The Primordial Goddess
The Primordial Goddesses of the Pleistocene can only be inferred to represent symbols of fertility. While the sexual accent is clear, it is the larger context of the fines that makes for a more compelling story. The Pleistocene world is one of change for Homo Sapiens Sapiens. It is a world that is coming alive with cave art, technological change, and geographic expansion. It is, in the words of Jared Diamond, a "great leap forward". Several themes need to be explored in order to set the theme for these figurines. The first is that of cave art in a general sense.
Mothers of Time - Paleolithic Figurines
Richard Leakey's book Origin's Reconsidered (Pages 328-335) provides a backdrop against which to set the Primordial Goddess.
So the stage is set to look more at the nature of early religion. The human mind by
30,000 years ago had begun to stretch for explanation just as we do today. The art associated with the human revolution at this time is indispensable in supporting the claim that early modern Homo sapiens did indeed hold certain spiritual beliefs. Art and religion have always held a somewhat inextricable relationship with one another.
The common thread which unites all modern faiths is best explained by defining the term religion. As anthropologist J. G. Frazer defines religion, it is "a propitiation or conciliation of powers superior to man which are believed to direct and control the course of nature and of human life". It is clear that someone interprets the relationship of nature and human life. At a basic level, it is the Shaman who fulfills this role. It is the Shaman who is capable of interceeding and interpreting the relationships. The Shaman shares an intimate relationship with the spiritual realm as Joseph Campbell explains: The shaman is a particular type of medicine man, whose powers both to cause illness and to heal the sick, to communicate with the world beyond, to foresee the future, and to influence both the weather and the movements of game animals are believed to be derived from his intercourse with envisioned spirits.
Despite the fact that Shamanism enjoys neither the popularity nor the high number of devotees the world’s major religions have procured, the shaman has continued to practice an art that has remained relatively unchanged since time immemorial. The roots of Shamanism predate all of the world’s current religions. Though Shamanism is found primarily in simple hunting and gathering societies throughout the world, it might very well be the fountainhead for all the world’s major, more hierarchically complex, religions (Webster, Evans, Sanders). In order to substantiate such a hypothesis it is necessary to follow the progress of archaic Homo sapiens as they evolved into, (or, in the case of Homo sapiens neanderthalenis, were possibly replaced by), modern Homo sapiens.
The artist and shaman were probably one and the same in the late Paleolithic, as artists ever since have constantly claimed. Through their magical powers to recreate the animals on the walls of the temple caves, they -- the artist-shamans -- connected the living with the source of the life that animated both human and animal, becoming themselves vehicles of that source, creators of the living form like the source itself (Baring and Cashford 38).
Art was early modern Homo sapiens’ means of communication. The wall paintings of modern Homo sapiens found in such caves as Trois Freres and Lascaux in France, represent something more than mere representations of animals as seen in the daily lives of the artists. As Carl Jung explains: ...a word or an image is symbolic when it implies something more than its obvious and immediate meaning....Because there are innumerable things beyond the range of human understanding, we constantly use symbolic terms to represent concepts that we cannot define or fully comprehend. This is one reason why all religions employ symbolic language or images.
The art work found within these Upper Paleolithic caves were painted by individuals with a higher purpose in mind than just simply depicting the everyday animal life about them. In fact, most of the artwork is found deep within the recesses of these caves, and was not easily accessible. The art work was meant to be something more than simple “sofa art” to be viewed by all. Dr. Herbert Kuhn describes his visit to Trois Freres and the difficulty of reaching the inner chambers of the cave: The ground is damp and slimy, we have to be very careful not to slip off the rocky way. It goes up and down, then comes a very narrow passage about ten yards long through which you have to creep on all fours...The gallery is large and long and then there comes a very low tunnel....The tunnel is not much broader than my shoulders, nor higher. I can hear the others before me groaning and see how very slowly their lamps push on. With our arms pressed close to our sides we wriggle forward on our stomachs, like snakes. The passage in places, is hardly a foot high, so that you have to lay your face right on the earth. I felt as though I were creeping through a coffin.
