1) The document discusses geometric signs and symbols that have been found accompanying cave paintings from the Paleolithic period in Europe dating back 25,000-40,000 years. 2) It notes that 32 distinct geometric symbols have been identified that appear repeatedly across Europe and over long time periods, indicating they may have represented a system of symbolic communication for early humans. 3) The discovery of these symbols challenges existing views of early human art and intelligence, and suggests that Paleolithic peoples had more advanced language and abstract thinking abilities than previously believed.

1. CANVAS IN THE CAVES:
A New Understanding of the
Geometric Signs & Symbols in Rock Images
John D. Hipsley
jhipsley@igc.org
Ikonographics
Ikon Graphic Canvas

2. Imagine yourself as a cave dweller
Where: Europe
When: 25,000 years ago,
Millennia before the last ice age

3. You live in an open-air tent or
a transient hut.
Life is short, brutal and then
you die…

4. But you also belong to a rich culture
that creates images. From one third
to half a mile underground are
subterranean cave paintings
of animals…

5. But not only animals but
handprints and dots,
x’s and triangles,
parallel lines and
spirals.

6. Your people know what they mean.
You use them on tools and jewelry.

7. And then you vanish—
and with you, their meanings.

8. Let us explore these caves to
rediscover what we can of
these signs…

10. Genevieve von Petzinger reveals that,
beyond the figurative art, the iconic
images of horses and bison so
transcendent in their beauty,
are 32 signs that may
represent a vocabulary
written on stone,
symbols that offer
an opening into
the Paleolithic
mind.

11. Asterisk Avi-
form
Circle Clavi-
form
Cordi-
form
Cross-
hatch
Cruci-
form
Cupule
Finger
Fluting
Flabelli-
form
Half
circle
Line Negative
Hand
Open
angle
Oval
Positive
Hand
Quad-
rangle
Reni-
form
Scalari-
form
Seg-
mented
Spanish
tectiform
Spiral Tecti-
form
Tri-
angle
Unci-
form
W-
Sign
Y-
Sign
Zig-
Zag
Dot
Pecti-
form
Penni-
form
Serpenti-
form
An exploration of the little-known
geometric images that accompany most
cave images around the world—the first
indications of symbolic meaning,
intelligence, and language.

12. Asterisk Avi-
form
Circle Clavi-
form
Cordi-
form
Cross-
hatch
Cruci-
form
Cupule
Finger
Fluting
Flabelli-
form
Half
circle
Line Negative
Hand
Open
angle
Oval
Positive
Hand
Quad-
rangle
Reni-
form
Scalari-
form
Seg-
mented
Spanish
tectiform
Spiral Tecti-
form
Tri-
angle
Unci-
form
W-
Sign
Y-
Sign
Zig-
Zag
Dot
Pecti-
form
Penni-
form
Serpenti-
form

13. • Along with the animal and
human imagery, 32
symbols appear repeatedly.
• These symbols appear in
other parts of the world.
• leads to the possibility that
symbolic communication
through geometric signs
arose with early humans.

14. • 32 recognizable Signs

15. • 32 recognizable Signs
• Cover entire continent of
Europe

16. • 32 recognizable Signs
• Cover entire continent of
Europe
• Consistent over 30,000 to
40,000 years

17. • 32 recognizable Signs
• Cover entire continent of
Europe
• Consistent over 30,000 to
40,000 years
• 65% persist over this entire
timespan

18. “This may represent one
of the most extraordinary
scientific insights of our time."
Wade Davis, author of The Serpent and the Rainbow Professor of
Anthropology Faculty Associate, University of British Columbia

19. What is essential is
invisible to the eye

20. What has been ignored,
overlooked and simply
invisible until recently
are the geometric signs
surrounding the
images.

21. Angle
& Lines

22. Serpentine form
above
Line below

23. CUPULE:
Hemispherical
petroglyph, created
by percussion,
existing on a
horizontal or vertical
surface.

24. OBSERVATIONS

25. The execution of these and similar designs show
no evidence of an evolved art form.
It is a command of perfection.
Grace from the start

26. Horse Rock Cave Painting
Lascaux France 13,000 BCE

27. The symbols are executed in a deceptively
casual manner which ensures
that signs do not detract
from the image.

28. These images are not art
as we understand it
The signs and symbols point to
some experience beyond
mundane reality
Perhaps an attempt to
explain a transcendent world accessible
to some but not all but imperative to
preserve over 30 or 40 millennia

29. Acknowledgement
THE FIRST SIGNS: Unlocking the
Mysteries of the World’s Oldest
Symbols
by Genevieve von Petzinger
One of the most significant works on our evolutionary ancestry since
Richard Leakey’s paradigm-shattering Origins,
The First Signs is the first-ever exploration of the little-known
geometric images that accompany most cave art around the world—the
first indications of symbolic meaning, intelligence, and language.

30. The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Art
David Lewis-Williams (Thames & Hudson, 2004)
Lone Survivors: How We Came to Be the Only Humans on Earth
Chris Stringer (St. Martin's Griffin, 2013)
Masters of the Planet: The Search for Our Human Origins
Ian Tattersall (St. Martin's Griffin, 2013)
The Bradshaw Foundation
This is one of the largest rock art foundations in the world, and
their website is an excellent resource on ancient rock art and other
symbolic artifacts from around the world.
Further Reading

31. John D. Hipsley
jhipsley@igc.org
Ikonographics
Ikon Graphic Canvas