Interprétation esthétique et religieuse des figures et symboles dans la préhistoire / Esthetic and Religious Interpretation of Figures and Symbols in Prehistory.

摘要

The object of this study is European cave art {extending roughly front the 30th to the 9th millenary B.C.). Avoiding a hasty assimilation with phenomena observed in contemporary nonliterate societies, the A. proposes an interpretation centred on the classification of the figures as masculine/feminine in connection with the themes of the hunt and death. In consequence, a revision of the classic hypotheses concerning Paleolithic art (totemism, magic of the hunt and fertility, mythology, metaphysics) becomes necessary. In conclusion, Paleolithic art gives evidence of the existence of a complex metaphysical System. Even if we are unable to define its contents, the study of this primitive art shows that the thought of Upper Paleolithic man was just as rich and flexible as that observed in present-day societies.