From Play and Ritualisation to Ritual and Its Arts: Sources of Upper Pleistocene Ritual Practices in Lower Middle Pleistocene Ritualised and Play Behaviours in Ancestral Hominins

The Synthesis of the Arts: From Ceremonial Ritual to “Total Work of Art”

“…This has been well-described from the perspective of the anthropology of the arts (Durkheim, 1912(Durkheim, /1995Turner, 1966;Schechner, 1974Schechner, , 1985Tambiah, 1979;Dissanayake, 1988Dissanayake, , 2017Rappaport, 1999). Our primary thesis here is that the GKW concept has deep evolutionarily-predisposed and anthropological roots, and that the ethnographic "ceremony-as-Gesamtkunstwerk" is the ancient precursor of the more recent practice of "Gesamtkunstwerkas-ceremony."…”

“…Numerous theorists have written about the nature of ceremonial rituals from an anthropological perspective, especially in traditional societies (Durkheim, 1912(Durkheim, /1995Turner, 1966;Schechner, 1974Schechner, , 1985Tambiah, 1979;Dissanayake, 1988Dissanayake, , 1992Dissanayake, , 2017Rappaport, 1999). Ceremonial processes are highly ritualized, involving particular locations and times of day, and employing a large degree of repetitive action.…”

A Unifying Model of the Arts: The Narration/Coordination Model

“…In such contexts, coordinative rituals are problemsolving and conflict-resolving strategies, in the same manner that protagonist actions are within narratives. The aim is to reduce distress and restore a state of balance and stability (Dissanayake, 2017). However, coordinative rituals have many other functions related to group stabilization that have no explicit connection with conflict (Legare & Watson-Jones, 2015), such as recounting origins stories, formalizing marriages, celebrating births, marking annual cycles such as the harvest, among many others.…”

“…While performances of the coordinative arts can indeed occur to a nonperforming group of audience members, the common pattern in traditional societies is for such rituals to be highly participative, engaging many if not all members of the group (Dissanayake, 1988(Dissanayake, , 2017Schechner, 2013). The performative aspect of the coordinative arts is the kinetic component of performance itself, as seen in musical and dance rituals, where the timing of production leads to various forms of interpersonal entrainment.…”

“…The coordination that results from group movement and group sounding produces a sense of affiliation with group members and thus a greater willingness to cooperate with others and make personal sacrifices on behalf of the social group. This operates through an increase in feelings of trust, affection, affiliation, attachment, mutuality, empathy, and altruism (Dissanayake, 2006(Dissanayake, , 2017. The short-term intervention of synchronized kinesis and emotional experience with others has the long-term benefit of supporting cooperative endeavors with them.…”