Animal frieze from Chauvet Cave, France. Online image, public domain.
An approach
that turns the old idea of cave art as ‘hunting magic’ on its head imagining the art after the fact instead of before the hunt.
“During the first
half of the twentieth century Abbé Breuil’s interpretation of cave paintings as
simple hunting magic prevailed. His idea was that the paintings tried to
bewitch the animals to ensure success in hunting. According to French
archaeologist André Leroi-Gourhan, this idea originated from some extremely
rare paintings depicting wounded or speared animals in European caves. Some
prehistorians believed that the depicted animals were painted to encourage
fertility of the game.” (Ijäs 2017:72)
Horses and rhinoceros, Chauvet Cave, France. Online image, public domain.
Many groups
of indigenous hunters feel that the animals they harvest are willingly
sacrificing themselves to the hunter to provide food and raw materials for his
well-being, and they have customs of thanking the animal for giving itself up. For
instance there are records of Inuit hunters not only thanking the dead game
animal for sacrificing itself, but also pouring a little water in its mouth to
give it a drink. “When Inuit kill an
animal in the traditional way, they give it a drink of water or, if there is no
water, they melt snow with their mouths.” (Laugrand and Oosten 2015:210)
This act is a way of giving back to the animal who gave itself up to the Inuit
hunter.
Such an act
of giving back illustrates the attitude of honor, respect, even kinship that an
indigenous hunter feels toward his quarry. “For
hunter-gatherers, occupying environments where animal protein is essential to
subsist, the hunt is an act of necessity. Such events, however destructive and
aggressive as they tend to be, are commonly associated not with the hunter’s
sense of malice, disdain, or even casual disinterest, but an abiding sense of
respect and honor for his prey.” (Buckner 2020)
Horses, Chauvet Cave, France. Online image, public domain.
“Respect for animals was organized
by many rules that varied for each animal. Some basic principles applied to all
animals. An animal should not be abused, or ridiculed. Unnecessary suffering
should be avoided.”
(Laugrand and Oosten 2015:66) They did not need a local chapter of the SPCA,
basic human decency was apparently enough.
Among
indigenous cultures, hunting is more than just a way to procure meat. Hunting
also has deeply meaningful cultural and spiritual significance governing the
relationships of the hunter to the animals he is pursuing.
Horse, Axial Gallery, Lascaux, Image from Lewis-Williams, 2002, The Mind in the Cave, Fig. 23.
“Hunting is not just a means
of survival for indigenous peoples; it also plays a significant role in their
cultural and spiritual practices. Many hunting rituals are deeply intertwined
with indigenous ceremonies and belief systems. These rituals often involve
prayers, songs, and offerings to show gratitude to the animals for their
sacrifice. The animals are seen as kin and are honored accordingly.” (Thomas 2023)
This is pretty much at the core of their culture; their ceremonies and rites
are often centered on hunting success and the relationship with the animals.
The
interaction of the hunter and the hunted is seen as a reciprocal relationship. “Among the Cree Indians of northern Canada,
it is believed that animals intentionally present themselves to the hunters to
be killed. The hunter consumes the meat, but the soul of the animal is released
to be reclothed with flesh. Hunting there, as among many northern peoples, is
conceived as a rite of regeneration: consumption follows killing as birth
follows intercourse, and both acts are integral to the reproductive cycles,
respectively, of animals and humans. However, animals will not return to
hunters who have treated them badly in the past. One treats an animal badly by
failing to observe the proper, respectful procedures in the process of
butchering, consumption and disposal of the bones, or by causing undue pain and
suffering to the animal in killing it.” (Ingold 1994:9) So, the hunter not
only has to behave correctly in respect to the animal he is hunting, the
animal’s soul also has to be given due respect in order for the compact between
hunter and prey to be properly fulfilled.
Auroch, horses and deer, Lascaux Cave, France, Online image, public domain.
“The animals in the environment of
the hunter do not simply go their own way, but are supposed to act with the
hunter in mind. They are not just ‘there’ for the hunter to find and take as he
will, rather they present themselves to him. The encounter, then, is a moment
in the unfolding of a continuing – even lifelong – relationship between the
hunter and the animal kind (of which every particular individual encountered is
a specific instance). The hunter hopes that by being good to animals, they in
turn will be good to him.”
(Ingold 1994:14-15) In other words, it is a reciprocal relationship with both
human society and the animals having roles to play, and if the roles are played
well success is expected to follow.
“For many Native Americans, the act of hunting was
about more than just acquiring food. It was a way to connect with the natural
world and to show respect for the animals that were being hunted. Hunting was
also a way to teach young people about the ways of their culture and to instill
in them the values of their people. ‘We should be grateful for the gift of the
animals because they were created to feed the Anishnaabe people, giving them
strength.’ It was important for hunters to pray and express gratitude when they
took the life of an animal, as taking that life would allow them to feed their
own families.” (Mika 2023)
For the
Anishnaabe people “They believed that the animals were created
to feed the Anishnaabe people, to give us strength, and we should be thankful
for that gift. It was very important for the hunter to pray and give thanks
when taking the life of an animal, as taking that life meant that he could feed
his own family. It was also said that if we stopped hunting and fishing, that
we were no longer grateful for the gifts that the creator had given us –
therefore it is an act of cultural tradition to not only hunt and fish, but to
give thanks by placing sacred medicines when an animal life has been taken for
the survival of the tribe.” (Tribal Trade
Co. 2020)
Aurochs, horses and deer, Lascaux Cave, France, Online image, public domain.
