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The Dreamer in the Dark - ADHD 08
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In this episode George gets creative and tells a short story about a fictional neurodivergent artist in the upper palaeolithic, and discusses neurodiversity as an essential part of surviving challenging environments.
Transcripts
- For rough transcripts of this episode, go to: https://www.archpodnet.com/adhdbce/08
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Your Story by MusicbyAden | https://soundcloud.com/musicbyaden
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Transcript
Introduction to Archaeology and Neurodiversity
00:00:01
Speaker
You're listening to the Archaeology Podcast Network.
00:00:17
Speaker
So welcome everyone to episode eight and in this episode we're combining the worlds of archaeology and neurodiversity through the medium of imagination.
Imagining the Upper Paleolithic through Neurodivergent Artists
00:00:27
Speaker
With an open mind and not a little artistic license, we're going to take a fantastical journey into the Upper Paleolithic where we're going to meet a fictional artist who I've given a good dose of ADHD and autism.
00:00:42
Speaker
Back in my uni days, I loved the lectures on upper polylithic cave art and after years of wondering who those intrepid geniuses were, you know what they believed in and what inspired them to create those incredible masterpieces at sites like Chevais, Pechmel, Atomeira,
00:01:03
Speaker
um I'm using my own neurodivergent creativity to explore, in in a fun way, the idea that neurodiversity has given the world so much more than unfinished projects. In this short story, we're heading to the infamous Lascow Cave, where I like to think neurodivergent artists were expressing themselves whilst mining dopamine, how there was any mining going on, just to be clear.
00:01:31
Speaker
So, and let's meet the dreamer in the dark. The air inside the cave is thick with a scent of damp stone, soot, and the earthy musk of animals long since gone. The artist pauses at the threshold, his breath coming in quick, excited bursts. He's not afraid of the dark. He never has been. It is in the dark that the real world reveals itself.
00:01:58
Speaker
The flickering light of his tallow lamp throws leaping shadows along the undulating rock, and for a moment, he sees them. The great herds moving in unison, their hooves shaking the earth, their eyes reflecting the wisdom of ages. He's there to bring them back to life.
00:02:17
Speaker
His hands, rough and calloused from years of work, clutches his supplies. A small pouch of red and yellow ochre ground into fine powder, a lump of charcoal, and a small hollowed out bone filled with animal fat to bind the pigments. A few sturdy bristles from a boar's hide are tied together with sinew, forming a crude brush, though he often prefers his fingers. They're more direct, more connected.
00:02:45
Speaker
The art flows from his mind through his body and onto the rock. He steps forward, his bare feet pressing against the cold stone floor, his heavy fur coat shifting against his shoulders. It's made from the pelts of arctic hairs stitched together with reindeer sinew.
00:03:04
Speaker
He wears a tunic of softened deer hide, cinched at the waist with a braided cord of plant fibres, its ends frayed from restless fingers that have twisted and untwisted them absent-mindedly. Around his neck are small polished bone-pendant dangles, its edges smooth from years of touch, it is his talisman, his connection to the spirits that move between the worlds.
00:03:29
Speaker
With practice ease, he kneels before a flat-topped rock, setting down his pigments and tools. The small flame in his hand wavers, casting elongated, shifting forms across the walls. He sets the lamp down, placing another beside it, a simple dish of hollowed-out limestone filled with belted fat, its wick a twisted strand of dry moss.
00:03:53
Speaker
The light is warm and flickering, enough to work by, but just dim enough for the images to emerge from the rocks as if they've always been there waiting. He presses his fingers into the ochre, feeling the fine dust cling to his skin, and then drags them across the stone in a sweeping arc. A curve, a shoulder, the powerful back of an aurock.
00:04:17
Speaker
His movements are quick, precise. His mind sees the whole picture before the first mark is even made. He is not simply painting, he is remembering. He has seen these animals a thousand times, watched them move across the plains, studied the way their muscles ripple beneath their hides, the way their breath steams in the cold air. He knows them, and they flow from him effortlessly.
00:04:43
Speaker
The work consumes him. Time ceases to exist in the way others perceive it. He has always struggled with that. His mind leaps ahead, tangled in thoughts too fast and too deep for words. But here, in the cave, time belongs to him alone. Here, the past and future are meaningless. The spirits of those who came before him whisper in the stillness guiding his hand. The eyes of those who will come a long, long time after him are already watching.
00:05:13
Speaker
He knows they will never know his name, but they will know this, his lines, his visions. As he works, his stomach growls, but he barely notices. There is food brought from the camp, a strip of dried reindeer meat, chewy and rich with the taste of smoke, a handful of nuts and berries gathered from the edge of the forest. A thick slice of marrow-rich bone cracked open earlier in the day, now hardened and cooling fat.
