Student 18 Exam I Fall 1999

*note: this exam was entered exaclt as the student wrote. No changes have been made.

The time period of the Homo Sapiens Sapiens or Cro Magnon people ranged from 35,000 years ago to approximately 10,000 years ago. The age of the cave art in Lascaux has been placed approximately 17,000 years ago. The cave houses approximately 1500 different drawings. It is believed that the drawings were created for ritual or ceremonial purposes.

The location of some of the drawings can possibly give insight into this ritual theory or purpose. To reach the drawings one must pass through a steep and dangerous passageway. To choose such a difficult location to hold the ceremonies could have been done so the participants could show the spirit world their devotion to the ritual and the spirit world. The idea that the drawings were utilized in a ceremony for hunting purposes is supported by the many nicks in the walls where it is obvious that something was purposely thrown and the drawing. Possibly a weapon used in the hunt. There are very few depictions of human figures on the walls. This might have been purposely done to avoid getting a person involved in a ceremonial request of a good hunt (killing) thus causing the human figure (the individual it represents) to be killed during the hunt. Also, humans were not the focus of the hunt, therefore there was no reason to put them in the drawing. The theory of rituals requesting a good hunt is also supported by studying those who exist today that are relatives of the Cro Magnon people. An individual witnessed a similar ritual by the pygmies in the Congo around 1905. He witnessed a male draw a picture on the ground and then a female began to chant and sing. During the ceremony, the male shot an arrow into the figure on the ground. It was discovered later that they picture on the ground was an animal and the arrow was stuck in the neck of the animal.

There are some pictures drawn of creatures that do not appear to be fully human. The Sorcerer is one image that depicts a half human, half animal character. This image is believed to be a creature of the spirit world that could travel from the spirit world into he real world and back. This suggests that the Cro Magnon man did have a belief in the afterlife.

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