“The Native
American Hunting Practices are based on the unity of nature and humans. They
recognize that nature is not only a sustainer of life, but it is also an
essential part of human beings. Also, hunting is a way of life and a sacred act
of honoring the animal’s spirit. However, with the encroachment of
colonization, these practices were misunderstood, exploited, and became a pain
point for Native Americans.The primary aim of Native American Hunting Practices
was to provide food for the community while ensuring that every part of the
animal was utilized to avoid wastage. The practice was done in reverence for
the animal’s life and the understanding that its sacrifice would provide for
the community.” (Justo 2023)
To the
north Inuit beliefs were much the same. “Many
Inuit believed that animals offered themselves to the hunter in order to be
killed. If the animals were hunted they would multiply; if they were not
hunted, they would feel neglected and disappear. - Animals were thus often
described as giving themselves to the hunters who would make good use of their
meat.” (Laugrand and Oosten 2015:41)
Among the
Inuit again “When departing from a
hunting area the heads of the caribou must always face in the direction in
which the party is setting out. The soul of the animals slain will then follow
the same course and good hunting will result.” (Laugrand and Oosten
2015:241)
The Inuit
believe that the game animals want to give themselves to the hunter. By doing
so their soul is released to be, in effect, reborn. A hunter who passes up an
opportunity to harvest a game animal risks insulting it and being shunned by
all game thereafter. “Killing game is not
only a necessity to survive, it is also an obligation placed upon the hunter by
the animals themselves. Hunting is not a matter of choice, but a moral
obligation one cannot escape. Only by hunting can the Inuit as well as the
animals prosper. (Laugrand and Oosten 2015:343)
While most
of the examples I have cited refer to Native American or Inuit peoples, the
situation is essentially the same among indigenous people worldwide. The
relationship between hunter and hunted is one of respect, often even courtesy.
And, if the proper attitude and rituals are maintained, the soul of the animal
is freed to be reborn, to come back to the hunter again in the future. In the
Inuit belief, the soul of a sea mammal such as seal or walrus that is killed
returns to Sedna, the ‘Sea Woman’ to wait for its rebirth.
So, to
return to the proposition that the cave art might have been produced after the
successful hunt instead of before it, there could be a couple of motives
involved. The first, of course, might be bragging rights, to commemorate the
success of a difficult hunt. The cave picture might have been the visual
equivalent of a fisherman’s tale. The second might well have been to serve as a
repository for the soul of that animal until it can be reborn. In a number of
ways this would seem to make more sense than the “Increase Theory” of hunting
magic, that multiplying images of a certain animal would result in the increase
of the numbers of the actual animal in the landscape. Keeping in mind that for many indigenous
peoples the soul of an animal taken by a hunter will recycle, will be reborn as
a new animal if treated properly and with respect. What if, after a successful
hunt, the hunter returned and produced the picture of the animal on a cave or
cliff wall to provide a repository for the soul of his dead prey until it could
be reborn. In the same way that the soul of an Inuit hunter’s sea mammal victim
returned to Sedna to await rebirth, then, the animals, knowing their souls
would be provided for, would be more likely to be willing to give themselves to
him in the future. The artist would then be part of the natural recycling of
the soul of this animal. This could also an explanation for the palimpsests of large numbers of some animal images, each soul would need a new representation. Finally, this also might explain the spiritual and
ritual nature of cave art.
NOTE: Some images in this
posting were retrieved from the internet with a search for public domain
photographs. If any of these images are not intended to be public domain, I
apologize, and will happily provide the picture credits if the owner will
contact me with them. For further information on this subject you should read
the original reports at the sites listed below.
REFERENCES:
Buckner, William, 2020, The Psychic Toll of Severing the Hunter-Prey Relationship, 14
October 2020, Nautilus, https://nautil.us.
Accessed online 20 April 2024.
Ijäs, Mikko, 2017, Fragments of the Hunt, Persistence Hunting,
Tracking and Prehistoric Art, Doctoral Thesis, School of Arts, Aalto
University, Espoo, Finland.
Ingold, Tim, 1994, From Trust to Donimation, An
alternative history of human-animal relations, pp.1-22, in Animals and Human Society, Changing Perspectives, Audrey Manning
and James Serpell (editors), 1994
Rutledge, New York.
Justo, 2023, Exploring Traditional Native American Hunting Practices: A Cultural
Legacy, 31August 2023, https://nativetribe.info.
Accessed online 20 April 2024.
Laugrand, Frederic, and Jarich
Oosten, 2015, Hunters, Predators and Prey, Inuit
Perceptions of Animals, Berghahn Books, New York and Oxford.
Mika, 2023, The Sacredness of Hunting in Native American Culture, 1 March 2023,
https://www.indiancountryextension.org.
Accessed online 17 April 2024.
Thomas, Connor, 2023, Exploring Hunting Traditions of Indigenous Peoples, 11 September
2023, https://www.findahunt.com.
Accessed online 15 October 2023.
Tribal Trade Co., 2020, Cultural Traditions of Native American Hunting & Gathering,
April 2020, https://tribaltradeco.com.
Accessed online 17 April 2024.
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