Ancient World Review

Prehistoric Cave Art & The Bicameral Mind

According to Julian Jaynes, author of The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown Of The Bicameral Mind, prehistoric cave art isn't like more recent forms of art. It is actually "eidetic imagery," i.e., a kind of persistent vision or hallucination based on past impressions. Jaynes believed that these cave paintings were created by people who still weren't conscious in the modern sense of the term.

If true, "[t]his suggests that the cave artists were functioning in a different way from us today, and that something happened between their time and our own. Was this 'something' the development of modern language?" Source: Julian Jaynes Revisited.

Jaynes believed that consciousness evolved with the development of language. Before they learned how to speak to each other, humans existed in a bicameral state in which they literally heard voices in their heads, the result of one hemisphere of the brain "talking" to the other. These voices were the voices of the gods.

"This cave art may not rely on consciousness or the modern mind at all, but rather result from spontaneous renderings of hallucinatory images." Source: "Consciousness, Hallucinations & The Bicameral Mind," Marcel Kuijsten, p. 108, "Reflections On The Dawn Of Consciousness: Julian Jayne's Bicameral Mind Theory Revisited," 2006, The Julian Jaynes Society.

Jayne's theory is difficult to explain in a short blog post. An excellent review with a summary and quotes can be found here. Jayne's "Origins of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind" is one of the most original and interesting books I've ever read, and the follow-up collections of essays from the Julian Jaynes Society are also highly recommended.

The video lecture below, "Hallucinations As The Voices Of The Gods," by Brian J. McVeigh, who studied under Jaynes, gives an interesting overview of the subject of hallucinations. (The audio is pretty bad, so you'll need to turn up the volume).

Prehistoric Scottish Mummies Made From Jigsaw Of Body Parts (2011)

"DNA tests on British prehistoric mummies revealed they were made of body parts from several different people, arranged to look like one person." Source: BBC (2011)

"The four bodies discovered in 2001 on South Uist, in Scotland's Outer Hebrides were the first evidence in Britain of deliberate mummification.

"It is thought the body parts may have come from people in the same families."

Note: Cladh Hallan is the name of an archaeological site on the island of South Uist. According to one expert on Bronze Age Britain, these composite mummies may not have been buried immediately, but "played an active part in society [in a form of ancestral worship], as they do in some tribal societies in other parts of the world." As such, they may "have been asked for spiritual advice to help the community make decisions."

Comment: This is the strangest kind of mummification I've ever come across. If these Bronze Age Britons believed that they could talk to the mummies of their ancestors, this would seem to constitute evidence in support of Julian Jaynes' theory of prehistoric bicameralism. For more information, see The Origin Of Consciousness In The Breakdown Of The Bicameral Mind.

Voices Of The Dead: The Strange Origins Of Eye Idols

"Urfa Man, known formally as the Balikligöl statue, is the oldest human-size statue of a man yet discovered in the world. He is currently housed in Şanliurfa’s Archeology Museum, Southeast Turkey. Urfa man was discovered in the Old Town section of Şanliurfa, but in antiquity belongs to the same thought world of Göbekli Tepe, a site half an hour away from the museum by car." Source: Ancient Origins (2015).

Notes: Gobekli Tepe, a very ancient complex of monumental stone shrines decorated with bizarre statues and animal relief carvings, is especially mysterious because it was built during the Neolithic, apparently by Stone Age hunter-gatherers.

According to Ancient Origins, the Urfa Man cultic (?) statue may be similar to the "Eye Idols"--figurines with huge staring eyes that have been discovered at Tell Brak, one of the oldest cities in the world which dates back to the 7th millenium BC:

"Urfa man’s voiceless image cast by a conspicuously absent mouth and gazing obsidian-filled eyes is hauntingly enigmatic, but offers a link with another class of ancient statuary known as the eye idol."

Urfa Man idol shown at 11:19.

According to Julian Jaynes, author of The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind, the missing mouths of these eye idols were meant to "enhance more hypnotically the hallucination of the dead (kings, priests, ancestors, etc) continuing to speak to the living."  Jaynes argued that early humans weren't conscious in the modern sense of the word, but heard auditory hallucinations that they considered to be the voices of the gods.

"Jaynes perceived eye idols not as ornamental, but as speaking statues containing voices of the dead - as figurines assisting as aids in the production of hallucinated voices. Some types of eye idol were placed near elements such as running water to increase their speaking power, while others were located in temple areas and feature markings that symbolise gods." (Ancient Origins)

The speculation here is that the Urfa Man statue may be one of Jayne's "bicameral idols." If true, then the Neolithic people of the time may have actually heard the statue speak to them.

Julian Jaynes - Consciousness & The Voices Of The Mind

Consciousness Began When The Gods Stopped Speaking

"The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind, when it finally came out in 1976, did not look like a best-seller. But sell it did. It was reviewed in science magazines and psychology journals, Time, The New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times. It was nominated for a National Book Award in 1978. New editions continued to come out, as Jaynes went on the lecture circuit. Jaynes died of a stroke in 1997; his book lived on. In 2000, another new edition hit the shelves. It continues to sell today." Source: Nautilus.

Comment: Incredible book. Highly recommended. More information on Julian Jaynes can be found here.

Julian Jaynes And The Bicameral Mind Theory

Hallucinations As The Voices Of The Gods

Note: the idea that the voices of the gods in primitive societies were actually auditory hallucinations was proposed by Julian Jaynes, author of the fantastic book "The Origin Of Consciousness In The Breakdown Of The Bicameral Mind." Whether you accept his ideas or not, Jaynes was one of the most original thinkers in recent history and his book is well-worth reading if you're interested in the development of consciousness and culture. More information and lots of papers about Jaynes can be found at the Julian Jaynes Society web site. Non-psychotic audio hallucinations are apparently more common than generally believed. For instance, see "Hearing Voices In Your Head? You Are Not Alone?" from 774 ABC Melbourne.

New Collection Of Julian Jaynes Papers Released

"Princeton University psychologist Julian Jayne's revolutionary theory on the origin of consciousness or the 'modern mind' remains as relevant and thought-provoking as when it was first proposed. Supported by recent discoveries in neuroscience, Jaynes's ideas force us to rethink conventional views of human history and psychology, and have profound implications for many aspects of modern life." More on Jaynes here and here.

"Included in this volume are rare and never before seen articles, lectures, interviews, and in-depth discussions that both clear up misconceptions as well as extend Jaynes's theory into new areas such as the nature of the self, dreams, emotions, art, music, therapy, and the consequences and future of consciousness." More information can be found on the Julian Jaynes Society web site.