In a collaborative (subscription seeking) arrangement with the Paris Review, Slate has just published a riveting piece on “America’s Ancient Cave Art” by John Jeremiah Sullivan. Many of these Cumberland and Tennessee Valley caves have been only recently discovered and their locations are largely secret. Except for a small group of Southeastern archaeologists, their existence [...]
Tags:Adena·Altamira·altered states of consciousness·Appalachia·ASC·cave art·cave cosmology·cave rituals·cave symbolism·Chauvet·Cherokee·Cumberland·David Lewis-Willliams·entoptic images·entoptics·form constants·hallucinations·Hopewell·Jan Simek·John Jeremiah Sullivan·Lascaux·Mayan·Mississippian cultures·Mound Builders·Natchez·Paleolithic·petroglyphs·rock art·San rock art·Southern Death Cult·Southestern Ceremonial Complex·Tennessee
Over at Seed, Holly Capelo provides a helpful survey of the various ways in which the famous Upper Paleolithic cave paintings — found primarily in France and Spain — have been interpreted over the last several decades. The occasion for her survey, which strangely omits mention of David Lewis-Williams’ contention that the paintings were the [...]
Tags:altered states of consciousness·archaeoastronomy·aurochs·bovids·bull mythology·cave paintings·cyclical time·David Lewis-Williams·entoptic images·Hall of Bulls·Holly Capelo·Lascaux·linear time·lunar time·Magdalenian·Michael Rappengluck·Occams razor·paleolithic graffiti·parsimony·seasonal hunting·star time·Taurus constellation·time-keeping system·Upper Paleolithic
