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Closely Observed Animals, Hunter-Gatherers, and Visual Imagery in Upper Paleolithic Art

  • Derek Hodgson

Abstract

Parallels are often made between the culture of San hunter-gatherers of southern Africa and that of European Upper Paleolithic hunter-gatherers. Despite different environmental conditions and lifestyles, the fact that both groups live by hunting provides a point of comparison that can afford insights into Ice Age art. Focusing on both groups' hunting relationships with prey animals can illuminate the intermeshing of human and animal traits in Upper Paleolithic art. We can now give a fairly precise account of the cognitive and affective neurological mechanisms that facilitate hunting and that also have an impact on depicting animals.

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Published Online: 2017-10-01
Published in Print: 2017-10-01

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