Chapter 14

The Archaeology of the Mind

Outline• What’s a Symbol?• The Peace Pipe as Ritual Weapon• Exploring Ancient Chavín

Cosmology • Blueprints for an Archaeology of

the Mind• Upper Paleolithic Cave Art

Cognitive Archaeology• The study of aspects of ancient culture

that are the product of the human mind: – The perception, description, and

classification of the universe.– The nature of the supernatural.– Principles, philosophies and values by

which human societies are governed.– The ways the world, the supernatural,

or human values are conveyed in art.

What’s a Symbol?• To most anthropologists, a symbol

is an object or act (verbal or nonverbal) that by cultural convention stands for something with which it has no necessary connection.

Hopewell Interaction Sphere

• A common set of symbols found in the midwestern United States between 200 BC and AD 400.

• Hopewell “culture” included many different peoples speaking different languages and living various ways, from the lower Mississippi to Minnesota, and from Nebraska to Virginia.

• These diverse people shared a unifying set of symbols that may indicate common religious beliefs.

Religion • A set of beliefs about one’s relation

to the supernatural.• A society’s mechanism for relating

supernatural phenomena to the everyday world.– Ritual - Behaviors that must be

performed in a particular order under particular circumstances.

Cosmology• Study of the origin, large-scale

structure, and future of the universe. • A cosmological explanation

demonstrates how the universe developed and describes what principles keep it together.– Iconography - Art forms or writing

systems that symbolically represent ideas about religion or cosmology.

Upper Paleolithic Cave Art

• The Upper Paleolithic (40,000–10,000 BC) in Europe is distinguished by the appearance of a complex technology of stone, bone, and antler as well as wall art, portable art objects, and decorated tools.

• Many Upper Paleolithic sites contain engraved, carved, or sculpted objects, and caves occupied by Upper Paleolithic peoples often contain wall paintings.

Upper Paleolithic Cave Art: Content

• Human beings rarely appear and, when they do, they are poorly executed in comparison with animal figures.

• Images often overlap, no one has identified a “story” or landscape.

• Provides vivid evidence documenting the range of animals living in Ice Age Europe, certain animals are emphasized (horses, aurochs, bison, ibex, stags, and reindeer).

Structuralism• Some scholars view the cave paintings

as a structured code, drawing the paradigm known as structuralism.

• Structuralism argues that humans understand reality as paired oppositions.– The concept of “life,” is meaningless

without the concept of “death.”– The concept of “male” means nothing

without the concept of “female.”

Totems• A natural object, often an animal,

from which a lineage or clan believes itself to be descended and/or with which lineage or clan members have special relations.

Shaman• One who has the power to contact

the spirit world through trance, possession, or visions.

• On the basis of this ability, the shaman invokes, manipulates, or coerces the power of the spirits for socially recognized ends—both good and ill.

Vision Quests• A ritual in which an individual

seeks visions through starvation, dehydration, and exposure; considered in some cultures to be a way to communicate with the supernatural world.

Map of Lascaux

Quick Quiz

1. Cognitive Archaeology includes the study of: A. Principles, philosophies and values

by which human societies are governed.

B. The ways the world, the supernatural, or human values are conveyed in art.

C. Why cultures developed horticulture.

D. A, B and C.E. A and B only.

Answer: E

• Cognitive Archaeology includes the study of principles, philosophies and values by which human societies are governed and the ways the world, the supernatural, or human values are conveyed in art.

2. The Hopewell Interaction Sphere included included many different peoples that spoke a single language and shared a common religious belief.A. TrueB. False

Answer: B. False• The Hopewell Interaction Sphere

included many different peoples speaking different languages who shared a unifying set of symbols that may indicate common religious beliefs.

3. A _______ explanation demonstrates how the universe developed and describes what principles keep it together.

Answer: cosmological• A cosmological explanation

demonstrates how the universe developed and describes what principles keep it together.

4. According to the paradigm known as structuralism, humans understand reality according to the structures in their communities.

A. TrueB. False

Answer: B. False

• According to the paradigm known as structuralism, humans understand reality as paired oppositions

5. A ritual in which an individual seeks visions through starvation, dehydration, and exposure is called a ____ ______.

Answer: vision quest• A ritual in which an individual

seeks visions through starvation, dehydration, and exposure is called a vision quest.