The Mind in the Cave, The Cave in the Mind: Altered Consciousness in the Upper Paleolithic

This article by Lewis-Williams and Clottes takes a look at the possible associations between the cave painting of the Upper Paleolithic and the Shamanic Cosmology by way of the manner in which all humans brains are wired. They look at many of the cave painting sites scattered throughout Western Europe, including Cosquer in the French Mediterranean and Chauvet in the Ardeche Region of France. In particular, they look at research done on the human nervous system and the way it responds to altered states of consciousness.

Since the humans of the Upper Paleolithic are anatomically modern humans, the authors argue that the wiring in their brains must be the same as that of modern humans as well. And because the brains of modern humans generate altered states of consciousness, so to should those of Upper Paleolithic hunter gatherers under the same sorts of stimuli that inspire it today. The article does say that although the altered states are universal, the manner in which they are interpreted are not. There are many different ways to interpret these happenings, from visions to dreams to hallucinations to madness. According to the authors, however, cross culturally altered states among hunter gatherers are very similar and point towards the high antiquity of what we refer to as shamanism.

The actual shamanic cosmology is described as three worlds, the day to day world we all inhabit, an upper world, and a lower world. According to the authors, the Paleolithic caves where much of the art is found was the analogue of the shamanic cosmos. The caves were a place to commune with the spirits in the other worlds, and the cave paintings were a form of actualizing the visions the altered states would bring on. The surface of the cave functioned as a membrane between this world and the other worlds. Shapes and visions would press themselves on the surface of the cave, and then be codified on the walls.

The Neuropsychological Model distinguishes three stages of altered consciousness. During the first stage people sometimes experience things like zigzags, lines, and dots. These are known as "form constants" and "entoptic phenomena." They are hardwired into the human brain and are the same things migraine sufferers sometimes see. I myself have experienced this during migraines. In stage two, people try to make sense of the phenomena, and they do so in accordance to culturally specific ideas and their emotional states. The entoptic phenomena persist into the third stage, deep trance. They combine with iconic images of people, animals, and monsters. The authors indicate that this is the point at which the cave paintings were made. In addition to the iconic images, people feel themselves begin to melt into their environment and may feel themselves merging with animals. The authors argue that this is the source of therianthrope cave paintings, such as the "sorcerer" from Les Trois Freres.

I think it was a very interesting article, and it had a lot of good ideas. The use of the neuropsycological model to back up their points was very interesting, but there seems to be a lot of gray area in the way everything is interpreted. Without a time machine I doubt there is any way to definitively answer what the cave paintings mean, but I would prefer a less muddled explanation.

Lewis-Williams, David, Clottes, Jean. 1998. Anthropology of Consciousness 9: 13-21