Sex & drugs & rock art. Revisiting three hypotheses on the origins of visual art in the Pleistocene

• Autores: Larissa Mendoza Straffon
• Localización: Préhistoire, art et sociétés: bulletin de la Société Préhistorique de l'Ariège, ISSN 1954-5045, Nº. 65-66, 2010-2011 (Ejemplar dedicado a: L'art pléistocène dans le monde), págs. 284-285
• Idioma: francés
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• Resumen

  • From an evolutionary perspective, three theories account for the emergence of the visual arts. The first states that visual art, like the peacock�s tail, arose as a sexual strategy to acquire mates. The second, sees visual art as a communal practice, originated in ritual ceremony. The third theory contemplates a neurocognitive change that allowed modern humans to conceive visual art at some point during the late Pleistocene. While all three explanations raise interesting points, a reassessment is clearly needed. As an alternative, I suggest exploring the role of visual art in evolution as a communicative signal and an instance of human material culture.