A Shaman's Wanderings

 Following on from my earlier post, this was delivered earlier today (48 hour service!):

NK Sandars - Prehistoric Art in Europe

and after a lunchtime's worth of browsing, it has already pushed the visual side of this project in a whole new direction. Sanders' scholarship might be 60+ years old but it covers so much more than processes of dating and archaeological musings - the clue is in the title, and she addresses the ideas of these works as art in their own right as well, citing the likes of Gombrich on the way, as well as several detailed comparisons of prehistoric figuration to so-called 'civilised' Greek artistic forms. In terms of visual interest, a few beast/human hybrids caught my attention straight away:

especially the 'sorceror' (beast-shaman?) figure at bottom right. This straightaway inspired a more 'primitive' rendering of this depiction of Hrefni, the raven storm-god:

as this, re-imagined in a much earlier style:


Herein the difference is that of not just form but also media: the latter is painted on the surface, the former planned to be inscribed into a surface, ideally stone, but more likely wood. The significant characteristic details remain unchanged: the prominence of the shamanic sky-drum, the raven head and cloak of feathers are all enough for people in this mythical world to identify their god in this earlier depiction, absent detail and stylized ornamentation. Perhaps a medial or 'in-between' form of this evolution could be developed too.


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