the art, however, suggests other possibilities. They may be images of shamans partially transformed, in their Stage Three hallucinations, into animals, as are comparable southern African and other shamanic images. On the other hand, they may be manifestations of a Lord of the Animals. People in many shamanic societies believe in a Lord of the Animals who has control of animals, sees to their conservation, and, under certain conditions that frequently involve propitiatory rituals, releases them to hunters. Either way, these images of transformation are clearly part of a shamanic belief system. They belong to the third stage of hallucination and to the lower level of the shamanic cosmos.â Yet the shamanic nature of prehistoric paintings is indeterminate. As Patte (1960) writes: âIt is true that one can find several drawings which shamanism can account for; there is the staff with a bird on it that the Lascaux stick-man has abandoned at his side; similar staffs and birds play a big part in shamanism; but Horus too had a scepter with the head of a hare which resembled him considerably; and there is the âSorcererâ of Trois-Frères with his stag antlers, who reminds one of the costumed shamans found in several contemporary populations; but antler headdresses are also found outside of shaman countryâ¦. The essence of shamanism consists of spiritual flights by the shaman, who has entered into trance, and