Prehistoric Abstract Signs

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CONTENTS

• World's Oldest Symbols
• Signs Largely Overlooked
• What are Abstract Signs?
• Main Sign Types
• Where are Signs Found?
• When Did They First Appear?
• When Exactly Did Humans Develop Abstract Thought?
• How Did Signs Evolve?
• How Are Signs Dated?
• What is the Meaning of Cave Signs and Symbols?
• Are Abstract Signs an Early Form of Writing?
• References

World's Oldest Symbols

This article offers a brief introduction to the fascinating world of abstract signs found throughout the era of Upper Paleolithic art between 40,000 and 10,000 BC.

Our sign typology and much of our data on the prevalence of signs in French caves, is based on groundbreaking research conducted by Genevieve von Petzinger, an international authority on Ice Age symbols in France.

Her acclaimed thesis (Making the Abstract Concrete: The Place of Geometric Signs in French Upper Paleolithic Parietal Art), and recent book (The First Signs: Unlocking the Mysteries of the World's Oldest Symbols), constitute an essential first-stop for anyone keen to explore the world of geometric symbolism in the rock art of the Middle and Upper Paleolithic.

It's worth remembering that humans only began to paint animals about 44,000 BC. By comparison, geometric symbols and other abstract markings date back to the time of Homo erectus. Here's a short list of the oldest examples:

• Trinil Shell Engravings
  540,000 BC: Zigzags on marine shells
• Daraki-Chattan Cupules
  200,000-500,000 BC: India
• Auditorium Cave Cupules
  200,000-500,000 BC: India
• Klasies River Caves
  100,000 BC: Parallel lines on pebble

Signs Largely Overlooked

In Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010), Werner Herzog's inspiring documentary film on the art of Chauvet Cave in the French Ardèche, the film director paid no attention to the abstract symbols on the walls, preferring to focus entirely on the cave paintings that seemed so alive.

Indeed, for centuries, the focus of paleoarchaeology as a whole has been the eye-catching paintings of lions, rhinos, horses, bison and deer, left behind by our early ancestors.

It's not that scientists aren't intrigued by these strange symbols. On the contrary, paleolithic scholar Jean Clottes maintains that "geometric signs and indeterminate marks constitute one of the most significant and mysterious characteristics of European cave art".

The trouble is, their 'meaning' is too obscure. We can recognize and appreciate the drawing of a horse or a lion, but a collection of cupules, a row of dots or a series of lines, appears meaningless, and therefore boring.

As a result, the importance of abstract signs in Stone Age culture has been largely overlooked if not ignored.

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What are Abstract Signs?

In the context of prehistoric art, the term "abstract signs" (or "abstract symbols" or "geometric symbols") refers to a wide range of non-figurative markings seen in both parietal art (caves) and mobiliary art (portable objects).

Typically, (so far as we know) these signs or 'pictographs' do not depict anything from the world around us. Instead they use shape, colour, combination and number to express some kind of message.

According to Petzinger, there were only 32 types of signs in use across Europe during the Upper Paleolithic period (40,000-10,000 BC), as follows:

Note: Positive and negative handprints are not abstract shapes, but are commonly included in the category. Cupules are also commonly included even though their method of manufacture - typically involving thousands of man-made percussion-blows per cupule - is a lengthy and laborious process.

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Where are Signs Found?

Abstract symbols from the above list of Main Sign Types are seen in almost all sites of paleolithic art in Western Europe.

Very few paleolithic caves are devoid of these markings. In fact, at many sites they outnumber animal paintings by at least two to one.

They are frequently superimposed on cave paintings or added to painted panels in caves. Excellent examples include:

• The red dots and hand stencils on the panel of spotted horses at Pech-Merle Cave, a showcase of Gravettian art in the Lot.
• The aviform (Placard-type) sign above the wounded man, also at Pech-Merle.
• The feathery penniform just above the Chinese horse at Lascaux. See Lascaux Cave Paintings & Layout.
• The W-sign at the end of the frieze of the red rhinoceroses at Chauvet Cave. See Chauvet Cave Paintings & Layout.
• The large series of claviform (club) symbols on the pregnant horse at Trois Frères Cave.
• The red P-shaped claviform symbol on the alcove of the bison in the Salon Noir at Niaux Cave.

The same signs are also seen on engraved items of portable art. See, for instance, the Bilzingsleben Engravings (lines on elephant shin bone, 400,000 BC).

So far, approximately 530 mobile objects bearing geometric signs from 65 Aurignacian sites in Europe and the Near East, are registered in "SignBase", the open access database for geometric motifs on mobile objects from Prehistory.

Cupules are the most widely distributed of all signs, and are by no means limited to sites of Stone Age art. They have spread to every continent except Antarctica, and occur almost everywhere there is a reasonably large population of rock carvings.

