A 43,900-year-old cave painting is the oldest story ever recorded
Archaeologists say it might also contain the oldest known religious images.
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3 comments
Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.Brilliant post. We know hunter/gatherers hunted aurochs in what is now Salisbury Plain in south of England around 10,000 years ago.
It would make sense that there is a ceremonial reason for depicting these scenes as the hunting season begins.
Geoffrey51
Level 8
Dec 29, 2019
0
You conjecture unfortunately cannot be substantiated factually. It makes sense, but many mistakes were made early in the field when enthusiastic archaeologists labeled the purpose as spiritual/ religious, only to later find the purpose was much more benign. Error on the side of caution is a good axiom to follow.
t1nick
Level 8
Dec 29, 2019
0
When I was an archaeologist (1975-1982), the bane of our field was when some researcher attempted to ascribe religious attributes and meanings to some new discovery or artifact. It was quite common in the first millennia of the field of archaeology for people to describe any previously unknown object that was not immediately obvious as religious or serving a religious purpose.
New Archaeology practices required us to describe the artifact, but not attempt to give it an unprovable religious function. We could suggest potential uses based on the physical attributes of the object, but not ascribe subjective attributes.
t1nick
Level 8
Dec 29, 2019
3
I have a feeling that early societies attributed what they could not understand to the supernatural. That way the unknown was not as frightening. "Oh the big boogie woogie did it again"
Attributing a solar eclipse to some "greater mystic power" was easier on the mind than worrying about "omg we're all gonna die"
I'm no archeologist but as a lay person this makes more sense than institutionalized religion which came later to give power to those with balls enough to stand up and profess they knew what was going on.