Rock Art and Psyche: Rock Paintings, Hunting & the Emergence of Directed Consciousness

Presenter: Peter Ammann
Venue: C.G Jung Centre, Cape Town (in-person attendance only, the event will not be recorded)
Date: Saturday 15 March 2025
Time: 10:00 am for 10:30 am – 12:00 noon SAST (GMT +2)
Fee: ZAR250 (includes refreshments on arrival)

Booking essential, limited seating available.
Bookings close at 12:00 noon SAST on Thursday 13 March 2025

About the Lecture

How did early humans experience the origins of consciousness – or at least the prerequisites for it?

In this lecture, Peter Ammann explores this question by closely examining ancient rock paintings related to hunters and hunting. Drawing from a range of sources, he will also share stories and myths surrounding the creation of these paintings and consider insights from modern neuropsychology.

Together, these multidisciplinary perspectives may illuminate the vital role of rock art in one of the most significant turning points in hominid evolution, and thus of the human psyche. By creating these symbolic representations, early humans could have represented a crucial step towards directed consciousness, thus setting the stage for the emergence of humanity as the “symbolic species.”

This lecture invites us to consider the significance of rock art not only as an ancient form of expression but also as a potential catalyst in the development of human consciousness itself.

[Image credit: Copy of a rock painting by Harald Pager]

About the Presenter

Peter Ammann is a founding member of the International School for Analytical Psychology (ISAPZURICH), where he is a lecturer, training analyst and supervisor. After training as a cellist, he was encouraged by Jung himself and by his analysts, Jolande Jacobi and Marie-Louise von Franz, to follow Jungian studies. He graduated from the C.G. Jung Institute Zurich in 1965. Simultaneously, he completed his doctorate at the University of Zürich in the fields of musicology, history of religion and ethnology. He maintains a practice in Zürich and lectures regularly in many countries.

His 1984 encounter with Laurens van der Post inspired his enduring interests in Africa, the Bushpeople, their rock paintings, and in African Traditional Healing. Since 1990, when he was invited by Vera Bührmann to give seminars in Cape Town, he regularly lectures here and made several documentary films and DVDs related to Southern Africa. These include Spirits of the Rocks; Hlonipa – Journey into Wilderness; Vera Bührmann – Living in two Worlds; Healing in two Worlds – Jungian Psychotherapists encounter African Traditional Healers; Encounter the Other – Jungian Analysts and African Traditional Healers in Dialogue; What my Power Figures tell me – A Journey through the Darkness of the Heart to the Mirror of the Belly.

In recent years, Peter continued his groundbreaking initiative with several conferences where Jungian Analysts and African Traditional Healers engage in an ongoing dialogue. Together with Nomfundo Mlisa, Renee Ramsden and Fred Borchardt he presented this work in Vienna at the IAAP Congress 2019. Peter Ammann is a highly regarded friend of SAAJA and is an honorary member.

BOOKING INFORMATION | Advance Booking Essential
Bookings close at 12:00 noon SAST on Thursday 13 March 2025.