Post 3

My goal in writing this post is to bring about an idea that is new, but based on a few of the previous discussed topics in class. I think there is a definite possibility that the various cave paintings were painted by all sorts of men after their first kill. Thus, each painting may be a symbol of an individual's passage to manhood.

If we consider ourselves, in the modern world, a good portion of us still withhold the desire to kill other animals. For some reason or another we want to show our dominance over all other creatures. Most hunters today go out and hunt not for food, but for sport. They hang the dead stuffed bodies on their walls, take pictures, and even right about magnificient hunts. Most notably, every hunter remembers their first kill.

In class, we considered the possibility that the animal paintings in the cave were created by only a select few "Shaman" individuals to honor the beasts. However, it seems equally possibly that these paintings were created by all men after their first hunt. In "The Nature Of Paleolithic Art" the paintings are compared and contrasted. It turns out they are all very different; they contain different styles, colors, sizes, etc. It would make sense that each painting is done by a different man, a man painting the first animal that he killed. As for the painting of the man laying down in front of the bull on the verge of charging with intestines dangling, I have an idea. I think that this man may have died on his first hunt, and his elders painted it to represent what happened to him. I think this is entirely believable. I mean, there are certain African hunters that force new hunters to take a bite out of the heart of the first animal they kill. I think there is something similar going on with these paintings.