The Nature of Paleolithic Art [Hardcover]

R. Dale Guthrie (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2006 | ISBN-10: 0226311260 | ISBN-13: 978-0226311265 | Edition: 1

The cave paintings and other preserved remnants of Paleolithic peoples shed light on a world little known to us, one so deeply embedded in time that information about it seems unrecoverable. While art historians have wrestled with these images and objects, very few scientists have weighed in on Paleolithic art as artifacts of a complex, living society. R. Dale Guthrie is one of the first to do so, and his monumental volume The Nature of Paleolithic Art is a landmark study that will change the shape of our understanding of these marvelous images.

With a natural historian's keen eye for observation, and as one who has spent a lifetime using bones and other excavated materials to piece together past human behavior and environments, Guthrie demonstrates that Paleolithic art is a mode of expression we can comprehend to a remarkable degree and that the perspective of natural history is integral to that comprehension. He employs a mix of ethology, evolutionary biology, and human universals to access these distant cultures and their art and artifacts. Guthrie uses innovative forensic techniques to reveal new information; estimating, for example, the ages and sexes of some of the artists, he establishes that Paleolithic art was not just the creation of male shamans.

With more than 3,000 images, The Nature of Paleolithic Art offers the most comprehensive representation of Paleolithic art ever published and a radical (and controversial) new way of interpreting it. The variety and content of these images—most of which have never been available or easily accessible to nonspecialists or even researchers—will astonish you. This wonderfully written work of natural history, of observation and evidence, tells the great story of our deepest past.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Guthrie, professor emeritus of zoology at the University of Alaska, is not the typical art historian, and this is not a typical art history book. Guthrie brings his expertise in zoology, paleontology and modern hunting to the study of cave paintings and other preserved remnants of our Paleolithic ancestors, proposing a revolutionary re-thinking of how our ancestors lived. Guthrie examined thousands of works, from the famous to the fragmentary, and concludes that rather than being the special province of a narrow group of shamans or seers, as many anthropologists had supposed, Paleolithic art was made by adults and children of both genders and depicts a primitive incarnation of the contemporary family. Readers with some art or anthropology background will find this book appealing, though layreaders can find much here to appreciate. (For instance, Guthrie's discussion of how cave paintings parallel in many ways the photographs found in Playboy and Hustler.) This immensely thought-provoking book will challenge readers' preconceptions about the origin of art and the provenance of our family and social structures.
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Review

"Guthrie, professor emeritus of zoology at the University of Alaska, is not the typical art historian, and this is not a typical art history book. Guthrie brings his expertise in zoology, paleontology and modern hunting to the study of cave paintings and other preserved remnants of our Paleolithic ancestors, proposing a revolutionary rethinking of how our ancestors lived.. . . This immensely thought-provoking book will challenge readers' preconceptions about the origin of art and the provenance of our family and social structures."--Publishers Weekly, starred review

(Publishers Weekly )

"A fascinating and compulsive read in which Guthrie harnesses a gamut of anthropological data and rock-art images. Despite this, it is a controversial book."

(Nadia Durrani Times Higher Education Supplement )

"[The book] provides a great number of interesting insights into the nature and behaviour of the species depicted, including humans, and is undeniably thought-provoking and challenging."

(Paul G. Bahn Nature )

“The Nature of Paleolithic Art will appeal to anyone with a strong interest in the world of the Late Pleistocene, as seen through the eyes of those who were there."

(Fossil News )

"Guthrie offers numerous provocative hypotheses about the makers of art and its place within the context of Palaeolithic daily life. Proponents of shamanism will likely find much of this monograph incendiary. . . . For all readers, his approachable style makes the book highly readable and at times witty. As the culmination of several decades of work, Guthrie's monograph provides a much needed, original perspective on the 'nature' of Paleolithic art."

(Rebecca A. Farbstein Archaeological Review from Cambridge )

"An extremely interesting and generally easily readable text. . . . In breaking away from more conventional magico-religious interpretations of Paleolithic imagery, [Guthrie] presents an intriguing vision of our distant ancestors and especially of the role played by a hunting lifestyle in providing the spark that ignited mankind's imagination and released his inherent creativity."

(Danny A. Brass NSS News )

"[The book] offers readers fascinating informaiton about and challenging interpretations of Paleolithic art. This book is a good read--Guthrie is an excellent writer--and is based on meticulous scholarship presented in a lively and engaging way."

(Aldona Jonaitis Quarterly Review of Biology )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 520 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press; 1 edition (February 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226311260
• ISBN-13: 978-0226311265
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 1.5 x 10.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #566,844 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

78 of 91 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars All that glitters is not gold. May 1, 2006

By Vit Lang

Format:Hardcover

The book description says:"With more than 3,000 images, The Nature of Paleolithic Art offers the most comprehensive representation of Paleolithic art ever published and a radical (and controversial) new way of interpreting it... This wonderfully written work of natural history, of observation and evidence, tells the great story of our deepest past."

This sounded very promising. Nevertheless, as I went through the book, it appeared that it was not as "wonderful" as promised.

The book contains a lot of small, monochrome line drawings made by the author. So every item of the Palaeolithic art is depicted by the author of the book. Unfortunately, at least some of the depictions are unacceptably different from the originals. A good example is a finding from the Rytirska Cave, the Czech Republic. It is not obvious what the actual artefact represents. Most archaeologists believe that it is probably a representation of a woman (although very atypical of the Magdalenian, where it belongs). The author redrew the item in such a way that he emphasized the woman's features and, as a result, it looks strinkingly different from the original(page 340). The Venus of Dolni Vestonice is depicted frontally four times in the book (pp. 332, 340, 351 and 366) and, at the same time, only the figurines depicted on pp. 322 and 351 are quite similar. The figurines presented on pp. 340 and 366 differ from each other and from the depictions on pp. 322 and 351 as well. The back views of this piece of art are on pp. 322 and 351 and these two drawings do not depict the identical figurine, either. The question arises: To which extent can I trust the author's illustrations?

