From body art to cave art: Visual culture and the creative leap

A lecture by Prof. Paul Pettit, Durham University (Mercator Fellow RTG 1876)

Blog by Nicky van de Beek 

This year's seminar about Cognitive Archaeology was concluded with a lecture by Prof. Paul Pettitt at the Museum für Antike Schifffahrt in Mainz. Between impressive models of Roman triremes, Prof. Pettit enlightened us once more about The animal inside us all: Behavioral evolution of Homo Sapiens and earliest art.

In a recap of what we had learned in the seminar, this lecture was focused on the Paleolithic. When modern humans started roaming the earth around half a million years ago, we developed large brains that cost lots of energy to maintain, but allowing us for the first time to communicate in symbols and imagine other worlds. When the first figurative art appeared during the last Ice Age, prey animals were a favoured subject. They show the species we shared our environment with: large herbivores, spotted horses and a comically slipping cow, observations made in nature.

But more than that, hunter-gatherers depended on these creatures for their sustenance, reflected in spearthrowers decorated with fauns and birds. Caves held a special appeal - when approached without modern lighting the shadow play of torches makes the horses seemingly fall out of cracks, bison are dripping from the ceiling and ibex are ascending from the sky. The natural landscape was reflected on this mysterious canvas of cracks and crevices, making the imagination run wild. Caves represented a liminal space, where this world could potentially meet others.


Fig. 1: Spearthrower in the form of a bird perched on the back of a faun (source).

A development can be seen from 500.000 years ago, when art focused on the body and its immediate surroundings, to 100.000 years ago, when 'art' was transferred onto more portable objects in an act of social display, such as figurines carved from mammoth ivory. From 40.000 years ago this culminates in art projected onto the landscape in the form of cave art. Around 32.000 years ago, cave art becomes more naturalistic and organized. The shadow play on the walls is enhanced to form the shapes of bison and horses, evoking movement in the low light of a flickering lamp. This effect is still reached thousands of years later in the chiaroscuro technique of high relief, which would immediately fall flat in the absence of shadows.

Symbols, being specific to space, time, cultural and social context, are communicating one thing while meaning something else. But when a 'structured deposition' of stones can be found near a tree, what does it mean? Ritual action can be found among chimpanzees, throwing stones against a tree for the sound of it, but also carrying around a dead child in an endearing show of attachment. Ritualised behaviour is common among animals as a form of social behavior, but without inherent meaning behind it. In humans, repeated behavior (ranging from OCD to religion) is grounded in our need to live in a safe, predictable, understandable world.

Our big brains developed in such a way that we became masters at recognizing patterns. It was an evolutionary adaptation that allowed us to recognize the good and the bad of an inherently chaotic world. Pareidolia is the recognizing of patterns in nature, even when none are there. From an evolutionary standpoint, it is better to be wrong once too often in distinguishing leopards from tree branches. According to a cognitive archaeology standpoint, this is why humans started picking up natural rocks somewhat resembling the human body, modifying it to represent it more.


Fig. 2: The Venus of Hohle Fels, a 40,000 year old human figurine (source).

This focus on the human body can be found in Neanderthal practices of ornamenting their body with black and red pigments and feathers from predatory birds. Non-figurative Neanderthal cave art (from ca. 64.000 years ago) consist of hand stencils, dots and color washes, essentially extending body art to the walls of caves. These expressions are often found on and around cracks or in difficult, dangerous or uncomfortable to reach positions, representing a meaningful exploration of the cave's topography.

In summary, Prof. Pettit painted the evolution of visual culture from its origins on the body, extending outwards and becoming more complex to become figurative art projected onto the environment, a practice found in all of the (ancient) cultures under study by the RTG 1876. Essentially a side product of our growing brains, visual culture allowed for the unique creative leap from the body to the rich imaginary worlds shared by humankind.

After the splendid lecture we enjoyed a bite and drink, and must thank Prof. Pettit for his engaging seminar and stimulating discussions throughout the semester!


Fig. 3: Prof. Pettitt during his lecture in the Schifffahrtmuseum (photo by Benny Waszk).

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