What is the meaning behind Paleolithic art?

In his article, The Nature of Paleolithic Art R. Dale Guthrie argues that the widespread notion of what most people think Paleolithic art means is detrimental to the overall essence of cave art. Most people like to see what Guthrie calls a magico-religious (Guthrie, 8) aspect of Paleolithic art, an attempt to "search for clues to the symbolism and ritual meaning hidden in the images (Guthrie, 5). Guthrie states that this harms the overall picture of Paleolithic art in that people refuse to see any other meaning behind the drawings. Personally, I disagree with Guthrie's argument. I do think that it is important to analyze cave art attempting to seek out different meanings such as religion, science, et cetera but I disagree that "Paleolithic art has suffered" (Guthrie, 8) from the religious approach.

I feel that finding religious meaning in Paleolithic images is a reasonable and unavoidable approach. Since early humans had no obvious form of organized religion it is really unclear what sort of beliefs they had, if any. Guthrie states that "organized religion is a potent force, and religious stories shape our collective perceptions" (Guthrie, 9). The question that Guthrie asks here is whether or not the public including archaelogists and anthropologists truly find religious symbolism in Paleolithic art or are they only hoping to find it. I think it is a little bit of both. Of course people are hoping to find it and they find it in part because religious symbolism is present in the drawings. Religion, whether organized or not, is a way in which humans can relate to and understand one another. By finding religious meaning in Paleolithic art, it is our way of finding some similarity between us and early humans and a way in which to understand what they valued in their society.

Guthrie states that overuse of the magico-religious approach creates a distortion where at "its worst it has presented early peoples in a distorted light as superstitious dolts totally preoccupied with mystical concerns (Guthrie, 10). Rather, Guthrie sees Paleolithic art as portraying "people in close touch with the details of a complex earth" (Guthrie, 10). I do not think that readers or Guthrie should rule out the possiblity of animals as a symbolic ritual object for early humans. I find it hard to believe that early humans would draw images of animals based solely on their scientific fascination of physiology and biology without a trace of religious symbolism. In my opinion religion of early humans while not an organized form is prevalent in their artwork. I believe that animals served a ritualistic purpose for early humans and it is through their art that they aim to show this religious symbolism.