Jean Clottes, Chauvet and Paleolithic Shamanism

JEAN CLOTTES — WHAT IS PALEOLITHIC ART? — TRANSLATION: OLIVER Y. MARTIN & ROBERT D. MARTIN — UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS 2016 — ORIGINAL EDITION: GALLIMARD 2011

This book is fundamental about the period of archaeological research that comes to an end at the beginning of the 21st century because as it says in its conclusion: “It is that experience [his research in the archaeology of Paleolithic art from 1971 to the end of the 20th century] that led me to write the present account that retraces the genesis, development, and outcome of those questions [“the ‘why’ of the art and associated actions”]” (page 172) This retrospective (going back in time and following the timeline from a beginning date to an ending date) is reinforced by the assumptions of some colleagues in their books published in the early 1980s can still be accepted today. This brings up an important consideration about the publication date. In 2011, when the book was first published in French and in France, many capital fields of research had been fulfilled in the general domain of “Old Europeans” or the Paleolithic human occupation of Europe. We knew for sure that these Old Europeans who arrived in Europe around 50,000 years BCE, maybe slightly earlier, but not much since they had left Black…