Animal Idol: A Brief Review of Zoolatry

Zoolatry, or animal worship, is a complex practice that has a long history among human societies and cultures and, as some would argue, continues today.  Zoolatric practices take on a variety of forms and have just as many purposes.  The origins of zoolatry are incompletely understood at this time, as well.  Today’s blog post is dedicated the discussion of three types of zoolatry: Paleolithic Cave Art, Totems, and Animal Mummies.

Paleolithic Cave Art

Some of the earliest works of art produced by early human populations are the cave art pieces found around the world, although most of these works cluster in France and Spain.  These paintings most often depict bison, oxen, horses, deer, mammoths, ibex, rhinoceros, lions, and bears, but each cave demonstrates variation in form and style, demonstrating the differences among the artists.  The first cave painting ever discovered was at Altamira Cave in Spain, and it was declared to be a hoax by many because it was believed that the artistic depictions were too advanced for Paleolithic period humans to create.  But as more painted caves were discovered, it became clear that the Altamira Cave was not a hoax but real evidence of human art work. 

But scholars have long pondered as to why animals were the primary subjects of these early pieces of art.  There are several explanations for why animals were the subjects of these cave paintings.  The first of which is that the painting of these animals was meant to somehow “capture” them in a non-literal way.  It was believed that these paintings may have been completed prior to hunts as a means to secure the actual capture of these animals, who were “captured” through the paintings in some sort of spiritual ritual of sorts.  Another related hypothesis, “trophyism”, claims that these depictions were markers of the hunts and successful capture of specific animals.  So in lieu of taking an animal head (as hunters do today when taking trophies), the hunters drew pictures of their kills as a means of displaying their trophies.  

There is support for this idea as the animals most likely to be depicted in these cave paintings were those that were found in faunal assemblages found in hearths and trash pits.  As well, there is a regional distribution of animals depicted in these cave paintings, with animals that are local being found in cave paintings, instead of it always being the same animals in every single cave painting across the globe.  Further study by Patricia Rice and Ann Paterson demonstrated a correlation between the number and types of animals depicted on cave walls and those found in faunal assemblages of the local sites.  If there was an abundance of small mammals in these assemblages, the majority of the cave drawings would include these animals in them, whereas if there were mostly large mammals in these assemblages, the cave depictions would be dominated by large mammals.  They ultimately concluded that the cave art was meant to serve the purpose of “fertility magic, hunting magic, hunting education, and story-telling about hunting”.  But this explanation does not properly explain the depiction of animals that were not hunted.  For example, some cave walls depict wooly rhinoceros, but these creatures are not known to have been hunted by Upper Paleolithic groups.  It was proposed that some animals, such as the wooly rhinoceros, were depicted out of awe for the animal, not as a means to capture or signify its capture. 

Totems

Totems are apical ancestors of clans in societies that have clan descent patterns.  In totemic societies, each descent group has an apical ancestor to which members claim descent, and often times this apical ancestor is an animal.  Because of the animal status of the apical ancestor, clan members have strict taboos against killing or eating their totem animal, although some clans are allowed, if not expected, to feast on their totem animal once per year as part of ritualized worship.

Totemism is also partly a religious practice.  Totemistic religious practices incorporate elements of nature that act as sacred templates for society by means of symbolic association.  Because of this, totemistic societies tend to use nature as the model for society with social hierarchies matching natural hierarchies.  This means that clans associated with culturally preferred animals or animals believed to be powerful in some way (e.g. an eagle) often have higher standing in the society than clans associated with less preferred, taboo, or weaker animals (e.g. a mouse).  In this way, the social differences that exist in the society often mirror the natural order of the environment.

Animal Mummies

Animal mummies are most common among ancient Egyptians, who mummified their dead out of ideological motivations, but the reasons for mummifying animals ranged quite a bit.  Many ancient Egyptians opted to have their beloved pets mummified and interred with them to join them in the afterlife.  This, however, was not a common practice as there were costs associated with mummifying deceased animals, so this was a practice reserved to those who could afford it.  But sometimes animals, or parts of animals more often, were interred with the deceased regardless of wealth status.  Cuts of meat, jerky, or whole carcasses have been found in a variety of Egyptian tombs, leading to the conclusion that the animal’s presence was to serve not as a companion but as food. 

Many animals were mummified because of their ideological associations.  The Egyptian pantheon is full of several anthropomorphic deities, animal and human gods.  Because of this, ancient Egyptians often chose specific animals that in life resembled their gods and treated them well, believing them to be the physical, living manifestations of a particular god.  Upon the death of the animals (be it natural or unnatural-such as through sacrifice), they would be mummified and treated with special reverence due to their elevated status.  These types of mummies are known as votive mummies or votive offerings.  Cats, ibises, falcons, dogs, crocodiles, and baboons were the most popular votive mummies because of their associations with gods such as Bast, Sehkmet, Thoth, Horus, Seth, Anubis, and Sebek.  Despite the reverence of animals in this manner, several studies on ancient animal mummies have demonstrated that many of the mummies were haphazardly made and not treated well in the afterlife.  Reasons for this mismanagement of the mummies have been associated with the dissolution of the mummification practices, corruption among embalmers, or lack of time for the proper completion of the mummies.  

References:

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/11/animal-mummies/williams-text

Culture.  Gezan and Kottak.  McGraw Hill.Second Edition.


Human Antiquity: An Introduction to Physical Anthropology and Archeology, Kennth L. Feder and M. Park,  McGraw-Hill.