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Analogical Evidence and Shamanism in Archaeological Interpretation: South African and European Palaeolithic Rock Art

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Analogical Evidence and Shamanism in Archaeological Interpretation: South African and European Palaeolithic Rock Art Analogical Evidence and Shamanism in Archaeological Interpretation: South African and European Palaeolithic Rock Art MARÍA CRUZ BERROCAL Rock art studies have been strongly reliant on ethnography in recent decades. Since the 1970s, the (re)turn to ethnography has been considered short of a paradigmatic change, and it has indeed stirred a lot of theoretical discussion in the very under-theorized field of rock art research. The ethnographic turn has been mainly built around shamanism, very loosely defined here as the causal association that researchers establish between shamanic practices and rock art, and from which explanations have been sought. The application of this approach has changed through time, depending on 1) the archaeological context in which it was to be applied, 2) the use of additional sources of evi- dence (namely, neuropsychology), 3) the role of shamanism as a hypothesis or as an established fact. As a hypothesis it has been built on the basis of three dif- ferent kinds of analogies: ethnographic, formal and uniformitarian. This paper addresses the shifting character of shamanism in South African and European Palaeolithic rock art studies, seeking to contribute at least in part to a broader reflection on the nature of analogical reasoning and its implications. INTRODUCTION This paper highlights the role that anal- ogy plays in shamanism, and its changing This paper is a historiographic revision of nature through time. The term shamanism the application of a shamanistic hypothesis, hides not only different analogies, but also henceforth ‘shamanism’, to rock art stud- different theoretical approaches to the social ies, especially in the South African and significance of rock art. Ultimately, shaman- the Western European Palaeolithic rock art ism is a paradigmatic case study for further corpora. Shamanism is understood here as inquiry into the use of analogy in archaeolog- the association that researchers have estab- ical research to be explored in the future. lished since the 1970s between shamanic Analogical arguments, especially those of practices1 and rock art, even if it was not an ethnographic character, have been present explicitly labelled as such.2 This association in rock art research from its very begin- implies a causal relation, because rock art nings. Ethnographic information from dis- was explained as the product of shamanistic parate parts of the world was employed in practices. María Cruz Berrocal, Research Group on Social and Economic Prehistory, Instituto de Historia, Centro de Ciencias Humanas y Sociales, CSIC Madrid, 28037, Spain. E-mail: [email protected] 2 rock art research in Europe and was also and considered to be nothing short of a essential to its early study in places such paradigmatic change: as South Africa, as researchers recorded the San language and its related oral history A . .. marked rise in success would begin in the early 1970s, when an ethnographic approach, sea- at the end of the 19th century. They sug- soned with social theory, began to be adopted gested that the rock art ‘illustrated’ accounts and which, over the next three decades and more, of indigenous myths, daily-life scenes, folk- produced results that constituted the founda- lore, customs or superstitions (W. Bleek, cited tion for new theory and method. (Lewis-Williams by Lewis-Williams 2006a:352, see also Lewis- 2006a:369) Williams 2000). However, the use of ethnographic informa- The core of this new foundation was shaman- tion was not without problems. In Europe, ism, presented as sound ethnographic analog- the use of ethnographic information was ical reasoning for the first time, and therefore eventually discredited due to the abuse of a real improvement over the previous empiri- analogical arguments, characteristic of early cist research (Lewis-Williams 1991, 2006a). evolutionist and culture history archaeology This re-adoption of ethnographic informa- (Wylie 1985, Lane 2006). Distanced from tion and the application of analogy in rock art the ethnographic sources, researchers used research in an explicit and thoughtful manner this information in a non-systematic way in the 1970s (Lewis-Williams & Loubser and did not take into account the qual- 1986, Lewis-Williams 1991) had a precedent ity of those sources. Back in the original in the 1950s debates over the necessity of areas where ethnographies were recorded, making safe inferences and the status of such as South Africa, Australia (Vinnicombe analogy in mainstream archaeology (Wylie 1995) and USA (Whitley 1994), ethnographic 1985). As a result of these debates, the value records had been early dismissed for several of analogy was firmly established, and in the reasons including difficulties on the part of 1960s ethnoarchaeology as a sub-discipline the researchers in understanding the infor- emerged (Lane 2006). Thus, the return to mation and their scepticism about the qual- analogy as a mode of reasoning in rock art ity of ethnographic descriptions. The loss of research was a slightly late development. the original indigenous interpretations and While this turn to ethnography may have true meaning of the depictions contributed been partially the result of a general trend to this scepticism, since researchers tended in archaeology, other factors certainly con- to assume that only the artists were able tributed to it, such as the relative exhaustion to tell the true meaning of their work. of the previous theoretical frameworks and But, ultimately, ideological reasons and sheer a change in the political climate of the 1970s, racism on the part of colonial societies and representing a re-evaluation of indigenous researchers (Layton 1995, Lewis-Williams peoples’ past and present. 