Therianthropy:
Therianthropy is the mythological ability of human beings to metamorphose into other animals by means of shapeshifting. It is possible that cave drawings found at Les Trois Frères, in France, depict ancient beliefs in the concept. The most well known form of therianthropy is found in stories concerning werewolves. [Wikipedia]
Noted in “44,000-year-old hunting scene is earliest painted ‘story’ ever found,” Alison George, NewScientist (14 December 2019):
The human-like figures appear to have animal characteristics, as seen in the detail pictured above. “They are half human, half animal. If you look closely, one has a tail and another seems to have a bird head,” says Aubert.
Such depictions are known as therianthropes. The oldest previously known example was the Lion Man statue found in Germany’s Hohlenstein-Stadel cave. Carved around 40,000 years ago, it combines a lion’s head and human body. Until now, it was the earliest evidence of the ability of humans to conceive of things that don’t exist in nature – a capacity linked to imagination and spirituality. “Now it seems the same thing was happening in South-East Asia, but even earlier,” says Aubert.
Not quite congruent, are they?
