CANVAS IN THE CAVES: A New Understanding of the

Geometric Signs & Symbols in Rock Images

John D. Hipsley jhipsley@igc.org

Ikonographics Ikon Graphic Canvas

Imagine yourself as a cave dweller Where: Europe When: 25,000 years ago, Millennia before the last ice age

You live in an open-air tent or a transient hut. Life is short, brutal and then you die…

But you also belong to a rich culture that creates images. From one third to half a mile underground are subterranean cave paintings of animals…

But not only animals but handprints and dots, x’s and triangles, parallel lines and spirals.

Your people know what they mean. You use them on tools and jewelry.

And then you vanish— and with you, their meanings.

Let us explore these caves to rediscover what we can of these signs…

Genevieve von Petzinger reveals that, beyond the figurative art, the iconic

images of horses and bison so transcendent in their beauty,

are 32 signs that may represent a vocabulary

written on stone, symbols that offer

an opening into the Paleolithic

mind.

Asterisk Avi- form

Circle Clavi- form

Cordi- form

Cross- hatch

Cruci- form

Cupule

Finger Fluting

Flabelli- form

Half circle

Line Negative Hand

Open angle

Oval

Positive Hand

Quad- rangle

Reni- form

Scalari- form

Seg- mented

Spanish tectiform

Spiral Tecti- form

Tri- angle

Unci- form

W- Sign

Y- Sign

Zig- Zag

Dot

Pecti- form

Penni- form

Serpenti- form

An exploration of the little-known geometric images that accompany most cave images around the world—the first

indications of symbolic meaning,

intelligence, and language.

Asterisk Avi- form

Circle Clavi- form

Cordi- form

Cross- hatch

Cruci- form

Cupule

Finger Fluting

Flabelli- form

Half circle

Line Negative Hand

Open angle

Oval

Positive Hand

Quad- rangle

Reni- form

Scalari- form

Seg- mented

Spanish tectiform

Spiral Tecti- form

Tri- angle

Unci- form

W- Sign

Y- Sign

Zig- Zag

Dot

Pecti- form

Penni- form

Serpenti- form

• Along with the animal and human imagery, 32 symbols appear repeatedly.

• These symbols appear in other parts of the world.

• leads to the possibility that symbolic communication through geometric signs arose with early humans.

• 32 recognizable Signs

• 32 recognizable Signs

• Cover entire continent of Europe

• 32 recognizable Signs

• Cover entire continent of Europe

• Consistent over 30,000 to 40,000 years

• 32 recognizable Signs

• Cover entire continent of Europe

• Consistent over 30,000 to 40,000 years

• 65% persist over this entire timespan

“This may represent one of the most extraordinary

scientific insights of our time."

Wade Davis, author of The Serpent and the Rainbow Professor of Anthropology Faculty Associate, University of British Columbia

What is essential is invisible to the eye

What has been ignored, overlooked and simply invisible until recently are the geometric signs surrounding the images.

Angle & Lines

Serpentine form above Line below

CUPULE: Hemispherical petroglyph, created by percussion, existing on a horizontal or vertical surface.

OBSERVATIONS

The execution of these and similar designs show

no evidence of an evolved art form. It is a command of perfection.

Grace from the start

Horse Rock Cave Painting Lascaux France 13,000 BCE

The symbols are executed in a deceptively casual manner which ensures

that signs do not detract from the image.

These images are not art as we understand it

The signs and symbols point to

some experience beyond mundane reality

Perhaps an attempt to

explain a transcendent world accessible to some but not all but imperative to

preserve over 30 or 40 millennia

Acknowledgement

THE FIRST SIGNS: Unlocking the Mysteries of the World’s Oldest Symbols by Genevieve von Petzinger One of the most significant works on our evolutionary ancestry since Richard Leakey’s paradigm-shattering Origins, The First Signs is the first-ever exploration of the little-known geometric images that accompany most cave art around the world—the first indications of symbolic meaning, intelligence, and language.

The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Art David Lewis-Williams (Thames & Hudson, 2004) Lone Survivors: How We Came to Be the Only Humans on Earth Chris Stringer (St. Martin's Griffin, 2013) Masters of the Planet: The Search for Our Human Origins Ian Tattersall (St. Martin's Griffin, 2013) The Bradshaw Foundation This is one of the largest rock art foundations in the world, and their website is an excellent resource on ancient rock art and other symbolic artifacts from around the world.

Further Reading

John D. Hipsley jhipsley@igc.org

Ikonographics Ikon Graphic Canvas