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When Did Signs First Appear?

As explained above, geometric symbols have been used since the Lower Paleolithic era.

Cupules, for instance, were almost certainly created by Homo erectus in India, as early as the beginning of the Acheulian tool culture, around 1.6 million BC, while zigzags were made by 'Java Man' during the Middle Paleolithic, as early as 540,000 BC.

When it comes to the Upper Paleolithic - the era of dazzling cave art - Petzinger believes that two-thirds of all the main sign types were introduced during the Aurignacian culture, between 40,000 and 30,000 BC, shortly after the arrival of the first modern humans in Europe.

This rapid introduction of geometric motifs into European cave art suggests that knowledge of this form of symbolism was already part of modern man's cognitive toolkit when he arrived on the Continent, around 40,000 years ago.

This conclusion is reinforced by recent archaeological discoveries of crosshatch engravings created by modern man at Blombos Cave (71,000 BC) and Diepkloof rock shelter (60,000 BC), in South Africa.

However, to complicate matters, new Uranium/Thorium dating tests conducted recently in Spain, show that Neanderthals (the precursor of modern man) also created abstract symbols: witness the hand stencil in the Maltravieso Cave (64,700 BC), and the scalariform image in La Pasiega Cave (62,000 BC).

Previously, only the Gorham's Cave Engravings in Gibraltar were accepted as the work of Neanderthals. Now these new discoveries have put the issue of Neanderthal creativity beyond doubt.

When Exactly Did Humans Develop Abstract Thought?

So when exactly did humans first develop the capacity for abstract or symbolic thought? A reasonable answer to this question might consist of four parts, as follows:

• Homo erectus was the first to hammer cup-like holes (cupules) in the rock. Was this an expression of symbolic thought? Robert G. Bednarik, a world authority on cupules, says Yes. Other scientists are dubious.
• Java Man is the first known creator of an abstract decorative pattern. Can this item of decorative art be considered a "sign" or a "symbol", involving conceptual thought? Many archaeologists are sceptical.
• Modern man started creating a range of abstract engravings in Africa, from 100,000 BC onwards. Are these works mere decorations or doodles, or do they herald the beginning of abstract thought? Some archaeologists favour the beginning of abstract thought; many others are less sure. After all, a drawing of a crosshatch pattern isn't necessarily imbued with conceptual significance. It may simply be a visually attractive design with no ulterior meaning.
• Neanderthals and modern humans begin adding abstract signs to cave walls from 65,000 BC onwards. Are these symbols evidence of conceptual thinking? Most archaeologists involved in the subject say Yes. They see signs as undoubtedly intentional, with obvious significance. Also, the number and repetition of these symbols across regions and countries indicates their production must have followed a set of rules agreed to by the sign makers. Rules which were probably established before they left Africa. So perhaps conceptual thought began with Blombos man after all.

For details of the earliest paintings and sculptures from prehistory, see: World's Oldest Art.

How Did Signs Evolve?

• One might think that Ice Age artists would start with just a few sign types and slowly add more shapes to their repertoire over time — a trend towards variety and complexity that we see in the evolution of stone tools, especially during the Magdalenian culture. But they didn't. According to Petzinger, 66 percent of the sign-types were already in use by 30,000 BC. This explosion of symbolic imagery suggests that the evolution of abstract symbols began somewhere else.


• In addition, Petzinger's 32 sign-types account for the vast majority of non-figurative imagery in the region of Franco-Cantabrian art during the Upper Paleolithic. Of these, roughly two-thirds remained in use during the entire time period. They include cupules, lines, circles, ovals, rectangles, triangles.


• Such continuity implies the existence of some sort of pre-agreed 'template' - a template as to meaning as well as to design. After all, when 32 signs are repeated over and over, they must possess real significance for the users. What's more, since the same signs were repeated rapidly across the Continent, the template must have been invented before modern man arrived in Europe, most likely during the Klasies-Blombos-Diepkloof period when they were still in Africa.


• The template may also involve wider issues of content and theme in parietal art. Most caves, for example, follow the same standard formula of: 'large animals, few humans, and lots of geometric signs'.


• Repetition of the same symbols across both time and space, also implies they possessed an underlying meaning that was shared by their creators and audience. Indeed, some prehistorians have suggested that these symbols may have had equal, if not greater, importance than the more dramatic animal paintings. At the same time, we must beware about generalizing too much over such a lengthy time span. It is unlikely, after all, that the same image would retain the same meaning and function for 30,000 years.


• Above all, when trying to grasp the import of these Stone Age symbols, we must remember that we are not the intended audience. So all our instinctive pathways to understanding this phenomenon of prehistoric art are likely to be way off track.