1995a, Vinnicombe 1995) led them, especially Next, I will briefly address these two factors in South Africa, to disregard both rock art in order to better contextualize the subse- and the associated ethnographic information quent discussion of shamanism. as meaningless. The only value of rock art was that it was ‘primitive’ (Jarl Nordblah, pers. FRAMEWORKS comm.). Thus, it is almost ironic that the (re)turn Culture-historical archaeology provided an to anthropology/ethnography led by South omnipresent theoretical framework for rock African researchers in the 1970s was hailed art studies, from which a range of different as ‘revolutionary’ in rock art studies (see interpretations, such as hunting-magic or the Morwood & Hobbs 1992, also Conkey 1997) art-for-art’s-sake hypotheses, were produced. 3 Its underlying principle was rooted in the theory was incapable of reaching the specific notion that rock art resulted from the innate meaning of the depictions. On the other hand, expressiveness of human beings, who natu- structuralism tended to fall into an interpre- rally tend to make their feelings and their tative excess. Hence, the use of ethnographic cultural norms known through art and shared analogy, and particularly of shamanism, arose stylistic traits. Style is therefore an important as an ideal middle ground (Lewis Williams object of study, since it is seen as part of the 1995a). Shamanism approached and treated common cultural heritage shared by one peo- social aspects and symbolic contents at the ple. In this context, style is used at the same same level. Its controlled use of the ethno- time as a) chronological indicator, b) expres- graphic evidence (Lewis-Williams & Loubser sion of the degree of development or cul- 1986, Lewis-Williams 1991) helped reveal the tural and social ‘stage’ of a social formation meaning of rock art, avoiding speculation and and c) expression of ethnicity. Style and rock embedding this search for meaning in a gen- art are then major components of cultural eral aim to understand its function as part of expression, apt to define peoples, cultures and social life (Lewis-Williams 1982). territories. But this approach to rock art min- The application of shamanism was based imizes its relevance in social terms because on functionalism and structuralism, as well it is treated as an inherent human manifes- as Marxism, since there was a recogni- tation, rather than a historical, social and tion that social life is not necessarily har- political one. monious (Lewis-Williams 1995a:77). Social The New Archaeology triggered a critical struggle became a key characteristic of orig- approach to the concept of style (Conkey & inal shamanic interpretations. Ultimately, the Hastorf 1990), whose role was now to be use of Marxist principles was also an attempt understood in terms of function, adaptation to raise social concern among rock art and information (Conkey 1980, 1984, 1985, researchers (Lewis-Williams 2006a:366). Mithen 1987, 1991, Barton et al. 1994). Rock The political climate of the 1970s in South art was regarded as an adaptive phenomenon Africa contributed to the success of shaman- used to transmit information, within and ism because the use of information provided outside the social group. It was assigned a by native people, who had previously been place in the social system as a manifestation neglected, was now reinstated together with within the ideological and symbolic subsys- the value of indigenous knowledge. This had tem, thought to have eased social and ecologi- positive political consequences in the long run cal pressures. In this way, rock art was related (Lewis-Williams 1995b, 2006a) since respect to other spheres of human behaviour rather was now granted to those ‘primitive’ com- than being an individual’s artistic expression. munities who created the artworks. Currently, At the same time structuralism had showed rock art is clearly a most conspicuous element its relevance for rock art studies since the of South African heritage (Fig. 1). 1960s (for instance, Conkey 1989, Criado & With this change in the intellectual and Penedo 1989, Leroi-Gourhan 1992, Sauvet & political attitude towards indigenous groups Wlodarczyk 1995, Santos 1999). Rock art came an important change in academic lead- seemed to lend itself very well to structural- ership in rock art studies. Rock art through- ist logic, due to its alleged entirely inten- out the world had previously been interpreted tional and symbolic character.
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