Meeting at Ravenna
1997
Volume I: Pre- and
Protohistory
Edited by
Mark Pearce & Maurizio Tosi
with
Anna Maria Bietti Sestieri, Serge Cleuziou, Alessandro Guidi, Ludmila
Koryakova, Pietro Laureano, Mike Rowlands, Nataliya Shishlina, Simon Stoddart,
Andrea Zifferero
European
Association of
Archaeologists
Third
Annual Meeting
Ravenna,
September 24-28 1997
BAR International
Series 717
1998
Gisela Burger
THE
ROLE OF MAGIC IN THE PALEOLITHIC MOBILIARY ART OF SOUTH-WEST GERMANY
(BADEN-WÜRTTENBERG)
The
Paleolithic art is one of the beauties of the world created by mankind.
The
manifestations of this art contain messages like enigmatic signs. The meaning
of these messages is hidden, though they are visible.
Everything
created by man should be explained. The task of science consists of revealing
the background of all human creations. Only by uncovering the Paleolitic art we
would get insight into the early man's struggle against a hostile environment,
into his thinking in symbols and his social engagement.
It is well
known that the Paleolithic art originated in the hunting culture as life of the
foreaging societies was dominated by the animal in many respect.
Several
attempts were and are made to explain the Paleolithic art, but most of them
neglect the basic role of the shamanism, which contains a variety of beliefs,
patterns of behaviour and, above all, a sense of cosmic unity. The conception
of the world as a magic one helped our ancestors who, as to Sartre, were
"thrown into the world", to survive.
The
shaman, mediator between the Real and Unreal, between the Physical and the
Metaphysical, due to his social engagement and his connections to the universe,
was the early people's guide and protector.
The
starting-point of our topic is the Paleolithic mobiliary art of south-west
Germany. When necessary, manifestations of magic art from other places will be
referred to.
The first pieces of art, dated to the Aurignacian,1 appeared all of a sudden, explosive-like, without
outer influences. Representations
of the hunting cult are tiny sculptures (three to five centimeters high), found
in three undecorated caves. In the back
part of these caves sculls of bears were found. The caves, situated in a restricted area of the Swabian Alb, were
entered only four or five times by small groups of ice-age hunters.
The
scuptures found in these caves were made of mammoth-ivory, almost all of them
represent animals. Traces of colours on
important parts of their bodies as well as enigmatic signs, such as rows of
crosses, notches and engravings, point to their magical functions. Colours, especially the blue colour, have a
well-known magical meaning. Holes in
their hinderlegs make it probable that they were used as amulets.
Most of these realistic sculptures were found in one of the three caves, in the"Vogelherdhöhle".
To give an idea of their liveliness, some of them will be presented (Fig. 1, No. 1. 2, 3).2
The fact that the majority of the figurines represent
mammoth, proves the importance of this animal.
The most famous artifact among the sculptures and as
well as the oldest anthropomorphical representation of Europe, was found in the
cave of "Geißenklösterle" (Fig. 2, No. 1, 2).3 This figure, having the attitude of praying,
might be interpreted as a shaman.4 Between his
legs a tail or phallus can be detected. Rows of various signs on his back attract our
attention and point out a magical significance. Signs like these are often connected with the moon-cycle.
Similar
tiny ivory sculptures, though of women and birds, were found in a paleolithic
settlement in Irkutsk, Siberia.5
During
this period a shift from caves to abris and outdoor-stations occured in
south-west Germany.
The Magdalenian
mobiliar art in south-west Germany consists of weapons made of bone, antlers
and stone. These artefacts belong to the hunting-cult, especially those
decorated with animals.
Two
weapons, one from south-west Gemmy, one from south-west France, both decorated
with horses, show a striking similarity (Fig. 3, No. 1, 2).6
The
earliest witnesses of the fertility -magic in south-west Europe are engravings of
vulvae found among the mobiliary art (Fig. 4, No. 1, 2).7 Vulvae as well as
circlar signs like those in the grotte of Chauvet can be interpreted as
belonging to the fertility-cult.8
A striking
parallel can be detected in an oval sign under the belly of a sexually excited
horse from Shishkino, Siberia.9
As female
sculptures prove, the fertility-cult existed in BadenWürttember, too. The oldest evidence is a fragment of a
statuette made of mammoth-ivory, dated to the Aurignacian (Fig. 4, No. 3).10 It was
found in Hohenstein-Stadel, one of the three caves of the Swabian Alb. This cave probably was a sanctuary as the
figure with exaggerated female attributes was detected together with the
so-called "lion-man", a "Mischwesen", which will be
referred to later.