00:05:41
Speaker
When the hunger becomes too much to ignore, he pauses, gnawing at the meat, absent-mindedly, his fingers still stained with ochre. He wonders if those who came after him will understand what he is trying to show them. That the animals are more than just food, more than the hunt, they are life itself. He returns to his work, dipping a hollow bone into a mixture of red ochre and animal fat, placing it to his lips and blowing.
00:06:09
Speaker
A fine mist of pigment sprays across the stone, coating the wall in a hazy red outline. He lifts his hand, leaving behind a ghostly print, his signature, his presence. He repeats the motion again and again, until the wall is alive with movement, running horses, stump-heeding bison, proud stags with their antlers raised high. The cave responds. The rock breathes with him. The shadows dance.
00:06:38
Speaker
In this moment, he is not a man. He is the bridge between the world that is and the world that was. His heart races with the thrill of creation, the pulse of something ancient and powerful, thrumming in his veins. This is his purpose, his obsession, his gift. Hours passed, or perhaps only minutes pass, but it doesn't matter.
00:07:02
Speaker
When he finally steps back, wiping sweat and pigment from his brow, he sees them looking back at him, the animals frozen in time yet full of life. He exhales long and slow, pressing his palm to the stone one final time. Then he returns to his tools. He gathers them, lifting his lamp. He does not need to look back. He knows they are there, waiting, watching.
00:07:30
Speaker
He steps into the darkness, carrying the memory of his work with him, knowing that one day, far beyond his time, others will step into the same space, feeling the same awe and wonder about the hands that shape these visions, and though they will never know him, he knows them.
Art's Role in Neurodivergent Experiences
00:07:50
Speaker
So hopefully you're still awake. Did that resonate with you? Would you feel yourself drawn to express your emotions and dreams? It's a very powerful thing in neurodivergent people. yeah Yeah, I don't really know as how to describe it. It's like it's more than escapism. It's its connection with things that could be aren't or even just understanding the world around you. It's a strange thing, but it's wonderful. and I know I've always felt a connection to ancient art, and when I create something, god I get wonderfully lost. and Anyway, I wanted to explore the idea of of ancient art, particularly in the the Upper Paleolithic and neurodiversity, because I think, and it's my opinion that
00:08:46
Speaker
even though we can't ever diagnose any of the ancients, it makes sense that some of them were neurodiverse and a no and they they would have felt the same sort of drives that we have with our highly sensitive nervous systems and that sort of yearning to create and express those sort of deep and powerful feelings Yeah, I think what I might do is I think let's have ah a very, very quick break. I know it's a bit early, but we'll have a quick break. And I'm just going to do a little chat about neurodiversity in, oh, we're going to, I'm going to talk anyway, neurodiversity in the upper palate, I think.
Neurodivergence in Paleolithic Societies: Challenges and Thriving
00:09:31
Speaker
So yeah, neurodiversity in the Upper Palaeolithic. Well, I mean, if we go back to 35,000 years, and I'm talking in Europe really, that's I think that's a classification, isn't it? The Upper Palaeolithic in Europe. I think being neurodivergent isn't isn't necessarily going to be a problem like it is in in a modern setting where it's very rigid and ah rinse and repeat and boring as hell, to be perfectly honest with you. I mean, the the world back then, yeah tens of thousands of years ago, I mean, obviously it changed through ice ages and so on, but generally speaking, yeah the world, it was, well, it was to been vast and and wild and untamed. I mean, just imagine the herds of
00:10:23
Speaker
You know what am i missing reindeer and turn. What else do you buy some and what is your incredible. Animals just there around you that that's your life that's what you know you dealing with things like saber tooth tigers and mountain lions and cave bears and,
00:10:45
Speaker
They're all are there around around the corner. Survival is is ah yeah it had to have been a daily challenge. and But they we're just you know and these people, but and they weren't just surviving, they were thriving. yeah Some of the artistic expressions you see in the caves and some of the mobile art like the Venus figurines and so on that have been found.
00:11:07
Speaker
and They were taking the time. They were creating these things and crafting the tools. I mean, the microleths and some of those tools that were just beautiful and functional as well, you know. And they're still sharp, by the way, you know. And if you consider neurodiversity,
00:11:23
Speaker
that's sort of like the the natural variation in in the human brain function. And in it's not just, yeah it is the same as it is today. And it's it's nothing new. We've already said this, a autism an add dyslexion and dyslexia, and other cognitive differences. It didn't suddenly appear in the modern age. But these differences likely played a crucial role in in human evolutions and survival. and I would say in soothing and i anded entertaining and all sorts of benefits that would come with it. you know I think if you think about you know the hunter-gatherer mind as well, you know it's an incredible job, that is. I mean, upper panellithic societies depended on teamwork and creativity and adaptability.
