Evidence of Lord Nrisimha worshipped 40,000 years ago?

[Kulapavana]

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/12/images/031217_modernhumans1.jpg

 

Ancient Figurines Found—From First Modern Humans?

John Roach

for National Geographic News

December 17, 2003

Humans have had a refined artistic bent for at least 33,000 years, according to the discovery of three deftly carved ivory figurines in a cave in southwestern Germany. The miniature statues include a horse, a diving waterfowl, and a half-man, half-lion.

The figurines come from an ongoing excavation of Hohle Fels Cave in the Ach Valley and are dated to a time when some of the earliest known relatives of modern humans populated Europe, an era known as the Aurignacian.

The discovery complements similarly dated ivory sculptures recovered from three other Aurignacian caves in the Ach and Lone Valleys of Germany, adding support to the belief that by 30,000 years ago humans were culturally modern.

The half-man, half-lion figurine, known as a Lowenmensch, was of particular excitement for Nicholas Conard, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Tuebingen in Germany, who describes the figurines in tomorrow's issue of the science journal Nature.

"I'm usually very calm actually; I've been digging for a long time," he said. "But that got my heart pumping a bit."

The Lowenmensch is the second such figurine found. German archaeologists discovered one in 1939 at an Aurignacian site in the Lone Valley. "If there are two, there must be hundreds of these things, they must have been part of daily life," said Conard.

The newly discovered Lowenmensch is of comparable age. These ivory figurines from these four sites in Germany are among the oldest examples of figurative art known worldwide, added Conard.

Cultural Significance

The figurines are each well polished from heavy handling, suggesting that rather than sitting on a shelf as an artifact to be admired they played a central role in the culture of these early Europeans.

For decades, archaeologists have debated the cultural significance of the figurines. The new finds, said Conard, place some constraints on the interpretations.

One of the main theories, championed by the late German archaeologist Joachim Hahn, is that they represent powerful, fast, and aggressive animals, reflecting admiration, fear and respect for them.

Another theory, supported by South African archaeologist David Lewis-Williams, among others, is that the figurines are evidence of shamanism.

Conard said the horse figurine does not affect the theories one way or another, but the diving waterfowl and the lion-man are much more radical discoveries.

"The Lowenmensch shows clearly the people in this area routinely practiced some kind of system of belief in which the transitions between humans and lions were common," he said. "It fits well with the shamanism hypothesis."

The finding of the waterfowl is also significant because waterfowl are commonly depicted as helper spirits to shamans, transporting them between worlds, said Conard.

"I consider myself neutral, but people looking for evidence of shamanism will be happy about these finds," he said.

Cultural Modernity

The ability to create figurines, which requires manipulation of complex tools, together with the fashioning and use of musical instruments and ornaments, is considered a sign of having reached a stage of fully developed cultural modernity.

Each of the newly discovered figurines stand between 1 and 2 inches (2.5 and 5 centimeters) tall, are intricately carved, and include refined details such as feather-like engravings on the waterfowl's back and clearly defined mouth, nostril, and eyes on the horse.

"These people knew exactly what they were doing and they were very good at it," said Conard.

Evidence for refined artistry at such an early date in humans goes against the belief that artistic skills evolved over thousands of years, said Anthony Sinclair, an archaeologist at the University of Liverpool in England.

Sinclair, who wrote an accompanying commentary in Nature on the figurines, said they are "beautifully produced," suggesting that humans evolved their artistic skill rather quickly.

If the evolution of artistic skill occurred over longer time scales, crude relics ought to be present in the archaeological record. "But when you look at the first bits of evidence, they seem to be of very good quality right away," said Sinclair.

Archaeologists are exploring several lines of evidence that suggest something occurred in the course of human evolution around 40,000 years ago that allowed humans to cross the threshold towards cultural modernity.

"There does appear to be quite a different life before and after about 40,000 years ago," said Sinclair.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/12/1217_031217_modernhumans.html

[Guest guest]

Lord Narasimha.

[Guest guest]

Kulapavana,

 

Sometimes I disagree with your ideas, but certainly I am 108% behind your point of view on this topic.

 

I really believe they used to worship Narasinghadev in the cave men era. But I am feeling they weren't just ignorant sub-humans, those cave men, some were rishis and some were rakshasas - just my opinion (but based upon what Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur said about the (d)evoloution of humankind).

 

- Murali

[Guest guest]

An ink blot?

[Kulapavana]

I have a feeling that the history as most devotees take it to be is in reality a lot more complicated. I can easily see the worship of Lord Narasimha surviving on its own among primitive tribes for millenia. Is is a powerful story full of great symbolism and purport, very appealing to primitive people. Such people could have never worshipped Lord Narayana. Vedic civilization was always surrounded by primitive tribes and people. Puranas in general always describe Earth as such, and sparsly populated as well.

[Guest guest]

 

We see what we wish to see...

 

Half man, half lion can also mean a human torso with the bottom half being a lion. Why was this option not considered?

 

There was a cave painting from 2000 years ago somewhere of a man with a lot of hair. Shall we conclude Sai Baba was worhsipped in his original form 2000 years ago?

 

Cheers

 

 

 

[Kulapavana]

"We see what we wish to see..."

---------------

 

yes. I want to see Krishna in everything around me. materialists just want to see matter, spiritualists just want to see God. both get their wishes, by the grace of the Lord... /images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

hairy men are common. men w lions head are not.

[Guest guest]

The thing is, my Cheery friend, in the past people all over the world were superstitious and they believed in all kinds of myths and fables as facts. They also thought the earth is flat because the earth looks kind of flat. Certainly most primitive people find the idea that the earth is a globe is completely illogical, since they don't know anything about gravity.

 

And the idol of a man-lion was certainly some sort of deity or god. The idea that mankind was not controlled by deities and gods is actually quite a modern idea - an idea that arose first in Greece, about 2,500 years ago.

 

This man-lion is a deity. The archeologists and scholars admit that.

 

- Murali

 

[Guest guest]

 

There is a man lion which is very famous in Egypt known as the Sphynx which is really old. However, there is no popular theory considering it a diety of any kind. Also, I am not ruling out the possibility that the uncovered figurine may have been a diety. It is also possible that it may have been an ancient form of worship of what we call Narasimha in India.

 

But the point is, since we do not know if the man-lion is like Narasimha( with a lion face) or like the Sphynx( with a man's face), it is premature to assume it must have been Narasimha.

 

Cheers