Magdalenian
mobiliary art of Baden-Wurttemberg belonging to the fertility magic are tiny
idols of Gagat without heads and exaggerated female attributes (Fig. 4, No. 4).11 The fact that they are pierced indicates their
magical use as amulets.
It should
be underlined that female idols, so-called "Venus", of southwest
France, especially the famous "Venus with the horn" from Laussel,
have striking similarities to artefacts recently excavated in Kostolenki,
Ukraine (Fig. 4, No. 5).12
Another aspect of the Palaeolithic
magic consists of ritual trancedances, presumably also connected with
fertility. Such dances are not only depicted on the abris of the Spanish Levant
(Fig. 5, No. 1),13 but also on the rocks of
Gobustan, Azerbaijan (Fig. 5, No. 2)14 and
Chotogoi-Chabsagai, Siberia.
11
A stange
group of the Palaeolithic works of art are the so-called "Mischwesen".
They have zoomorphical attributes such as animal-heads and tails, combined
with human limbs.
The origin
of these bizarre figure might be interpreted by the shaman's longing for an
incarnation with the animal, his spirit-helper, and its powerful ghost,
enabling him to fulfill his social task which was to protect the small group of
hunters and gatherers entrusted to him.
Usually these figures are explained as shamans disguised as hunters
with masks, horns and antlers. Such
hunting costumes may have existed among the Upper Palaeolithic people. But in that case the purpose would be a
practical one, namely successful hunting, while the incarnation with the animal
has a spiritual, even a supranatural, background.
Occasionaly
the origin of the "Mischwesen" is interpreted as a result of
hallucinations. But this theory neglects the shaman's essence, his free will of
incarnation with his spirit-helper.
The two
oldest "Mischwesen", dated to the Aurignacian, were found in the
grotte of Chauvet and on the Swabian Alb.
The "Mischwesen" from Chauvet, discovered in 1994, has the
head and the tail of a mammoth, combined with human limbs (Fig. 6, No.
1). To stress its magic importance, it
was outlined with black colour, its body was covered with striking magical
signs like the zoomorphical sculptures of the Swabian Alb.
The other
"Mischwesen" is the "lion-man" mentioned above (Fig. 6, No.
2). This sculpture of mammoth-ivory was
found in the cave of "Hohenstein-Stadel", the sanctuary where the
fragmentary fertility-idol was found.
Most of the
"Mischwesen", however, are bird-human beings.
As already
mentioned, sculptures of birds and women made of ivory were discovered in a
Palaeolithic settlement of Siberia. It
is of some importance concerning the meaning of birds to refer to Siberian shamans.
For many Siberian tribes the task of birds is to guide the shaman to the
highest of the three regions of the world.
They are the shaman's spiritual supporters. Modern drawings of Eskimos reveal this belief still to-day.
A proof of
the importance of birds for the Siberian tribes is the shaman's tradition to
put feathers into his hair, which might be considered as "pars pro
toto".
The same
habit can be stated in the representations of the Spanish-Levant art if you exclude
the interpretation that it was simply decoration (Fig. 7, No. 1).
Despite the
multitude of theories concerning the famous composition from Lascaux (Fig. 7,
No. 2), an additional explanation could be suggested: a bird-headed shaman,
presumably in trance, is about to be taken to the highest region of the world
by a perched bird near him. Of special interest are the interrelations between
the individual figures - the bird corresponds to the shaman's head, while the
erected phallus of the latter has a counterpart in the mighty scrotum of the
wounded bison.
One of the engravings of bird-men
from Altamira (Fig. 7, No. 3, 4), considering his erected phallus, possibly
also refers to the fertility-cult. The
most interesting bird-figure, also from Altamira (Fig. 7. No. 5), has not only
a bird-head but also wings of a bird.
Another
example of the world-wide distribution of "bird-Mischwesen" is a
sensational discovery recently made, though it belongs to a later time, to the
Early Neolithic.
