It is an established fact in cultural anthropology that the psychotic patients of today were yesterdays prophets and schamans. The question of 'crazy caveman or wise ancient dweller' is typical for a modern folk psychiatry soaked perspective. To answer the question from my perspective as a scientist: Assuming that most inscriptions were done by members of the society who had a religiously significant position of some sort, it is very probable that the person would suffice to some criteria written down in DSM-IV somewhere to be seen as mentally ill according to todays standards.
A question more interesting that 'how people today and 1000s of years ago cope with mental illness' (scribbling on walls?!) would be a question of some sort like: Assuming the social brain hypothesis is true, why are there people with hereditary mental illnesses around? And the answer might lie in the material presented above.
The question of 'crazy caveman or wise ancient dweller' is typical for a modern folk psychiatry soaked perspective.
To answer the question from my perspective as a scientist: Assuming that most inscriptions were done by members of the society who had a religiously significant position of some sort, it is very probable that the person would suffice to some criteria written down in DSM-IV somewhere to be seen as mentally ill according to todays standards.
A question more interesting that 'how people today and 1000s of years ago cope with mental illness' (scribbling on walls?!) would be a question of some sort like:
Assuming the social brain hypothesis is true, why are there people with hereditary mental illnesses around?
And the answer might lie in the material presented above.