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The Ādam Paradox Hypothesis 148
These are visual myths. At Qafzeh Cave (~92 ka), burials with ochre and shells
suggest belief in continuity beyond death, an embryonic myth of afterlife
(Hovers et al., 2003).
Claude Lévi-Strauss argued:
“Myths are machines for the suppression of
contradiction” (1963, p. 229). They resolve life and death, chaos and order,
human and animal. Joseph Campbell called myths “public dreams”
:
“Myths are
public dreams; dreams are private myths” (1949, p. 19).
The Qur
ʾān recognizes humanity
’s myth-making. Critics dismissed revelation as
asāṭīr al-awwalīn —
“tales of the ancients” (Q 25:5). The Qur
ʾān’s reply is
subtle: revelation employs story, but anchors it in truth. Narratives of Adam,
Noah, Moses, and Abraham are mythic in form but revelatory in substance.
In APH, myths are humanity
’s second permanent system. Once stories are
woven, culture gains cosmology. Myths give communities purpose, morality,
and shared imagination. Unlike beads or tools, myths are not lost with death.
They are retold.
Ritual: Symbols Embodied
Language speaks, myth explains, but ritual acts. Ritual makes belief tangible,
inscribing it into body and memory.
Archaeology leaves heavy traces of ritual. At Qafzeh, burials with ochre and
offerings (~92 ka) show ceremonial respect (Hovers et al., 2003). At Dolní
Věstonice (~30 ka), clay figurines, some deliberately broken, hint at ritual
practice (Svoboda et al., 2000). In Chauvet and Lascaux caves, paintings deep in
hidden chambers suggest ceremonial use, not decoration (Clottes, 2003).
Victor Turner described ritual as communitas:
“In ritual, society regenerates
itself. The individual dissolves into the collective” (1969, p. 96). Roy Rappaport
added:
“Ritual does not merely communicate; it obligates. Participation compels
belief and binds communities” (1999, p. 120).
Fire itself was ritualized. Multiple hearths at Sibudu and Dolní Věstonice
suggest gatherings for ceremony, not just cooking. Fire became the first altar.