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Re-animating Hunter-gatherer Rock-art Research

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 October 2009

Thomas A. Dowson
Thomas A. Dowson
Affiliation:
6 Basse Copette, 76390 AUMALE, Seine Maritime, France; Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

The shamanistic interpretation of hunter-gatherer rock arts has in recent years been heavily criticized. Much of this criticism draws on some of the same fundamental flaws in the shamanistic approach to understanding rock arts. In this article I briefly outline what it is about shamanism and its use in rock-art research that both sides of the debate have got wrong. Taking southern African hunter-gatherer rock art as a starting point, I demonstrate a new way of understanding rock art is indeed possible. I then explore the possibilities of this approach by examining rock art from the post Palaeolithic in Spain, and the Palaeolithic cave art of western Europe.

Type
Special Section: Animating Archaeology: of Subjects, Objects and Alternative Ontologies
Information
Cambridge Archaeological Journal , Volume 19 , Issue 3 , October 2009 , pp. 378 - 387
Copyright
Copyright © The McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research 2009

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