The sacred time of the caves.
| N° d'inventaire | 20554 |
| Format | 13.5 x 21.5 |
| Détails | 380 p., 95 figures, paperback. |
| Publication | sl, 2016 |
| Etat | Nine |
| ISBN | |
Sacred Cave Time is a clear and accessible synthesis of all the hypotheses proposed over time by the scientific community to answer the question of the meaning of cave art. It fills a gap in the literature devoted to this subject, no other book fulfilling such a specification. Usually, the theoretical overview proves too rapid; unless the author, a theorist himself, favors his own hypotheses to the detriment of others. Not so here. The result of several years of work, "Sacred Cave Time" gives each theory equal attention, exposing where necessary the points of friction between specialists. The first part presents the artist. Based on the most recent publications, the author establishes a precise portrait of Cro-Magnon, evoking in turn his ancestors, his contemporaries, his appearance, his diet, his way of life, his equipment, his social relations as well as with his environment (animals, elements) and the traces he left in terms of symbolic thought and spirituality. The second part, devoted to interpretations, offers the reader a critical analysis as exhaustive as possible: art for art's sake, zoocenosis, bear worship, magic of bewitchment, fertility, destruction and appeasement, prehistoric zodiac, shamanism, totemism, primordial dualism, initiation rites, prehistoric hunting code, teaching of hunting by driving, and finally myths linked to Genesis and fertility. The reader, thus enlightened, will finally be able to form his own personal conviction.
Sacred Cave Time is a clear and accessible synthesis of all the hypotheses proposed over time by the scientific community to answer the question of the meaning of cave art. It fills a gap in the literature devoted to this subject, no other book fulfilling such a specification. Usually, the theoretical overview proves too rapid; unless the author, a theorist himself, favors his own hypotheses to the detriment of others. Not so here. The result of several years of work, "Sacred Cave Time" gives each theory equal attention, exposing where necessary the points of friction between specialists. The first part presents the artist. Based on the most recent publications, the author establishes a precise portrait of Cro-Magnon, evoking in turn his ancestors, his contemporaries, his appearance, his diet, his way of life, his equipment, his social relations as well as with his environment (animals, elements) and the traces he left in terms of symbolic thought and spirituality. The second part, devoted to interpretations, offers the reader a critical analysis as exhaustive as possible: art for art's sake, zoocenosis, bear worship, magic of bewitchment, fertility, destruction and appeasement, prehistoric zodiac, shamanism, totemism, primordial dualism, initiation rites, prehistoric hunting code, teaching of hunting by driving, and finally myths linked to Genesis and fertility. The reader, thus enlightened, will finally be able to form his own personal conviction.