• Some signs (open angles, circles) were widely distributed from almost the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic, while others only appear much later. The penniform, for instance, first appears about 28,000 BC. The tectiform appears only during the Solutrean culture, between 17,000 and 13,000 BC, and then only at nine cave sites, eight of which are very close to the town of Les Eyzies in the Dordogne, indicating it was a local symbol.


• Some signs (like dots, hand stencils, cupules, claviforms) are distributed across thousands of kilometers, while others were more constricted. Spanish tectiforms, for instance, are only found in northern Spain. Large groupings of red disks are also found most often in northern Spain.


• Geographical distribution changed over time. Claviform signs, for instance, first appear during the Solutrean with three sites in the Ardèche and Gard region, one close to the Pyrénées, and none in the Dordogne or Lot region. By the Magdalenian, the distribution is completely different. Now, there are no sites in Ardèche/Gard, a large grouping in Dordogne/Lot, and a similar number along the Pyrénées.


• No signs appeared everywhere, but some appeared far more often than others, and some were far more widely dispersed, while others endured for longer. What determined the prevalence and distribution of abstract signs during the Stone Age? The answer is, we don't know. We need more research on dating technology, to establish an agreed timeline across Europe, and more detailed knowledge of meteorological weather patterns in order to understand more about economic and hunting conditions in certain areas like the Périgord (Dordogne), the Ardèche and Spanish Calabria.

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How Were Signs Made in Caves?

Abstract signs were produced just like any other parietal image. They were painted (typically in red ochre or black manganese dioxide, less often in yellow, white or brown), or incised on a rock surface with a sharp stone tool (engraving) or with the finger (finger fluting). More rarely, they were painted and incised.

Sometimes artists heated up their red ochre in order to produce an extra vibrant red colour.

How Are Signs Dated?

How do we date an abstract symbol? Answer: with great difficulty. Nearly all paint pigments are mineral based and therefore not datable. In fact a painted sign is only datable if drawn in charcoal. Engraved signs are even more difficult to date, since there's really nothing to actually date.

The two main methods used to establish the age of cave art (whether animal images or abstract signs) are carbon-14 and uranium-series dating.

Carbon-14 dating can determine the age of decaying organic matter, like bones and charcoal, up to about 40,000 BC.

Uranium-series dating is a more modern method, and is able to go back further in time. It is used mostly in caves with flowstone - a smooth, translucent sheet of calcite that forms over cave walls and the paintings they contain. Calcite contains uranium, which decays over time. This decay can be measured to determine when the calcite first covered the art in question and can thus establish a minimum age.

Recent uranium-series tests of calcite sheets in Maltravieso Cave and La Pasiega Cave in Spain, have produced startling dates as old as 60,000 BC.

What is the Meaning of Cave Signs and Symbols?

Let's start by asking: Who made these abstract markings? Clearly artists created the animal paintings, but abstract sign-painting doesn't need the same level of skill. So, in general, the sign-makers who painted dots or simple lines could have been almost anyone - young or old. This opens up the issue somewhat.

Possible Simple Meanings

• Handprints are an obvious candidate for being a "Hello! I'm here!" type of non-serious graffiti. Perhaps other simple signs like dots and lines also fall into this category.
• Were some symbols added as a personal comment by the sign-maker - on the cave art, the cave itself, or its role in social or ceremonial affairs?
• Did some symbols serve as navigation aids for cave users? Were they markers to remind users about the contents of certain galleries, or specific features of the cave?
• Were abstract signs associated with archaeoacoustics and sound? Were they painted on walls to identify areas of exceptional acoustic resonance?
• Were they instructions for occasions when the cave became busy - No Littering! No stopping here! Toilets this way! and so on.
• Were some symbols placed on walls in connection with specific rituals or ceremonies being celebrated?

More Complex Meanings

• In the early 20th century, French prehistorian Henri Breuil suggested the symbols represented traps and weapons associated with the hunt for the larger animals also depicted on the cave walls.
• In the 1960s, French prehistorian André Leroi-Gourhan wrote that hooks and lines were male symbols, whereas ovals and circles were female ones. Sign expert Genevieve von Petzinger has responded: "It’s interesting that it was predominantly male archaeologists doing this work early on, and there were a whole lot of vulvas being identified everywhere.”
• South African archaeologist David Lewis-Williams has said that certain symbols (e.g. spirals) may have been inspired by hallucinogenic episodes or an 'altered state of consciousness'.
• Other experts cite hypoxia (lack of oxygen) as a possible cause, since hypoxia can result in hallucinations and out-of-body experiences.
• Might signs have been related to the activities of the human group who controlled the cave and its neighbouring area?
• Or maybe they were used to publicize rules which the community wished to publicize.
• Or maybe they were created to commemorate an event, like an important hunt or a death or mass marriage - something with lasting significance.
• Did signs serve as a register or database of useful information? Like: who was responsible for what; geographical locations of animal migratory routes, local wells, quarries for paint pigments, neighbouring groups, etc; list of award-winners?
• Although we have no idea of the cultural contexts in play, some signs most probably concerned religious or spiritual matters, or shamanistic rituals held in the cave

As you can see, some of these possible meanings are laughably 'modern'.

