The cave art of Europe and the Americas has fascinated and
intrigued anthropologists and art lovers for decades. Since the
discovery of Upper Palaeolithic art in the mid-nineteenth century,
the ochre figure of the running bison has become a symbol for the
human race in transition: the first step out of Neanderthal
darkness and the first sign of the modern mind at work. The Mind in
the Cave explores the beginnings of a consciousness capable of
representational imagery and investigates the societies and
environmental conditions which produced it. Drawing on disciplines
as diverse as biology, religion, psychology and Marxism,
Lewis-Williams presents comprehensive and fascinating arguments for
the development of primitive societies from their art and social
structure to their agriculture and mythology. This is a lovingly
researched, carefully organised and brilliantly argued work, full
of unusual detail and convincing explanation. A classic in the
fields of art and anthropology. (Kirkus UK)
Emerging from the narrow underground passages into the chambers of
caves such as Lascaux, Chauvet, and Altamira, visitors are
confronted with symbols, patterns, and depictions of bison, woolly
mammoths, ibexes, and other animals. Since its discovery, cave art
has provoked great curiosity about why it appeared when and where
it did, how it was made, and what it meant to the communities that
created it. David Lewis-Williams proposes that the explanation for
this lies in the evolution of the human mind. Cro-Magnons, unlike
the Neanderthals, possessed a more advanced neurological makeup
that enabled them to experience shamanistic trances and vivid
mental imagery. It became important for people to "fix," or paint,
these images on cave walls, which they perceived as the membrane
between their world and the spirit world from which the visions
came. Over time, new social distinctions developed as individuals
exploited their hallucinations for personal advancement, and the
first truly modern society emerged. Illuminating glimpses into the
ancient mind are skillfully interwoven here with the still-evolving
story of modern-day cave discoveries and research. The Mind in the
Cave is a superb piece of detective work, casting light on the
darkest mysteries of our earliest ancestors while strengthening our
wonder at their aesthetic achievements.
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