ANTH 201 Study Guide - Prehistory, Upper Paleolithic, Cycl
8 Jul 2014
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Document Summary
The following lists some of the proposed explanations of european paleolithic art. None of these hypotheses covers all cases, but some are more probable than others. They are listed in historical order: art for arts sake. This notion that cave paintings were primarily decorative is contradicted by the fact that many paintings were located in inaccessible parts of caves and in some cases appear to have been visited only once. Simply decorative: sympathetic hunting magic (associated w/ henry brode/broid?) This hypothesis is that animals were depicted in order to capture their souls and symbolically kill them, ensuring success in hunting. The problem is that only c. 10% of painted animals are shown pierced by spears, and in many sites the paintings were of animals not normally eaten. Animals that were depicted to be hunted did not actually live in that area at the time.
