Abstract
Recent research in the DNA of prehistoric horses has resulted in a new interpretation of the well-known panel of the Spotted horses of Pech Merle. The conclusion that has been popularized by this research is that the artists accurately depicted the animals as they saw them in their environment. It has long been evident that some artists of the European Ice Age caves were able to realize graphic memesis to a remarkable degree. This new study of the genome of ancient horses appears to confirm the artist’s intention of creating the actual appearance of dappled horses. I will question this conclusion as well as the relevance of this study to the art by examining the Spotted horses in the context of the entire panel and the panel in the context of the whole cave. To further enlarge our view, I will consider the use of similar dots and dappling in the rock art of other paleolithic people. The visual effect of dots will be seen in terms of their psychological impact. Discoveries by neuroscientists regarding the effect of such stimuli on human cognition will be mentioned. I will conclude with another possible interpretation of the meaning of the Spotted horses of Pech Merle.
Highlights
Recent research in the DNA of prehistoric horses has resulted in a new interpretation of the well-known panel of the Spotted horses of Pech Merle
The visual effect of dots will be seen in terms of their psychological impact
Discoveries by neuroscientists regarding the effect of such stimuli on human cognition will be mentioned
Summary
Has the enigma of the Spotted horses of Pech Merle been solved? Science journals world-wide have been reporting since the end of 2011 that the well known image from the cave of. The paper continued: “This finding lends support to hypotheses arguing that cave paintings might have contained less of a symbolic or transcendental connotation than often assumed.” [2] This definitive opinion of the respected geneticists and archeologist was taken up by journalists. O’Connor, an archaeologist at the University of York who collaborated on the study, summarized the results pithily when he was quoted as saying, “People drew spotty horses because they saw spotty horses.” [5] It seemed that questions about the meaning of the spotted horses might well have been resolved by the results of this recent experiment with the DNA of ancient horses
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