Desire And Becoming, An Old Story Ongoing
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The Horned God, or the Sorcerer, Cave of Les Trois Freres. Ariège, France.
Magdalenian Period, c) 14,000 BCE
The original. Lots of argument over whether those antlers are really there. Photographs can be deceptive, and researchers can be prone to mistakes. Therianthropy is the belief that humans can shapeshift into animals.
The concept is very much with us today. Werewolf, Van Helsing, 2004.
Some people, of course, have more prosaic interpretations of such paintings.
'The Masterpiece On The Shithouse Wall', Robert Williams. This is a Coochy Cooty comic, itself the adventures of a dissolute anthropomorphic crab louse.
I started reading Mr. Williams at the age of 17. That's why you are reading a furry blog now.
A great example of prehistoric art, and one of the oldest artworks, the
Lion-Man was found in 1939 in the Stadel-Höhle im Hohlenstein Cave. It
was carved out of mammoth ivory using a flint stone knife, dated to
30,000-35,000 years ago.
Limestone figurine of a lioness - morph, Elam. 3000 - 2800 BCE.
Jaguar shaman with half mask, Olmec. 150 BCE - 250 AD.
Pre-Columbian, Ecuador. Jamacoaque culture, 500 AD. This is a shaman in the act of transformation into a werejaguar. There was plenty of silver around but no bullets. I think we are seeing a Shamanic Shakedown!
Fish - Man, Mesolithic village of Lepenski Vir on the Danube in Serbia, 7000 BCE.
Yuck.
Rabbit god of virility, New Rome. 10,000,000 + AD.
Athropomorphism was, is, and will be.
Rowr!
Rowr!
Really good post here -- It's inspiring to see that some of the first artists ever were anthro artists!
ReplyDeleteThat sorcerer thing is probably as well known as the Venus of Willendorf. In both cases I would talk to the parents of the pre-schooler artist and try to get him professional help!
ReplyDeleteThe sculptures are remarkable... I hadn’t ever seen them!
ReplyDeleteI have only known the Sorcerer and the lion girl, I found the others while sifting the net. The days of print research are over!
DeleteA lot of people don't realize how long anthros have been around. From old legends and cave drawings to sculptures!
ReplyDeleteOur forebears were surrounded by animals that were much closer to humans than they are today. Of course animals talked, and of course you apologized to their spirit when you killed one. https://youtu.be/mM6OIlreneA Anthropomorphism was the rule and not the exception, I imagine it was the basis for religion as soon as we started using words and probably before that. In fact, we got a lot of nerve calling them 'animals', cousins is probably closer to it.
ReplyDeleteShamanism in a nutshell!
DeleteMaybe I should latch onto this New Age thing, and teach were-jaguarism. I mean, I got just as many credentials as anyone else. In the U. S., anyway.
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