1902 committee

‘Shamanism’ is a term with specific anthropological roots, but it is used more generally to cover a set of interactions between a practitioner or ‘shaman’ and a spiritual or religious realm beyond the reach of most members of the community. It has often been considered from an anthropological viewpoint, but this book gathers the most recent studies on a subject which has not been comprehensively studied by archaeologists. By putting together experts from two continents who have studied the phenomenon of shamanism, Lands of the Shamans through carefully selected case studies uses the archaeological evidence to construct the shamans’ worldview, landscape and cosmology. Recent interdisciplinary studies support the idea of the existence of shamanistic representations as long ago as the Middle/Upper Palaeolithic, but at the same time, do not follow developments during the history of humankind. As ethnographic evidence shows, shamanistic activity represents a complex phenomenon that is extremely diversified, its spiritual activity possessing a large variety of expressions in the material culture. In other words, shamanism could be defined as a series of differing spiritual worldviews which model the material culture and the landscape. Throughout the archaeological record of all prehistoric and historic periods, there is a series of visual representations and objects and landscape alterations that could be ascribed to these differing world views, many thought to represent shamanistic cognition and activity. The shaman’s landscape reveals itself to the world as one of multifaceted spiritual and material activity. Consequently, this first book dedicated completely to the shamanistic landscape presents in fresh perspective on the landscapes of the lower and upper worlds as well as their phenomenological experience. Case Studies come from Europe, North America and Asia.  

Book review by George Nash:

One of the earliest human expressions on cave and rock shelter walls is the hand print and hand stencil. This most human of all symbols is found across most regions of the world. Both hand print and stencil are executed in all shapes and sizes and use a variety pigments and designs. Some sites possess multiple hand symbols that represent family units. In other instances hand symbols are accompanied by Palaeolithic animals such as bison, horse and geometric designs. One region where hand symbols are numerous is northern Spain; one of Europe’s core Upper Palaeolithic rock art areas. 

Published in Spanish, the HandPas volume is organised into four chapters with lavish imagery throughout. Chapter 1 provides the reader with a good grounding in how hand symbols were executed onto wall panels; Chapter 2 deals with the methods and documentation employed. Chapter 3 documents the corpus of 13 cave/rock shelter sites where hand symbols are present. Included in the corpus is the infamous Curve de el Castillo (within the province of Cantabria) where possible Neanderthal motifs were identified. Chapter 4 provides that all-important summary. 

Collado Giraldo and an invited international team have produced a significant corpus which draws together all hand symbols that adorned the cave and rock-shelter walls of the Iberian Peninsula. This book with be a much-used reference in years come. 

Rock art in South America is as diverse as the continent itself. In this vast territory, different peoples produced engravings, paintings, and massive earthworks, from the Atacama to the Amazon. These marks on the landscape were made by all different kinds of peoples, from some of the earliest hunter-gatherers in the continent, to the very complex societies within the Inca Empire. This book brings together the work of specialists from throughout the continent, addressing this diversity, as well as the variety of approaches that the Archaeology of rock art has taken in South America. Constructed of eleven thought-provoking chapters and arranged in three thematic sections, the book presents different theoretical approaches that are currently being used to understand the roles rock art played in prehistoric communities. The editors have skillfully crafted a book that presents the contribution the study of South American rock art can offer to the global research of this materiality, both theoretically and methodologically. This book will interest a broad range of scholars researching in archaeology, anthropology, history of art, heritage and conservation, as well as undergraduate and postgraduate students who will find interesting case studies showcasing the diverse ways in which rock art can be approached. Despite its focus on South America, the book is intended as a contribution towards the global study of rock art.

In recent years the open air rock art of Norway has become of great interest to scholars researching Mesolithic archaeology; the engraved imagery revealing an insight into the hunting strategies and reverent through artistic endeavour of animals such as bear, dolphins, elk, red deer, reindeer and whale. This unique but sometimes forgotten assemblage, dating to between c. 2000 and 8000 BCE has been the focus of research for author Kalle Sognnes who has also been instrumental in a number of major discoveries in and around the fjords and inland waterways of Central Norway.

Sognnes is the latest in a long tradition of rock art researchers who have explored beyond the imagery to offer the reader with a comprehensive account of how and why advanced hunter- gatherers came to engrave such a diverse repertoire. Sognnes skilfully uses a variety of approaches, including various ethnographies and philosophical discourse to provide a stimulating account of the underlying mechanisms that would have controlled and manipulated these fjord-based hunter-gatherer communities.

The book will be an essenRal reference to those interested in the symbolic and ritual processes associated open air engraved rock art, making an important contribution to European hunter-gatherer studies. It is frustrating though to see such a well-crafted book being placed between a lifeless red cover.