The Origins of the Concept of ‘Palaeolithic Art’: Theoretical Roots of an Idea

Palacio‐Pérez, Eduardo

doi:10.1007/s10816-012-9135-6

Cited by 14 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…More to the point, when the term "art" is employed to describe the paintings and engravings of prehistoric man, a whole series of implications are evoked, more or less consciously, regarding what art is in modern industrialized societies: for example, that works of art are made for others to see, that they are things to contemplate but not to use, and so forth. All these implicit analogies, for the most part misleading when applied to Paleolithic cave art, are often uncritically interiorized, influencing the way in which scholars interpret the data from prehistory (Moro Abadía et al 2012; Palacio-Pérez 2013) [3,4]. The suggestion that the Cantabrian caves could be envisaged as "cathedrals" of prehistory, as is still advanced in recent works (Aczel 2009) [5], is emblematic evidence of the persistence of the problem.…”

Section: Methodological Premisementioning

confidence: 99%

Amerindian Cosmologies and European Prehistoric Cave Art: Reasons for and Usefulness of a Comparison

Comba

2013

Arts

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Several anthropological studies conducted in recent years among different Native American cultures have revealed a series of common features in ontological premises and cosmological frameworks. These features seem to be shared by most of the Native peoples in both North and South America. They include: a system of relationships between humans and non-human beings based on an ontology "of persons" as contrasted to the ontology "of things" typical of the Western attitude towards Nature; a structure of the cosmos made by superposed layers, which express the idea of a reality represented as comprising hidden dimensions and invisible domains; and the key role played by ecstatic practitioners in establishing relationships with and acquiring knowledge from these multiple dimensions of the universe. Here, the idea is suggested that these elements could be profitably utilized to interpret the meaning of Paleolithic cave art, not simply implying a series of typological likenesses, but suggesting the possibility of historic (pre-historic) links. It should be remembered that the main settlement of the Americas occurred in a period (from 30,000-20,000 years B.P.) which is contemporaneous with the creation of the masterworks in the caves of France and Spain.

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Section: Methodological Premisementioning

confidence: 99%

Amerindian Cosmologies and European Prehistoric Cave Art: Reasons for and Usefulness of a Comparison

Comba

2013

Arts

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“…A number of authors have argued that art is not an appropriate term to use when describing Upper Palaeolithic depictions. The term has a particular intellectual history in the west, where art is seen to embody transcendental qualities of universal concern, and above all is conceived of as visual representations to be admired and consumed [103,104]. This is not the case with Palaeolithic depictions: the presence of images in deep, inaccessible parts of caves and the prevalence of overwriting, both in caves (e.g.…”

Section: But Is It Art?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Artists on the edge of the world: An integrated approach to the study of Magdalenian engraved stone plaquettes from Jersey (Channel Islands)

et al. 2020

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The Upper Palaeolithic is characterised by the appearance of iconographic expressions most often depicting animals, including anthropomorphic forms, and geometric signs. The Late Upper Palaeolithic Magdalenian saw a flourishing of such depictions, encompassing cave art, engraving of stone, bone and antler blanks and decoration of tools and weapons. Though Magdalenian settlement exists as far northwest as Britain, there is a limited range of art known from this region, possibly associated with only fleeting occupation of Britain during this period. Stone plaquettes, flat fragments of stone engraved on at least one surface, have been found in large quantities at numerous sites spanning the temporal and geographical spread of the Magdalenian, but they have been absent so far from the archaeological record of the British Isles. Between 2015 and 2018, ten fragments of stone plaquettes extensively engraved with abstract designs were uncovered at the Magdalenian site of Les Varines, Jersey, Channel Islands. In this paper, we report detailed analyses of these finds, which provide new evidence for technologies of abstract mark-making, and their significance within the lives of people on the edge of the Magdalenian world. These engraved stone fragments represent important, rare evidence of artistic expression in what is the far northern and western range of the Magdalenian and add new insight to the wider significance of dynamic practices of artistic expression during the Upper Palaeolithic.

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“…Since the earliest discoveries (Lartet & Christy 1864), Palaeolithic imagery has been the victim of two theoretical assumptions. In the first place, it was included within the Western category of 'art', which was understood as a universal concept connected to the 'aesthetic sentiment' (Moro & Gonzalez Morales 2007;Palacio-Pérez 2013). Secondly, it was assessed through what can be termed the 'naturalistic prejudice', caused by the predominant attention paid to the zoomorphic figures (Moro et al 2012;Palacio-Pérez 2013).…”

Section: Imaginary Creatures As a Theoretical Problem In The History mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Luquet 1910;Reinach 1912;Deonna 1914;Breuil 1952: 95;Bégouën & Breuil 1958: 54). These extrapolated concepts from the study of 'primitive' and 'ancient' religions to the mental universe of prehistoric humans were a general feature of Palaeolithic art interpretation during the first half of the twentieth century (Ucko & Rosenfeld 1967;Palacio-Pérez 2010, 2013. Indeed, we continue today to classify as an 'imaginary creature' any representation which, though figurative, does not depict any being, animal or human that existed in the Upper Palaeolithic, either because it displays characteristics not found in any individual species or because it mixes characteristics of two or more species.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Imaginary creatures in Palaeolithic art: prehistoric dreams or prehistorians' dreams?

Palacio‐Pérez¹,

Redondo²

2014

Antiquity

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In the course of research currently being carried out at Santimamine (Bizkaia, Spain) (Gonz’alez S’ainz & Idarraga 2010) and Altxerri (Gipuzkoa, Spain) a series of zoomorphic figures have been identified (four in total between the two sites) that represent creatures that do not exist in nature (Figure 1). They are examples of the so-called ‘imaginary creatures’, unreal or fantastic beings that appear in Palaeolithic art ensembles. Despite their rarity—fewer than 50 are known in Palaeolithic parietal art—they have been the subject of debate and controversy since the first of them were discovered.

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The Origins of the Concept of ‘Palaeolithic Art’: Theoretical Roots of an Idea

Cited by 14 publications

References 61 publications

Amerindian Cosmologies and European Prehistoric Cave Art: Reasons for and Usefulness of a Comparison

Amerindian Cosmologies and European Prehistoric Cave Art: Reasons for and Usefulness of a Comparison

Artists on the edge of the world: An integrated approach to the study of Magdalenian engraved stone plaquettes from Jersey (Channel Islands)

Imaginary creatures in Palaeolithic art: prehistoric dreams or prehistorians' dreams?

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