creators_name: Humphrey, Nicholas
type: journalp
datestamp: 2001-08-17
lastmod: 2011-03-11 08:54:46
metadata_visibility: show
title: Cave Art, Autism, and the Evolution of the Human Mind
ispublished: pub
subjects: cog-psy
subjects: evol-psy
full_text_status: public
keywords: cave art, autism, artistic savants, human evolution, language evolution, children's drawings, modularity
abstract: The emergence of cave art in Europe about 30,000 years ago is widely believed to be evidence that by this time human beings had developed sophisticated capacities for symbolization and communication. However, comparison of the cave art with the drawings made by a young autistic girl, Nadia, reveals surprising similarities in content and style. Nadia, despite her graphic skills, was mentally defective and had virtually no language. I argue in the light of this comparison that the existence of the cave art cannot be the proof which it is usually assumed to be that the humans of the Upper Palaeolithic had essentially 'modern' minds.
date: 1998-12
date_type: published
publication: Cambridge Archaeological Journal
volume: 8
number: 2
pagerange: 165-191
refereed: TRUE
citation:   Humphrey, Nicholas  (1998) Cave Art, Autism, and the Evolution of the Human Mind.  [Journal (Paginated)]     
document_url: http://cogprints.org/1744/1/CaveArt.pdf
document_url: http://cogprints.org/1744/4/caveart.htm