Fragments of the hunt

Abstract

This paper looks at some of the oldest examples of visual art that show evidence of experiences of altered states of consciousness reported by the last persistence hunters. Persistence hunters relied on endurance and stamina to pursue their prey until it collapsed and was easily killed. Persistence hunting has been studied from viewpoints of paleontology and ethnography, this article offers a psychological connection between persistence hunting hypothesis and origins of symbolic culture. The article outlines the persistence hunting hypothesis describing its significance for future studies of the prehistoric cultures and their achievements. It covers persistence hunting and tracking methodology, its possible origins and how it may explain bigger brains in our species. It also describes the connection between endurance running and altered states of consciousness, and its connections with some shamanic practices. The article presents visual evidence, or fragments, that can be interpreted through persistence hunting and tracking, covering recurring topics such as hoof prints, blood trails, vulva imagery, therianthropes and nasal bleeds. Archaeologist David Lewis-Williams has proposed a shamanic explanation for rock art interpretation. This approach was based on ethnographic studies of Southern African hunter-gatherers. He suggested that African rock art often depicts trance hallucinations experienced by the shamans. This article offers an alternative and additional naturalistic explanation of prehistoric imagery based on the hunting methods used by the prehistoric hunter-gatherers. Combining the main outlines (persistence hunting hypothesis and its visual evidence in prehistoric rock art) this article offers a novel approach to rock art research which involves the history and documented experience of persistence hunting and tracking among the early hunter-gatherer societies.

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