The following is a summarized account of the life story of the science of palaeontology with specific reference to research into prehistoric cave art.
Before the 1870s, France had a monopoly on research into cave art: all recognized examples of cave art were located in France and all leading authorities on the subject were also French.
In the 1870s, a new discovery of cave art was made public by a Spanish amateur archaeologist, namely the paintings of Altamira in Spain. This discovery was supported by Spain’s leading palaeontologist. He presented the findings at an international science conference, but they were shunned by the other scientists. The discovery at Altamira sparked a vicious dispute. The academic establishment vilified and ridiculed the amateur scientist who discovered Altamira. The paintings were proclaimed a hoax (few, if any, of Altamira’s opponents ever visited the caves in person). Since the academic establishment also controlled the world’s foremost journal of palaeontology, they also actively controlled whose opinions were published.
This war continued for over 20 years until the Altamira paintings were finally accepted as genuine prehistoric cave art. Meanwhile, a leading French academic, one of Altamira’s most “enthusiastic” opponents, made a public about-turn. In so doing, he secured for himself virtual control of the emerging scientific discipline of “cave art studies”. In fact, he established an academic dynasty — of favoured acolytes succeeding their masters — for over 80 years. When this dynasty ended in 1986 it left a vacuum and the study of cave-art virtually collapsed — all the old theories were rubbished and most new research has merely degenerated into the amassing of vast quantities of data. The justification for this, the amassing of information, is that when enough data has been gathered, a new theory will emerge.
Like their predecessors, the few hundred academics today who study cave-art exert as much control over the production and management of knowledge made available to the public as they can. This includes permanently closing the vast majority of caves to the public. Like their predecessors, they also engage in endless territorial rivalries and disputes.
(If you want to see the process in action, watch the film Life of Brian. In place of the multitude of factions, the People’s Liberation Front of Judea, the Judean People’s Liberation Front, the Liberation of Judea People’s Front etc, etc, all supposedly fighting for the liberation of Judea from the Romans, put a multitude of scientific factions all slugging it out amongst themselves instead of fighting the real enemies: Ignorance and Superstition! In the film, the Roman soldiers shake their heads in wonder as the various fronts slug it out and do the soldiers’ job for them. In life, Ignorance and Superstition shake their heads in wonder as the various scientific factions slug it out amongst themselves and ensure that Ignorance and Superstition remain firmly in command!)
The point of all this? It is a tale that is repeated endlessly in the world of science. How can you trust anything that comes out of such a world? — you cannot. Science has been set up with the peer review system etc supposedly designed to off-set the corruption of human nature. It quite obviously fails to do so.
The latest update (2005) on the cave-painting situation is that a South African professor David Lewis-Williams, working at Witwatersrand University, has produced a theory relating shamanistic visions to images in cave art. And how do you suppose the world of cave-art scientists has greeted this new theory? They have picked every nit they can possibly find that might go some way to derailing Lewis-Williams’ theories. Fortunately, Lewis-Williams is a mature and experienced scientist working at prestigious institution and therefore is less vulnerable to the shark attack than his Spanish amateur predecessor (Sautuola). Nevertheless, it remains the case that truth will not win here. The winner will be he who can amass the greatest backing, who can command the services of the most expensive lawyers and preferably he who has friends on the editorial boards of the major scientific journals………or rather, the winners will Ignorance and Superstition.
PS: If you are interested in some of the nits, here’s a few: There was no evidence in the caves of prehistoric hallucinogenic plants (just in case you can’t spot the idiocy for yourself — why suppose that the hallucinogens had to be taken in the caves?). Nit 2: there is not enough information concerning the geographical distribution of hallucinogenic plants to be quite certain that said plants were available in the area of the caves. Nit 3 — the beezer! — the best yet!: let’s quibble about what exactly a shaman is. This is such a beaut: it is SO beloved of nit-pickers, it diverts people so wonderfully away from the main issue and has them tied up in knots, tempers frayed as they argue where the latest comma should be positioned in the definition of the word shaman. If you want to know the rest of them, then refer to the Debunker’s Manual, Section: Science.
