SOC250Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Behavioral Modernity, Cave Bear, Stone Slab
Document Summary
Flow chart polytheism (textbook has detail on it, journey east and journey west) download. Wisdom-exemplary, holy figures salvation- through gnosis, illumination, transcending- the self, Validation- of the social order cyclical cosmologies. Evidence- cave paintings, burial sites and cultural survivals. No signs that pre-human hominids were capable of religious thought. Neanderthals c 230 000 to 30 000 bce. This placement of bodies means some sort of tradition and respect- symbolic activity going on. But they may not believe in an after-life. Cult of cave bear- arrangement of bear skulls, on elevated slabs/altars- a form of cultic activity. Prayer of the hunt- magic of the hunt- flow into malinowski theory! Burial customs- deceased interred near their shelters or camps, or in grottos. Cave paintings- a rich artistic display, typically located in the deepest recesses of caves (so not likely for home decoration)
