hunting magic

{{Expand German|topic=culture|date=January 2020|Jagdmagie}}

Hunting magic is a form of magic used in hunter-gatherer societies that involves rock art in rituals to encourage a successful hunt. First observed among modern hunter-gatherers,{{Efn|More specifically, hunter-gatherer societies that used stone tools.}} it has been offered as a hypothesis to explain the purpose of ancient rock art from a functionalist approach. Proponents have pointed to violent imagery found in some rock art alongside animals as support for the hypothesis.{{cite encyclopedia|title=Art, Paleolithic|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology|publisher=Springer|place=New York, NY|url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0465-2|last=Cooke|first=Amanda|date=2014|editor-last=Smith|editor-first=Claire|editor-link=Claire Smith (archaeologist)|volume=1|page=535|language=en|doi=10.1007/978-1-4419-0465-2|isbn=978-1-4419-0426-3|lccn=2013953915|ref=GAEncyclopedia|last2=Tripp|first2=Allison|last3=von Petzinger|first3=Genevieve|url-access=subscription}}

Walter Burkert in Homo Necans (1972) suggested that hunting magic rituals are significant in the origin of religion.