Abstract
Several aspects of the depiction of animals in rock art can be explained by certain perceptual correlates relating to the visual brain and evolutionary factors. Recent evidence from neuroscience and the visual brain not only corroborates this claim but provides important new findings that can help delineate which graphic features relate to biological/genetic criteria. In addition to highlighting how the insights from visual science and evolutionary studies can promote a greater understanding of the depictive strategies employed to portray animals, this paper will also explore ways in which the findings from these disciplines can be assimilated with semiotics that provide novel insights into the preference for depicting animals in a particular format over an extended period. The emphasis throughout is placed on dual-inheritance theory where culture and evolutionary determinants are seen as complementary.
Highlights
It is becoming increasingly clear that the immense period during which animals were depicted in palaeoart, as well as their universality, is unable to be adequately accounted for by cultural factors [1,2,3]
The necessity to rapidly detect and identify animals has consequences for understanding the preoccupation with animals and their portrayal in rock art. This is predominantly in contour profile [2], which is a phenomenon that can be found in such diverse locations as China, Australia, Africa, and Europe [10] from the time when two-dimensional depictions appeared around 35,000 bp. Such pervasiveness derives from the way the visual brain functions, which was crucial to the survival of hominins [2, 3]
Hodgson [2] has described the mental template for identifying animals as a quasi “sign stimulus” in that this template was so critical for the rapid identification of animals it became integral to the visual brain
Summary
It is becoming increasingly clear that the immense period during which animals were depicted in palaeoart, as well as their universality, is unable to be adequately accounted for by cultural factors [1,2,3]. The obvious similarity in the way animals were depicted across widely separated and divergent cultures suggests that the influence of more prevailing factors may be relevant. In this respect, animals can potentially be portrayed in a myriad of ways but were depicted in a relatively stereotyped fashion over long periods throughout the world. The necessity to rapidly detect and identify animals has consequences for understanding the preoccupation with animals and their portrayal in rock art This is predominantly in contour profile [2], which is a phenomenon that can be found in such diverse locations as China, Australia, Africa, and Europe [10] from the time when two-dimensional depictions appeared around 35,000 bp (see Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6). Such pervasiveness derives from the way the visual brain functions, which was crucial to the survival of hominins [2, 3]
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