Przemysław Bryk Therianthropy and theriomorphism in shamanic religions The idea of turning into animal or deities, that take shape of animals, is very common among religions all over the world. This concept originates from earliest times of mankind, when humans were much more dependent on animal kingdom. It was very crucial to predict animal behaviour, abundance or deficiency of certain animal populations had great influence on functioning of earliest societies. Among hunter-gatherers lack of animals to hunt could lead, in extreme, to extinction. That is why becoming an animal and understanding how it lives was thing, that early people could wanted to achieve. Theriantrophy and theriomorphism are concepts present in many (if not all) shamanic traditions and religions. Because some of societies based upon shamanism are still partially nomadic and dependant on tricks of nature the symbolism of becoming an animal plays important role in their tradition. The tradition, that still maintains this sacred union between animals and mankind. Illustraon 1. Sorcerer figure from Trois Frères cave. Palaeolithic religions The source of shamanic beliefs can be traced directly to earliest examples of human art, that we find in caves like Lascaux, Trois Frères or Altamira. Although, meaning of all Palaeolithic cave paintings remain unclear. Researchers like John Halverson suggested, that it was simply earliest forms of an art. And it is supposed to be just art for art’s sake 1 . Another hypothesis, very popular during the XX century, said that Palaeolithic cave paintings were connected to activities based on 1 J. Cloes, D. Lewis-Williams, 2009, Prehistoryczni szamani…, Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego, s. 98.