Judith Habicht-Mauche, UCSC, Spring 2005

Unit 8 Quiz

Available from Tuesday at 3 pm until Friday at Midnight

Don’t forget that you must take 7 of Don’t forget that you must take 7 of the 9 weekly quizzes to pass this the 9 weekly quizzes to pass this class!!class!!

Judith Habicht-Mauche, UCSC, Spring 2005

Unit 8Lecture 2

The Archaeology of

Ideology, Ritual and Symbolism:

Paleolithic Art

Judith Habicht-Mauche, UCSC, Spring 2005

The Upper Paleolithic in Europe and Russia

35,000-10,000 BPAssociated with spread of anatomically modern

humans (Homo sapiens sapiens)

Judith Habicht-Mauche, UCSC, Spring 2005

Explosion of Evidence for Art Explosion of Evidence for Art and Symbolic Behaviorand Symbolic Behavior

WHY? Emergence of

humans w/ greater capacity for abstract reasoning (language) or

Social and demographic changes at end of Ice Age

Judith Habicht-Mauche, UCSC, Spring 2005

What is Art?What is Art?A set of material practices and performancesEvokes feelings and responsesNot separable from worldview, politics,

economyPart of social lifeWay of making meaningMust be understood in local and historical

context

Judith Habicht-Mauche, UCSC, Spring 2005

Paleolithic Art: Caves 32,000-10,000 BP First discovered in late 19th

century Over 300 painted cave and rock

shelter sites Concentrated in No. Spain

(Cantabria) and So. France (Dordogne)

Famous Sites: Altimira Cave, Spain; Lascaux and Grotte Chauvet, France

Entrance to Lascaux Cave

Judith Habicht-Mauche, UCSC, Spring 2005

Portable Art

Figurines, personal ornaments, engraved plaques

Judith Habicht-Mauche, UCSC, Spring 2005

Interpretations of Upper Paleolithic Art (1)

Abbé Henri Breuil (1940s and 1950s)Functionalist ApproachCaves were sacred sites or sanctuariesPainting were part of rituals preformed to

increase success in hunting (“sympathetic magic”)

Judith Habicht-Mauche, UCSC, Spring 2005

Interpretations of Upper Paleolithic Art (2)

Andre Leroi-Gourhan (1965)Paintings part of elaborate system of meaning

with specific structure or grammar (“mythogram”)

Based on division of world into male and female elements

Compared cave art and portable art

Certain species chosen for depiction not because they are “good to eat,” but because they are “good to think.”

Judith Habicht-Mauche, UCSC, Spring 2005

Interpretations of Upper Paleolithic Art (3)

Margaret Conkey (1980s+)Contextual Approach (Geertz)Art as social practice-- abstract, ambiguous--

constructs meaning through its production and use in specific social contexts

Must be understood in broader context of Upper Paleolithic lifeways

Judith Habicht-Mauche, UCSC, Spring 2005

Upper Paleolithic Lifeways

Rich, diverse environmentsSeasonal but predictable resourcesMobile hunter-gatherers; collecting strategiesRequired coordination and cooperationAltamira--seasonal aggregation site--group

hunting of red dear and shell-fish collecting

Upper Paleolithic characterized by social life of materiality, mobility and meaning making within a cultural landscape.

Judith Habicht-Mauche, UCSC, Spring 2005

Individual and Corporate Identity More interaction between

groups--trade, exchange of marriage partners, competition, territoriality

Greater elaboration of local styles of material culture

Altamira: portable art reflects complex mix of diverse design elements

Judith Habicht-Mauche, UCSC, Spring 2005

The Power and Meaning of CavesThe Power and Meaning of Caves

Territorial markersSites of ceremonies and rituals that produce

and reproduce group identity Part of cultural landscape--associated with

social memory, story telling, cosmic geography Caves are liminal, “betwixt and between”--

membrane between social/material and spiritual worlds

Judith Habicht-Mauche, UCSC, Spring 2005

“Reading” Altamira Cave

Female Bison = Core Group or Lineage

Other Animals = Outside Males or Visiting Groups

“In such cases, objects and artforms constitute the social process and are not merely reflective of it.”

Judith Habicht-Mauche, UCSC, Spring 2005

According to Conkey...

Act of making cave art is way of creating knowledge and meaning in the material world

Makes personal experience publicTransmits social informationAesthetically and symbolically charged

representation of social/material reality