Neolithic Age

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in the universe as Neolithic man imagines it. They are regarded as mana bearers of highest rank, and are at the centre of the actions whereby living mdn hopes to gain influence over mana by magic means. Ancestor-worship is thus also a sublime 'confirmation' of the living group. A special position within the community is also held by those magicians, medicine-men, and shamans who, because of their Special talents, are qualified to practice magic rites, or to lead the community in performing them. These men, it is believed, are capable of influencing mana by means of concentration and outward signs. The means applied are of many different kinds, as are also the effects which it is hoped to achieve. Accordingly those who possess strong magic powers have very varied functions.

Tire creative artist, too, as might be expected, is firmly rooted in this social pattern. It is lie, after all, who creates those objects which have their indispensable role to play in the customary rituals. Since social relationships are in the last instance based on the same mythical and magic basic concepts as the veneration of 'works of art', the latter are also closely connected to the social framework.

Communities of this type are always strongly influenced by tradition. "Tradition is unshakable; strictly speaking, it is not permissible to touch it at all. Constant repetition is significant as a confirmation of continued activity."

Artistic achievements in particular are exposed to the influence and pressure of sacred traditions for the very reason of their pronounced magic character. Here, too, pressure for constant repetition manifests itself very clearly.

Not, of course, that changes are ruled nut altogether. They can result from external cultural influences. But in essence the spirit of the old traditional culture remains unaffected. A kind of assimilation will always ensue, whereby the stylistic elements introduced, though not changed, are nevertheless organically integrated into the inherited totality of traditions.

Changes are also conceivable without external cultural influences, but the process is then extremely slow. Moreover, in this case they will affect to a far greater extent. if not exclusively so - the external shape of the artistic work concerned, and not the magic idea behind it. For the art of Neolithic man serves a practical purpose, and is thus Always ideoplastic, a rendering of ideas. Ideoplastic art is nut implicitly bound to any particular form. BUL there probably originally existed; and in many cases there still exists, a convincingly identifiable connection between some particular form taken from nature and the magic idea symbolized in it.

Thus the human figure is frequently the starting-point for three dimensional, as also for purely ornamental, works of art. In he course of time the human figure can undergo changes, and can finally become so 'estranged' that its original prototype can hardly be recognized. By this it is not, of course implied that the functional significance of the work would also have to undergo a change.