It has been suggested that the art found upon these cave walls represents some form of magic or religious ceremony. The effort it requires to reach these inner chambers almost rules out the possibility of simple artistic expression. Joseph Campbell views Trois Freres as a chamber, and whole cave as an important center of hunting magic that served a magical purpose. The people in charge must have been highly repected and skilled magicians (powerful by repute, at least, if not in actual fact). Whatever was done in this cave had as little to do with an urge to self-expression as the activity of the Pope in Rome celebrating a Pontifical Mass.
One of the most compelling works of art found from the Upper Paleolithic period suggesting human spirituality is the wall painting known as the Sorcerer of Trois Freres. A hodge podge of animal and human features, the Sorcerer quite obviously represents something more than the simple rendering of a game animal.
Presiding impressively over the animals collected there in incredible numbers, he is poised in profile in a dancing movement that is similar, as Abb Breuilhas suggested, to a step in a cake walk; but the antlered head is turned to face the room. The pricked ears are those of a stag; the round eyes suggest an owl; the full beard descending to the deep animal chest is that of a man, as are likewise the dancing legs; the apparition has the bushy tail of a wolf or wild horse, and the position of the prominent sexual organ, placed beneath the tail is that of the feline species - perhaps a lion. The hands are the paws of the bear. The figure is two and a half feet high, fifteen inches across.
Several interpretations for the wall painting have been provided. It has been suggested that he was some sort of Lord of the Animals, a sorcerer, the artist-shaman himself, or as Abbe Breuil believes, is a presiding "god" or "spirit" controlling the hunting expeditions and the multiplication of game.
Richard Leakey points to the "The Sorcerer of Trois Freres" as shamanistic in origin. The strange combination of animal and human forms resembles the human/animal chimera image often seen in the final stages of a shamanistic hallucination. These odd hybrid images are referred to as therianthropes and are common in the shamanistic art of the San people of southern Africa. Also seen amongst the art work of the Upper Paleolithic cave paintings are geometric forms, such as grids, zigzags, dots, spirals, and curves . These geometric designs are often associated with the first stage of the shamanistic hallucination. “In the second stage of [the shamanistic] trance, people begin to see these images as real objects.
In Combination with the presence of enigmatic therianthropes, they are strong evidence that at least some of Upper Paleolithic art is indeed shamanistic. These therianthropes were once dismissed as the product of ‘a primitive mentality [that] failed to establish definitive boundaries between humans and animals. If, instead, they are images experienced in a trance, they were as real to the Upper Paleolithic painter as horses and bison.
The deep, dark recesses and chambers of caves would have been ideal locations for shamans. The darkness and isolation experience within these labyrinth caverns would have only helped to induce a hypnotic trance and shamanistic vision.
Within the deep recesses of these caverns in dim light or in total darkness, the artist-shaman practiced his art, his magic, with the hopes of communicating to animal spirits. Perhaps these caverns served as centers for fertility rites, initiation rituals and coming of age ordeals, with "The Sorcerer of Trois Freres" leading the ceremonies. What becomes clear is that Paleolithic caves like Trois Freres and Lascaux probably were centers of some spiritual importance. The art work reflected something more than just a representation of the natural world, it reflected a form of symbolism known perhaps only to the artist-shaman and the society in which he worked.
The study of present day hunting and gathering societies is detrimental to our understanding prehistoric societies. Just as hunting and gathering societies today have a simplistic form of spirituality based on their interaction with nature, so to would prehistoric societies. It is no coincidence that the symbolism, so based on nature and big game, found in modern day hunting and gathering societies, resembles the art found in Upper Paleolithic caves.
Primodial Goddess - Animism and Natural Order of the World
The Venus figurines in this context can be seens in the animistic perspective of the primal mind. This is a mindset that sees the world as alive and intertwined with human life. The Therianthropus figures and the visions of humans and animals in the form of cave art provide a strong linkage between humans and the natural world. The Paleolithic figurines can logically be fit into this view by assuming they were part of a larger emphasis on fertility - even aimed at magical increase in animals as much as for human fertility.
Erich Neumann advocates that the Goddess becomes a symbol of the earth itself. He postulates that the Goddess is often depicted as if sitting. He draws upon the images of other, later Goddess figures who often are depicted sitting on "thrones" as support for a broader belief that the Goddess is a symbol for Mother Earth. Neumann also advocates that the Primordial Goddess may represent a mountain and he provides several examples of Goddess figures associated with mountains.
