Tuesday, October 17, 2006

More Rocks!

Tiit Kao, fellow member of the Kantele Players Group and kannel player, knowing my interest in rock paintings, sent along a link to me for the Peterborough Petroglyphs in Ontario.



Clearly, I am going to have to make a pilgrimage north! Particularly with all the suggested links to Scandinavian/Siberian cultures. There is always so much more going on in "primitive" art than we credit. Last night we were watching another episode of How Art Made the World where the effects of that attitude were clearly revealed, resulting in the misreading of cave paintings for years. Surely they were fakes, the thinking went, because "primitive" people could not draw with such sophistication.

Yeah, and the Middle Ages were the "Dark Ages" and people knew nothing before the twentieth-century. Cue rolling eyes. There have always been curious and talented people who tried to creatively connect to the world they wanted to understand. Too often we dismiss what we do not understand.


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, I've heard of these petroglyphs but not seen them online or in person - so I'm excited by this link and photo! New to me are the possible links to Scandinavian/Siberian cultures as well.

That TV series was on here in the summer - well done isn't it? Oh I do agree that primitive cultures are much underestimated!

C. Margery Kempe said...

The program provides a wonderful opportunity to see all these beautiful paintings as well as all kinds of art. The presenter is just a little too BBC, but that's not unusual.

The Queen said...

I suggest this book:

The Cambridge Illustrated History of Prehistoric Art

http://www.amazon.com/Cambridge-Illustrated-History-Prehistoric-Histories/dp/0521454735/sr=8-2/qid=1161193529/ref=sr_1_2/104-4469562-3329536?ie=UTF8&s=books

It's good start to the history of perception of prehistoric art through recorded history & some words regarding shamanistic cultures & prehistoric art. The focus is a bit on the European side.

If you want to go further & see representations of Siberian/Arctic art & shamanistic culture, these two books are a good start as well:

Inua: Spirit World of the Bering Sea Eskimo
http://www.amazon.com/Inua-Spirit-World-Bering-Eskimo/dp/087474430X/sr=1-1/qid=1161193659/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-4469562-3329536?ie=UTF8&s=books

Crossroads of Continents: Cultures of Siberia and Alaska
http://www.amazon.com/Crossroads-Continents-Cultures-Siberia-Alaska/dp/0874744350/ref=pd_sim_b_1/104-4469562-3329536?ie=UTF8

-QoE