Thread: The Cave Paintings part 2

OR...

They saw a horse and painted it on the wall.

Interesting idea, drew549. I imagine lucid dreaming has been around for as long as humans. Probably some animals LD, too (since they dream). You are proposing ancient shared dreaming, yes?

Yes seeker28, group dreaming would be a concrete accomplishment providing the incentive for all the hundreds of cave paintings and "sacred" sites in Europe, China, Australia, South America and elsewhere. I can't understand "civilized" man trivializing a culture which has outlasted our many civilizations, in all recorded history fourfold. Anthropologists speculate but are not yet able to provide a reason for the cave art. Perhaps we can help.

Why would cave art need a reason? Could you explain your logic here? Because as far as I know, the desire to visually reproduce ones surroundings is instinctive, and all cultures since the dawn of humanity have had art. Why should cave paintings be considered out of the ordinary?

Do you not believe that the neolithic humans saw the things they painted?

Also, neolithic humans can hardly be considered a "culture". Even if they were, increased technological development has always historically led to shorter-lived cultures. So the fact that a particular culture has lasted a long time is, if anything, an indication of a low level of technology.

Drew549, have you ever read Graham Hancock's novel Supernatural: Meetings with the Ancient Teachers of Mankind? The man has done a great deal of research on the subject of cave paintings, and proposes that they are not merely a product of lucid dreaming, but of a variety of ASCs: especially those induced by hallucinogens. Certainly, this would explain many of the bizzare physical descrepancies between the animals and creatures portrayed in the paintings and those that roamed the Eurpean and African continents 50,000-40,000 years ago when cave art first appeared (for instance, horses aren't usually polkadotted with nine legs). Anyway, the book is breathtaking in its scope and diligently cites all its resources. Very fascinating.

Benjameno

OK, dremandan, they're not neolithic they're paleolithic. The "culture" application was by respected author Gregory Curtis who wrote "The Cave Paintings". They differ in many ways from a child's painting of a house, tree, and dog. To quote two: "for instance nothing of the landscape-clouds, earth,sun, moon, and, only rarely, a horizon-figures in cave art. It's of of many striking omissions." And, "Analyzing the order of superimposed images, they determined that wherever horses, aurochs, and stags appear on the same panel....the variations in their coats correspond to their respective mating seasons". This is a very exciting and mysterious topic which has intrigued anthropologists for decades. I didn't wish to start a debate among non experts. I posted this as an invitation to curious minds to explore this fascinating 40,000 year culture. I'm far from an expert in the field of anthropology and as I think likely neither are you, dremandan. I do intend to keep studying this subject in addition to entertaining some personal conjectures. Thank you.

Thanks Kosmaro, I'll check it out. Sounds like a good read!