The Origins of Iconic Depictions: A Falsifiable Model Derived from the Visual Science of Palaeolithic Cave Art and World Rock Art

Hodgson, D.; Pettitt, P.B.

Abstract

Archaeologists have struggled for more than a century to explain why the first representational art of the Upper Palaeolithic arose and the reason for its precocious naturalism. Thanks to new data from various sites across Europe and further afield, as well as crucial insights from visual science, we may now be on the brink of bringing some clarity to this issue. In this paper, we assert that the main precursors of the first figurative art consisted of hand prints/stencils (among the Neanderthals and early Homo sapiens) and a corpus of geometric marks as well as a hunting lifestyle and highly charged visual system for detecting animals in evocative environments. Unlike many foregoing arguments, the present one is falsifiable in that five critical, but verifiable, points are delineated.

Citation

Hodgson, D., & Pettitt, P. (2018). The Origins of Iconic Depictions: A Falsifiable Model Derived from the Visual Science of Palaeolithic Cave Art and World Rock Art. Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 28(4), 591-612. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0959774318000227

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 3, 2018
• Online Publication Date: May 3, 2018
• Publication Date: Nov 1, 2018
• Deposit Date: Apr 25, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: May 16, 2018
• Journal: Cambridge Archaeological Journal
• Print ISSN: 0959-7743
• Electronic ISSN: 1474-0540
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 28
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 591-612
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/s0959774318000227
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1333705