From: okunewck@psuvax1.cs.psu.edu (Phil OKunewick)
Newsgroups: sci.archaeology
Subject: Re: Cave Paintings, Magic or Instruction ?
Date: 15 Apr 92 21:49:48 GMT
Organization: Random, at best

shapiro-david@CS.YALE.EDU (David Shapiro) writes:
>It seems to me that an awfully big assumption is being made by saying that 
>we can legitimately compare the cave-paintings of Cro-Magnon man and modern
>human.  We are living in a fundamentally different society, so different,
>in fact, that to try to make comparisons is to push the limits of
>credibility.

   Exact comparisons, yes.  But some parallels can be drawn.

   Much understanding of the past is based on similar cases in the
present.  People worship dieties today; people use instructional tools
today; people today like to leave a mark of their passing.  It's
reasonable to suspect that ancient man had similar motivations.  There
are other possible motivations as well.


>However, I will agree that the tendency among archaeologists to ascribe 
>religious meaning to everything mysterious is often disturbing.  This is in
>no way to say that there is no possible evidence for ritual activity.  

   Matter of fact, there _is_ evidence for ritual activity among some
ancient cave markings.  (Again drawing a parallel with modern times,
there isn't too much difference between something painted on a cave
wall and something carved into it.  It's just a matter of what tools
are available.)  Not all markings are religious, but definitely some
are.  The Rio Camuy cave system in Puerto Rico is a good example.

   The Rio Camuy cave system is fairly extensive.  7 km of the main
river disappears underground here, and is joined underground by
several tributaries.  The landscape is covered with massive sinkholes
(hundreds of meters in diameter, and just as deep), many of which open
up into the underground river system.  There is virtually no water on
the surface in this area - it's all underdrained.  And a lot of the
water's underground course is in passages big enough to fly a small
helicopter.

   In addition, Puerto Rico has a lot of "pre-columbian" indian
history.  Throughout this cave system there are numerous petroglyphs,
and there is a religious/recreational indian ruin about 30 km away
from the cave system.  (The Puerto Rican indians were virtually wiped
out during the first several years of spanish rule - of the few that
survived the european diseases, most died from enslavement.)

   The entrance to the Angeles section of the cave is fairly massive,
and exposes a large stream.  This is an excellent water source,
especially because the sinkhole can be entered by walking.  (Several
sinkholes are sheer vertical drops.)  On the wall above a place ideal
for drawing water, there is an indian petroglyph of a face.  According
to Norman Veve (who found the petroglyph and brought in somebody to
identify it several years ago), this petroglyph symbolized the indian
water god.

   It would be really foolish to conclude from this that all ancient
cave markings are religious.  But some appear to be.


   As a side note, the religious/recreational area is interesting.
It's locally referred to as an indian "ballpark".  It's pleasant to
see historians acknowledge that stone age cultures did things for fun
too.