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The visual psychology of European Upper Palaeolithic figurative art: using Bubbles to understand outline depictions

Meyering, Lisa-Elen; Kentridge, Robert; Pettitt, Paul

The visual psychology of European Upper Palaeolithic figurative art: using Bubbles to understand outline depictions Thumbnail


Authors

Paul Pettitt



Abstract

How have our visual brains evolved, and exactly how did this constrain the specific way that animals were depicted in Upper Palaeolithic art? Here, we test predictions derived from visual neuroscience in this field. Using the example of open-air Upper Palaeolithic rock art of Portugal’s Côa Valley, we point out the frequently recurring outline strategies that past artists utilized to depict the prey animals upon which they were dependent for survival. Their depictional tendency can be mirrored onto the most visually salient anatomical aspects of these species, a finding that results from our use of a visual psychological experimental programme, called Bubbles. We find a remarkable correspondence between the aspects of the anatomy of horses and bison that modern participants found most helpful in successfully discriminating between the two, and those same aspects that are elaborated most in Upper Palaeolithic art. This leads us to conclude that the visual system of Homo sapiens drove the way that important prey species were depicted, and hence, the form of their art.

Citation

Meyering, L., Kentridge, R., & Pettitt, P. (2020). The visual psychology of European Upper Palaeolithic figurative art: using Bubbles to understand outline depictions. World Archaeology, 52(2), 205-222. https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.2020.1891964

Journal Article Type Article
Online Publication Date Mar 10, 2021
Publication Date 2020
Deposit Date Jun 24, 2021
Publicly Available Date Jun 24, 2021
Journal World Archaeology
Print ISSN 0043-8243
Electronic ISSN 1470-1375
Publisher Taylor and Francis Group
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 52
Issue 2
Pages 205-222
DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.2020.1891964

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Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Copyright Statement
© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way.





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