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Originally Posted by TimMason
FlorenceArt - have you seen this? It describes the work of Iegor Resnikoff, who has tracked the relationship between sound and wall paintings in the caves of South-east France. Resnikoff and his assistants mapped the acoustics of the caves, singing, whistling and clapping their hands. where resonance was strong, that's where they found the paintings. This is very suggestive.
Similar results have been found in the US, and in southern Africa, where San rock paintings are related to acoustic phenomena. Today, although the San no longer paint on rocks, they still dance to the eland, going into trances as they move to the music.
Some anthropologists - not all - think that the rock paintings, the music, and the dance, are related to hypnotic visions. Look for David Lewis-Williams, who is best known for his work on San magical ritual, but who has recently turned his attention to the French caves. |
Yes, I have heard, in part, about these theories, but I didn't know about the association between sound and visuals. It fits with the shamanic theories I think. But it doesn't mean the rituals predated the stories, although maybe it would make better sense that way...
Quote:
Originally Posted by TimMason
For some anthropologists, the important functions of religion come from its power to make us act together. It is the way our bodies act in unison, in dance, or in making music. We then tell stories to fix the movements, to encode the collective activities, and these stories (you can find traces of this in folk-tales) gradually take on a life of their own.
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The more I read this, the more it makes sense. Yes, I guess that could work as a starting point.
The stories themselves, the tales or the myths, often have a lot in common I think. I'm sure there must have been attempts to analyze these common elements. I know that
Bruno Bettelheim analyzed fairy tales from a psychoanalytical point of view, and I already mentioned René Girard's works on sacrifice, but I'm sure there must be other studies on this subject.