The Birth and Life of Signs

Abstract

signs placed nearby, other animals in the panel, the general configuration of the cave itself, and the placement of the paintings or engravings in the cave, constitute this context. While more attention has been paid to the animal depictions on cave walls than to the abstract signs that accompany them, the latter offer clues to the symbolism of the time that are of equal importance. If, in the Upper Paleolithic, males took charge of the newly acquired capacity to reason and to create both material and ideological cultural forms, the power of speech was crucial to this task. It is generally assumed that the sophistication of Upper Paleolithic symbolism was not possible without language. The prehistory of lineal signs throughout the Upper Paleolithic, Neolithic, and into the Bronze Age is well-documented, and considerable continuity is discoverable between signs used in several periods. Progress in discovering the significance of Upper Paleolithic art has been slow.