It is difficult to prove many of these claims, but it is possible to trace the Goddess figure through time when it is possible to historically document meanings and significance. This
project is an effort to trace the Primordial Goddess through time and to make connections that appear plausible. We will explore Egypt, Mesopotamia, Crete and the Aegean Islands, and southern Europe in our search for contingent points. We will attempt to trace the association of the Goddess to animals such as birds, cattle, and snakes along our path of exploration.
Catal Huyuk
Catal Huyuk is an early agricultural village in Anatolia (modern Turkey). It was discovered and excavated by James Mellaart in the 1950s. People of Catal Huyuk specialized in obsidian production, cattle raising, pottery making, and basket making. The site dates to about 6,000 to 7,000 B.C. and represents a relatively large Neolithic village. Architecture includes continguous adobe construction of domestic houses and shrines.The central image of the Goddess was a young woman, a woman giving birth, and an older woman. The Goddess is represented in shrines in sculpted relief or painted on walls. Bulls represent the other image found within shrines and has been interpreted to represent the male God image. Several male figurines were found at Catal Huyuk but the Goddess image far outnumbers the God figures. This God image tends to be far more important as the image of a bull rather than a person.
The Catal Huyuk images of the Goddess depict her sitting on a throne of felines, as if she is flying through the air with her hair flowing in the wind, as a vulture, and as a flower. The gesture of birth was a paramount theme in many of the shrine depictions. In the excavation, Mellaart interprets one shrine to be a birthing place. The floor and pastered walls were painted red, a dominant color found throughout Catal Huyuk. Mellaart found evidence to suggest that the leopard may have been sacred and may have been embodied within the symbolism of the Goddess herself. One Goddess was unearthed in a grain bin. She was in the act of giving birth and her hands rested between two lions or leopards. Lions or leopards are often found next to the Goddess or carried on her shoulders or worn as garments.
Anne Baring and Jules Cashford state "imagery of the Goddess with the ram and bulls horn at Catal Huyuk shows affinity with contemporary civilization of old Europe but also with Minoan/Mycenean culture." Baring and Cashford also note the presence of twin or dual Goddess at Catal Huyuk. These intertwined figures have two sets of heads and breasts but a single torso and pair of arms and legs. Images of two ladies in Knossos art of the Minoan culture may in some way be related to these earlier Catal Huyuk figures.
In most of the cases, the Goddess is sitting as if on a throne. Commonly this throne takes the form of the lions or leopards as in the case mentioned above. This image of a sitting Goddess forms part of the base of support for Neumann's contention that the Goddess represents Mother Earth.
Inanna - Ishtar
This is one of the three great goddesses of the Bronze Age. Ishtar, as we will refer to her as, is the basis for several other mother goddess or key religious figures in later ages. One of these figures is the image of Sophia in the Hebrew book of wisdom as an example. In the dynamics of the Sumerian world, there was a clash between the older goddess (Ki, representing mother earth) and the god figure who begins to become more predominant (Enlil). The goddess becomes the "big sister" to Enlil.Ishtar is seen on one steatite bowl represented as a serpent goddess, but she also is shown in other contexts with different animals. She is shown with streams of water emerging from her hands. A star and crescent moon are also present. She is surrounded by humped bulls and ears of wheat. She holds a serpent in her hand along with two lionnesses or leopards. There also is a depiction of a lion and a vulture attacking a bull. People saw Ishtar as a holy shepard and keeper. She bore a son who also was seen as a shepard and lord of life. Ishtar was worshiped in a holy temple or ziggurat, one of the earliest of which is found at the center of Uruk. Symbolism associated with the ziggurat include the moon and horns of bulls and has three levels (the underworld, the earth, and the heavens.) This temple was said to be the place to hold Ishtar's sacred herd. The temple was both a womb and a tomb. There actually was a place that represented Ishtar's womb.
Description of the Sacred City of Enlil - Nippur
No matter what name is given to her - the mothergoddess is a part of prehistory. The world of Artemis (right) was one of glory - her temple was one of the Seven Wonders of the World. She represents a long continuum of goddesses who pass through time.