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ArtandShamanhood
UmbertoSansoni
Theshamanic-ecstatichypothesis
fortheAlpinerockartofValcamonica
Introduction
Shamanismandsimilarecstatictechniquesarehighlyimportantfeatureswith-
inthemagico-religioustraditionsofancientandhistoricalcultures,whilealso
demonstratingclearfoundationsinprehistoricandproto-historiccontexts.Itis
onlybyconsideringthevastdistributionintimeandspaceofthevarietyofcul-
turesandthedeepconnectionswithbasilarpsychologicalstructures(Bolmida
2012;Sansoni2012)thatwecanproposewithconfidencetheanimist-shamanic
complex,oratleastitsroots,isthemostancientreligiouspracticesexperienced
byHomosapiens.Moreover,recentstudieshavedetectedthefundamentalrole
ofshamanismwithinhunter-gatherertypesofsocietiessincePalaeolithictimes
(e.g.,Lewis-Williams1992;Clottes,Lewis-Williams1996).Thisdeep-seatedrole
stillstronglypersistsinsomenomadic-pastoralistcontexts,whileseeminglyhas
decreasedamongfarminggroupstothepointwhereitdisappearswiththefirst
occurrenceofsegmentedurbansocieties.Theimplicationsarewheneverasoci-
etybecomescomplexandorganized,italsostartstodevelopdivergentwaysof
interactingwiththespiritualworld,thus‘sublimating’andfranklymarginaliz-
inganimistic-shamanicexperiences.Infact,thiskindofapproachtospirituality
isveryhardtoregulate,consideringthedeeppersonalconnectionofinvolved
individualswiththesacredandnature.Butstill,somedistinctivetraitsofsha-
manism-suchaslucidvisionswhichcansometimesbeassimilatedintotrance
(thesoul’sflight),theroleofanimalguides,fightingoffdemons,differentmagi-
caltherapies,theuseofhallucinogens,etc.-arepreservedinbothorientaland
occidentalmysticism.Additionally,wehaveevidenceofshamanicpracticesde-
rivedfromhistoricaltextssinceancientGreekandRomantimesaswellasthe
