Emanations of the Mind: Upper Paleolithic Art as a Visual Phenomenon

Abstract

Recent research into perception, the visual brain, and neuropsychology has important implications for understanding Upper Paleolithic art. The relevant aspects of this research and how it relates to the art produced will be described. It will also be shown that the depiction of animals in caves provides particularly important evidence in this regard. Specific natural features and environmental conditions of the cave will be shown to have interacted with the way the visual brain functions that led to the ability to produce animal depictions in particular ways over a period of 20,000 years. Some suggestions are offered demonstrating how the various insights gained may impact on sociocultural factors associated with such depictions.