In a
devotional building of the settlement Nevali Chori, south-east Anatolia, a
"bird-Mischwesen" was found (Fig. 8, No. 1, 2). The upper part
belongs to a human being, while the body, as well as a part of the head, is
covered with feathers. The supernatural power of "bird-Mischwesen" of
this place can also be assumed by finds of numerous sculptures of birds in all
devotional buildings of this settlement.
An
Ukrainian artifact also indicates the intimacy between a human being and a bird
(Fig. 9, No. 1). On a fragment of a vessel
of the Cucuteni-Tripolje culture, excavated in the Eneolithic settlement of
Shvanec between the rivers Dnepr and Bug,
a painting represents a "Mischwesen" with an animal's head and
a flying bird near it.
As many
other pieces of vessels found in the same settlement represent
"Mischwesen", it can be assumed that shamanism played an importmt
role there.
Among the
"Mischwesen" one group attracts special attention as they resemble
ghosts or demons. Possibly their
meaning for the shamans was to portray the evil in order to deter evil spirits
with the help of these magical artefacts.
Examples of
such representations are engravings of ghosts from the grotte of
"Gombarelles". One of them,
with long teeth similar to those of a mammoth, is a demon-like being with
terrifying eyes (Fig. 10, No.
1). Other
anthropomorphical-zoomorphical engravings were found in the cave of
"Madelaine" (Fig. 10, No. 2, 3).
A specially
interesting "Mischwesen" with a long tail is the "sorcerer"
from Lourdes (Fig. 10, No. 3). Magical
signs like crosses and strokes also manifest a striking similarity to the
sculptures of the Swabian Alb.
The most
important aspects focusing the role of the magic in the Palaeolithic art of
south-west Germany are the hunting and fertility cults. They are conditioned by the necessity to
survive in regions like the Swabian Alb which are ecologically unfavourable,
with infertile soil, harsh climate and absence of water.
Finally an
important point of the Palaeolithic art shall be pointed out: regardless if the
artefacts are considered as early evidences of shamanism, magic, or religion,
strikingly similar creations of the human spirit appear simultaneously in
different places of the world.
To explain
these parallels by mutual influences does not take into account the distances
between the respective places of Palaeolithic manifestafions.
The reason
for such impressive similarities is presumably a psychelogical one - the common
human creative abilities, originating from unconsciousness.
Due to
Rupert Sheldrake this phenomenon can be explained by morphogenetic fields,15 the invisible connections of the collective
unconsciousness. Thus equal or similar manifestations of the human spirit
emerge in different, often far-distant, places at the same time.
As it is
well-known, the Paleolithic people were exposed to extremely hard conditions of
life, having to resist a world full of real and imagi-
12
nary
dangers. But nevertheless, their cosmic feeling, their sense of being part of the
whole, enabled them to find ways and means to survive. Applying to these means
which we might call "magic", they developed a remarkable sense of
beauty. The unique evidence of this is the Paleolithic art.
1 Wagner 1979, 65.
2 Hahn, Müller-Beck, Taute 1985, figg. 41, 42, 43.
3 Müller-Beck, 1983, figg. 185, 187.
4 Müller-Beck, 1983, 317.
5 Okladnikow 1972, 54f.
6 Leroi-Gourhan 1983, fig. 461; Bandi 1972, fig. 2.
7 Leroi-Gourhan
1983, figg. 256, 257.
8 Chauvet,
Deschamps, Hillaire 1995, fig. 49.
9 Okladnikow
1972, 27. RIEK, G.
10 Hahn, Müller-Beck, Taute 1985, fig. 49.
11 Albrecht 1987, cat. 83.
12 Lubine, Praslov, 1987.
13 Dams 1984, fig. 148, Abri II.
14
Shamilovun, Babaievin, Boruchalinindir 1974, fig. 55.
15
Sheldrake 1984, 12ff., 25ff.
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vor 30000 Jahren, eds. H. Müller-Beck & G. Albrecht, Stuttgart.
Bandi H.-G.
1977. ‚Die Kleinkunst aus dem Kesslerloch’, in Die Kultur der Eiszeitjäger
aus dem Kesslerloch, Ausstellung im Rosgarten-Museum, ed. S.
Blankenhagen v., Konstanz.
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Brunel Deschamps E. & Hillaire Ch. 1995.
La grotte Chauvet au vallon Pont D'Arc. Paris.
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1995. Postface Chauvet aujourd'hui.
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nakhodki. Kiev.
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13
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