David Lewis-Williams

Biographical Information
James David Lewis-Williams (born 1934, Cape Town) is a South African scholar. He is professor emeritus of cognitive archaeology at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. David Lewis-Williams, as he is known to his friends and colleagues, is regarded as an eminent specialist in the San or Bushmen culture, specifically their art and beliefs. His book, The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Art (Thames & Hudson) won the American Historical Association’s 2003 James Henry Breasted Award. His most recent books are Inside the Neolithic Mind: Consciousness, Cosmos, and the Realm of the Gods (Thames & Hudson) co-authored with David Pearce and published in 2005, Conceiving God: The Cognitive Origin and Evolution of Religion, published in 2010, and Deciphering Ancient Minds: The Mystery of San Bushman Rock Art, co-authored with Sam Challis and published in 2011.wiki

Criticism

 * Paul Bahn, Journey through the Ice Age (University of California Press, 1997).
 * Pippa Skomes, "Rock Art: Is There Life After Trance?", De Arte, 1991, 44:16-24.
 * Anne Solomon, "The Mydi of Ritual Origins? Ethnography, Mythology and Interpretation of San Rock Art." South African Archaeological Bulletki, 1997, 52:3-13.
 * Angus R Quinlan, "The Ventriloquist's Dummy: A Critical Review of Shamanism and Rock Art in Far Western North America", Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology, 2000, 22(1). Gerardo Reichel-Dohnatoff
 * Patricia Helvenston and Paul Bahn, Desperately Seeking Trance PLants (RJ Communications, 2002).
 * Paul Bahn, Prehistoric Rock Art: Polemics and Progress (Cambridge University Press, 2010).
 * Other critics include Henri-Paul Francfort, David S. Webster and Cyril Hromnik
 * Henri-Paul Francfort; Roberte N. Hamayon; Paul G. Bahn, The Concept of Shamanism: Uses and Abuses (2001).