http://mindhacks.com/2010/02/17/state-of-the-art-in-cave-painting/ Neuroscience and psychology news and views. Fri, 17 May 2013 22:36:12 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ http://mindhacks.com/2010/02/17/state-of-the-art-in-cave-painting/#comment-5073 Sat, 24 Jul 2010 22:55:37 +0000 http://mindhacksblog.wordpress.com/2010/02/17/state-of-the-art-in-cave-painting/#comment-5073 People who write articles like this one don’t do much research. There is an extensive literature on the topic of missing finger joints in Paleolithic art. There is no great mystery here. Joint=ancestors. This is an old equation and explains how most counting systems developed. Fingers, body joints, or other body parts were used to remember relatives. When a relative died, a finger joint was amputated. This practice went on in New Guinea until recent times and is well documented. Hand prints are found all over the world in many cultures. They are easy to apply stencils. They represent the group or tribe. This is all based on an analogy between the plant world and the human body.

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