00:12:17
Speaker
And, you know, they needed a mix of skills. So you needed the pattern spotters, you know, autistic individuals that are known for deep focus and and pattern recognition. And they may have been fantastic trackers, you know, looking for the animal movements and predicting weather changes and remembering ah herd patterns and so on. And of course, yeah crafting intricate tools and so on. And then the fast reactors, we need that ADHD. I mean, talk about you know the right environment for that. You know you need quick thinking, energetic people. you know They may have excelled in those sort of high pressure situations, like hunting, scouting, or problem solving.
00:13:04
Speaker
I mean, bearing in mind, you know you've got the kids with you, you've got to hunt, you've got to protect, you've got to you've got to do a thousand different things all at once.
00:13:15
Speaker
and is also the problem solving aspect. We think outside the box, if we haven't got the right tool or the right environment, we can adapt very, very quickly. So you know if plans went wrong, maybe we've got to come up with something very, very quick. And it might look ridiculous, but it might work. But we know we'd find that way. And also, think about the big picture thing, because people with dyslexia, for example, are known for sort of strong spatial reasoning. and
00:13:47
Speaker
and if theyre In the modern world, this would have contributed to navigation and mapping landscapes and so on. and you know you Imagine that being useful for sort of planning seasonal migrations of where we're going to go and how we're going to survive this. so Instead of seeing all that as sort of disorders like we do today, or at least they're described in those ways, and these differences would have been essential for survival. and you know i knew a neurodiverse tribe would have had an an advantage over a purely neurotypical one, surely. I suppose if you go back to to the story and what I was trying to allude to earlier on, it's like these, so not the first artists, but you know these early artists and and innovators. Some of the most
00:14:34
Speaker
the remarkable evidence of of of human intelligence really yeah you know it comes from, it's always a great example anyway, of coming from and the the Upper Paleolithic cave paintings, you know, what he mentioned, we've been to Lascaux and I've mentioned the Chevée and so on, but these these paintings, they're not just decoration, they're not just detailing, you know, they're not just doodling, you know, they the detailing incredible reconstructions of what they've seen in nature by using the shapes of the caves. I mean, it's genius. It really is. I can't remember which artist was it. Picasso that said that no one can paint like that today. It was somebody like that. But, you know, these those works of art, they're so detailed and sophisticated and
00:15:33
Speaker
ah as I've tried to show in this podcast today is in this episode today, possibly connected to storytelling and teaching, or even spirituality. But you know, we don't know who created them, and we'll never get to know that. But no divergent individuals could easily have been behind those, well, masterpieces. that did did The ability to look at their, you know, the the Renaissance artists and so on, their ability to hyper focus, which is, ah you know, obviously ADHD and autism is very common, but that could have given them, all these certain individuals, the ability to go into those places and spend all that time without questioning what the hell they were doing. They would just follow in that impulse and
00:16:32
Speaker
I mean, it might even show big picture thinking, you know, this this tendency to to think in in pictures and is is often associated with dyslexia and ADHD and autism.
00:16:46
Speaker
That might have helped them translate the movements of the of the animals onto stone. you know That could be evidence for that. And the what else this think the the ability to to see connections and imagine new ideas, that's very much a trait found in ADHD. That could have led to to the innovations in in storytelling and communication and and early forms of artistic representation. It's it's a form of language, really.
