Upper Paleolithic Art 217of origins, and the afterlife.^33 The animals depicted in this
art, often with startling realism, are not the ones most of-
ten eaten. Rather, they are powerful beasts like the eland
(a large African antelope), and this power is important to
shamans—individuals skilled at manipulating supernatu-
ral powers and spirits for human benefit—who try to har-
ness it for their rain-making, healing, and other rituals.
The most famous Upper Paleolithic art is that of
Europe, largely because most researchers of prehistoric art
are themselves of European background. Though the earli-
est of this art took the form of sculpture and engravings—
often portraying such animals as reindeer, horses, bears,
and ibexes—figurative art abounds in the spectacular
paintings on the walls of 200 or so caves in southern France
and northern Spain. The oldest of these date from about
32,000 years ago. Visually accurate portrayals of Ice Age
mammals—including bison, aurochs, horses, mammoths,
and stags—were often painted one on top of another.
Although well represented in other media, humans
are not commonly portrayed in cave paintings, nor arepictures go back 35,000 years in Europe (the time of the
Venus figurine of the chapter opener), although they do
not become common until much later.
Pictorial art is probably equally old in Africa. Both en-
gravings and paintings are known from many rock shelters
and outcrops in southern Africa, where they continued to
be made by Bushmen peoples until recently. Scenes fea-
ture both humans and animals, depicted with extraordi-
nary skill, often in association with geometric and other
abstract motifs. Some sites reveal that ancient peoples
had the seemingly irresistible urge to add to existing rock
paintings, while others used new sites for creating what we
today call graffiti.
Because this rock art tradition continues unbro-
ken into the present, it has been possible to discover
what this art means. There is a close connection be-
tween the art and shamanism, and many scenes depict
visions seen in states of trance. Distortions in the art,
usually of human figures, represent sensations felt by
individuals in a state of trance, whereas the geometric
designs depict illusions that originate in the central ner-
vous system in altered states of consciousness. These
entoptic phenomena are luminous grids, dots, zigzags,
and other designs that seem to shimmer, pulsate, rotate,
and expand and are seen as one enters a state of trance.
Sufferers of migraines experience similar hallucinations.
Entopic phenomena are typical of the Australian cave
art mentioned above.
In many recent cultures, geometric designs are used
as symbolic expressions of genealogical patterns, recordsRock art, like these paint-
ings from Australia, depict
things seen by dancers while
in states of trance. Simple
geometric designs such as
zigzags, notches, dots, and
spirals (as on the cave ceiling)
as well as human and animal
figures are common in these
paintings.© John Van Hasselt/Corbis Sygma
entoptic phenomena Bright pulsating forms that are gener-
ated by the central nervous system and seen in states of trance.(^32) Barham, L. S. (1998). Possible early pigment use in South-Central Africa.
Current Anthropology 39, 709.
(^33) Schuster, C., & Carpenter, E. (1996). Patterns that connect: Social
symbolism in ancient and tribal art. New York: Abrams.