The truth is, the closest we are likely to get to our cave ancestors is to research the cultures of hunter-gatherer groups who survive in remote areas of South America, Africa and Papua New Guinea. There seems to be a lack of academic crossover between research into these groups and paleolithic imagery.

Getting to know their values and priorities, might conceivably help us to understand why paleolithic people decorated caves with strange signs and symbols.

See also: Meaning of Cave Art.

Are Abstract Signs an Early Form of Writing?

Petzinger thinks not. She doubts that the current number of signs is large enough to support a written language. However, certain panels in some of the deep caves contain dense arrangements of signs, suggesting a higher information content and a more complex message.

The Inscription

The panel in La Pasiega Cave, known as "The Inscription", is a case in point.

Dating to 14,000 BC, it consists of a number of symbols organized into three closely spaced units.

The most complex unit is on the left and includes of a pair of horizontal lines with other markings extending vertically upwards.

The centre unit is composed of two images akin to 'stylized feet' and consist of oval shapes each topped with five short lines leading upwards, like the toes on a foot.

The right-hand unit is a single sign, which resembles a reversed capital E, but with two lines in the middle instead of one.

Although the meaning of the "Inscription" is unknown, scientists believe it represents an important cognitive step and may be one of the oldest pieces of graphic communication in history.

A one-off example, perhaps, but it surely marks a huge step forward in the direction of writing.

The point is, once we are able to store information we can preserve it and/or pass it on to other groups of people across a region or continent.

Thus we begin the process of graphic communication, a cognitive process from which, ultimately, writing evolves.

So, even though we’ll never be able to ‘read’ these cave symbols, we can at least modify the prevailing narrative of man as a completely illiterate species until the Sumerians invent writing. These signs and symbols show that humans were slowly but surely learning how to inscribe information on cave walls, some ten thousand years earlier.

Conclusion

(1) Abstract signs are the oldest and most widely distributed type of cultural marking in the world.

(2) Although still a mystery to us, they were ever-present during the migration and settlement of modern man in Europe, and were used to communicate a range of information to the select audiences invited into the cave sanctuaries.

(3) We don't know who created these signs and symbols, or why, but their repetition over 20,000 years or more surely indicates they were taken seriously by early modern man.

(4) Not all signs would have been equally important - some may have been utterly trivial - but well-planned groupings of symbols are reasonable evidence of conceptual thinking, and an indication of cognitive development.

(5) Insofar as certain panels of signs served as posters for the storage and dissemination of information, they were an important - albeit small - first-step in the development of a system of writing.

(6) In short, the abstract signs and geometric symbols we find in cave art of the Upper Paleolithic, hold tantalizing implications about the evolution of human cognition.

(7) More cross-fertilization of ideas is required between researchers exploring surviving groups of hunter-gathers, and those studying paleolithic cave symbols.

• For more about the chronology of Stone Age painting and engraving, see: Prehistoric Art Timeline (from 540,000 BC).

References

(1) "The First Signs: Unlocking the Mysteries of the World's Oldest Symbols." Genevieve von Petzinger. Atria; Illustrated edition (28 Mar. 2017) ISBN-13: 978-1476785509.
(2) "A question of style: reconsidering the stylistic approach to dating Palaeolithic parietal art in France." Genevieve von Petzinger. Antiquity, Volume 85, Issue 330, December 2011, pp.1165-1183.
(3) "Cave Art" Jean Clottes. (2008) Phaidon. ISBN 978-0-7148-5723-7.
(5) "Journey Through the Ice Age." P.G. Bahn, J. Vertut. (1997). Berkley: University of California Press, 1st edition. ISBN-13: 978-0520213067.
(6) "The Dawn of European Art: An Introduction to Palaeolithic Cave Painting." A. Leroi-Gourhan (1982). Cambridge University Press. ISBN-13: 978-0521244596.
(7) "Prehistoric Signs." G. Sauvet (1993), in "Palaeolithic Parietal Art. Study Techniques and Methods." (GRAPP), ed. of the CTHS, 219-2.
(8) "U-Th dating of carbonate crusts reveals Neandertal origin of Iberian cave art". D. L. Hoffmann; C. D. Standish; M. García-Diez; P. B. Pettitt; J. A. Milton; J. Zilhão; J. J. Alcolea-González; P. Cantalejo-Duarte; H. Collado; R. de Balbín; M. Lorblanchet; J. Ramos-Muñoz; G.-Ch. Weniger; A. W. G. Pike (2018). Science. 359 (6378): 912–915.