00:17:12
Speaker
And if we sort of jump from there, really, from the caves back out into the world that these artists inhabited, storytelling it could could have seeped into those caves from a wider social them experience. that Obviously, we're never going to get to understand, but oh no yeah we certainly don't get to see it in any way, unfortunately. But so if you see that as a connection between storytelling and these individuals and how they fit it in, because I know that the common misconception about neurodivergent individuals struggling with social connection is is more modern
Social Roles of Neurodivergent Individuals in Ancient Times
00:17:59
Speaker
day things. I think we evolved
00:18:01
Speaker
with the capacity to understand around about 200 people or something like that. And of course, we live in a world with billions of people, and especially with social media and busy workplaces and cities. It's overwhelming for us. But back then, we're talking about hung together groups, much, much smaller groups. and the bonds between those individuals were likely strong and key to survival. So, neurodivergent individuals may well have been those the storytellers, the shamans, and the problem solvers. I mean, we know that... and then was it there I've heard this said that
00:18:41
Speaker
Yeah, if whatever field there is, if you go look at the top of it, there'll be somebody on the spectrum up there. We're not limited to just creating art or to storytelling, you know, we we're practical people and and leaders as well. But I suppose if we just spend a few moments just thinking about this, so' storytelling and shamans and all shamans and whatnot. What is storytelling? It's sort of memory, isn't it? As well as processing
00:19:17
Speaker
traumas and experiences and learning, teaching and all sorts of things. Some autistic individuals that have ah an incredible memory and attention to detail, which is perfect for passing down those oral traditions with accuracy. I mean, I know I used to go to a storytelling cafe and to honest I want to go back because it's absolutely fabulous. You just sit down with a cuppa and some cake and you listen to these incredible storytellers and how they memorize i've got a really poor working memory but these uh ladies and gents they get up on the stage and they tell stories some of them ancient some of them brand new and <unk> it's like they've got a script but they haven't
00:20:04
Speaker
They're just natural storytellers, and they probably won't mind me saying this, so I'm pretty sure they're all on the spectrum in so of some way. But yeah, I don't know. I think really, with if we look at what neurodiversity offered during the Upper Paleolithic, I would argue it was integral to not only the survival, but that how they thrived. And even today, we still need our sort of shamans and spiritual leaders. So so and because these are the people with different ways of perceiving the world, you know, this unique sensory processing and divergent or no divergent thinking. But maybe back then, they were just seen as visionaries and healers.
00:20:54
Speaker
you know, they wouldn't have been under such pressure to remember to do the same damn thing every damn day, perhaps, you know, maybe the division of labour would have been more sympathetic to newer divergent needs, you know. and So I desperate ah ah don't want to go on too long, because, yeah, I'm going to wrap up in a second. so Yeah, so let's think quickly about sort zionists call it social glue. Even traits like care have hyperactivity and impulsivity, which is obviously very much an ADHD thing. That could have been beneficial as well in bringing people together and boosting morale and ensuring the group functioned as a team. you know
00:21:38
Speaker
I might be a pain in the backside when it comes to remembering to do my taxes or wash my clothes, but you know, mean my my instincts when, you know, if somebody's looking like they're not particularly happy, my instinct is to try and cheer them up hillll or to entertain them or do something stupid. That might just be me, but I think there's plenty. I think that's that's an a new version thing, honestly. So yeah, I think I hope this episode kind of helps, highlights the
00:22:12
Speaker
these, and then it debparts there so so archaeology, it's easy to sort of see the past as a block and chunks of time and it's easy to see, well, with the ancestors, the ancients as avatars, but I think it's really exciting to to look at it if through the neurodivergent lenses or neurodiversity lenses because I think it makes more sense and I think it'll help us understand certain events and or certain characters or or inventions or changes or whatever. I think if you look at it from an investigative angle and you do it through neurodiversity, I think it brings it to life a bit more and makes it it makes a little bit more sense.
Neurodiversity's Impact on Innovation and Survival
00:23:00
Speaker
Yes, I suppose in conclusion, neurodiversity is not a modern phenomenon. That's just a modern term. It's been part of the human experience for tens of thousands of years, but probably millions of years but in in the and the Upper Paleolithic.
00:23:18
Speaker
Neurodivergent individuals were likely essential to their communities. I think shaping the development of our innovation and survival strategies so across the board, you know, and today we do we recognize that diversity is it did well in thought is just as important as diversity in genetics. So Yeah, I think diversity in thought is just as important as diversity in genetics. you know but And I think by understanding the past, which is why I love archaeology, we can better appreciate the strengths of neurodivergent individuals in the present and the future. And I think it helps make more sense of the past.
00:24:08
Speaker
So yeah, i I'd love to hear what you guys think. So maybe reach out
Listener Engagement and Feedback
00:24:15
Speaker
to me on... them Well, I'm only on Instagram at the minute. I will be sorting out the social media side of things when I get around to it. So yeah, anyway, thank you so much for listening. Yeah, I'll see you guys next time. All right, take care.
00:24:41
Speaker
The Archaeology Podcast Network is 10 years old this year. Our executive producer is Ashley Airy, our social media coordinator is Matilda Seabreck, and our chief editor is Rachel Rodin. The Archaeology Podcast Network was co-founded by Chris Webster and Tristan Boyle in 2014 and is part of CulturoMedia and DigTech LLC. This has been a presentation of the Archaeology Podcast Network. Visit us on the web for show notes and other podcasts at w www.com. Contact us at chrisatarchaeologypodcastnetwork.com.