There are mistakes in captions, for example instead of Gagarino, Russia, there is Gargano, Italy (e.g. pp. 332), instead of Dolni Vestonice there is mistakenly Pekarna (pp. 353), etc. I believe these mistakes should also be avoided, especially when it is possible to verify such information using the Internet within several minutes in most cases.

To sum up, the representation of the Palaeolithic art in the book is disappointing.

Another thing is the interpretation of the Palaeolithic art. To be honest, my personal interpretations are pretty different from the author's, so I was very interested in his pieces of evidence and argumentation. On page 204 the author states: "Absolon concluded...that the early peoples had only two things on their minds: sex and hunger". I ordered the cited paper (Artibus Asiae, 12, 1949, 201-220) and found that there is no such statement or conclusion (explicit or implicit) in the article cited.

Besides this example of the author's way of thinking, the book contains many other statements and assumptions which I consider unfounded.

In short, the interpretation of the Palaeolithic art in this book can be expressed by the above statement, which the author attributed to Karel Absolon. It seems that the author was well aware of the fact that there is whole animal in the human being, but he forgot the second part of the idea of Konrad Lorenz, namely that there is not the whole human being in the animal.

In conclusion, I think that The Nature of Paleolithic Art by R. Dale Guthrie is a book that does not meet the standard criteria of seriousness and reliability.

Instead, I recommend the "Journey through the Ice Age" by Paul G.Bahn and Jean Vertut, which contains photographs (instead of drawings distorting the originals) and a valuable text. "The Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Evolution of Man" by Jan Jelinek is also a very good source of information (although published in 1975).

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Marking time June 4, 2007

By Stephen A. Haines HALL OF FAMEVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Since the first finds of ancient cave art in Spain at the end of the 19th Century, researchers have sought to understand what prompted them. Various theories, from "hunting magic" to links to spirits have been put forward. Dale Guthrie, with many years experience in the field to draw upon, argues a new idea. Searching for "hidden meaning", he contends, is a false trail. Instead, he wants the art viewed as a window into the life of the times. What's important, he argues, is that the artworks represent what was significant to people living in ancient times. He considers those fabulous images as representations of rather mundane depictions of daily encounters. In this exhaustive study, Guthrie re-draws the art of the caves and inscribed on bone and horns, the tools, and some of the methods used.

He reminds us that most of the portrayed animal life wasn't a major part of the Paleolithic diet. Lions, bears and horses weren't consumed by those early peoples. Reindeer, easier to hunt and comprising much of the meal debris found, are far less common on the cave rocks. Cave art, he says, exhibits an unexpected unity of subject and presentation. As "unrealistic" portrayals, cave images show frequent exaggerations, which are common across many sites. This point, coupled with the hidden locations of so many rock art sites, instead of giving the art "hidden" purpose as well, suggests to Guthrie that the artists were just as likely people staying out sight. From this, he surmises that young people not occupied in hunting or other specialised tasks, may have been "dabbling" in making the images. He cites the number of small hand prints found on the walls as an indication of this claim. As he, and others have recognised, people went into the caves to make images, not to live in them. Caves are fine places to shelter, particularly during extended cold seasons. Passing the time by engaging in making graffiti may be our species' oldest form of alleviating boredom.

The author's surmise about young men being a significant portion of the cave artists leads him into further speculations about Paleolithic society in general. From the premise that those ancient people were physiologically much like ourselves, he assumes their mental capacity and social relations were much like modern humans, if a bit more primitive in technological abilities. Family relations were probably monogamous, he assumes - which departs from the numerous polygamous cultures that still exist today. The harsh environment forced people into small, intimate bands: "tribes" remained an innovation of the future. Conservation or almost any form of game animal management was impossible. Habitat relocation would be forced by the paucity of vegetable foods due to cold or varying conditions.

Guthrie's background is zoology, not graphics. That foundation gives him the basis for his fresh outlook on the subject. Yet, instead of offering a "coffee-table" volume of photographs, he has created his own images, all in sepia, to explain his ideas. Nearly every page contains these miniatures with explanatory text accompanying them. We must trust his abilities in conveying the images, and in some cases, what they actually represent. The minimal size of these graphics limits the available detail, and are indicators of his points, not evidence. It's a daunting task to keep track of his themes and how the images support them in many instances. However, since the images are the basis for his thinking, fewer of them and larger renditions would grant his ideas more credibility. Although his chapters are short and direct in making their points, bringing all the information together isn't a task for a novice in the subject. It's not an introductory text. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Book June 5, 2006

By Edgar Martin-Jones

Format:Hardcover

This is a great book! It is beautifully illustrated and artfully written. It thoroughly examines life in the Paleolithic using one of the main windows available to us, the surviving cave and stone art. Guthrie brings to it a common sense approach, weilding Occam's razor, to provide what seems to me, to be a landmark work on the subject. He covers the previous illfounded attempts to understand these images symbolically. His sample of 3000 images, most of which are not available in poplular books, is remarkable by itself.

I would have to take issue with the one negative review, posted here, which I have ever seen for this work. The reviewer complains of a typo in a caption heading and an inconsistency in one illustration. With a work of this size and scope, these are almost beside the point. I was puzzled by this review and took a moment to google his name and address, you may wish to also. I doubt that he is providing an agenda-free review?

It is a beatiful book with an overwhelming number of new ideas and insights, all found through a common sense approach to what life was really like for these folks living in the distant past. It is a page-turner. I loved it.

EMJ