EP43. 20 April 2004.
Copyright © 2004 by Kevin Sharpe and Leslie Van Gelder. All rights reserved.
Conference presentation proposal. In process.

Finger Flutings and the Evolution of Language and Cognition

by

Kevin Sharpe

The Graduate College, Union Institute and University, Cincinnati, Ohio
Harris Manchester College, Oxford University
10 Shirelake Close, Oxford OX1 1SN, United Kingdom
kevin.sharpe@tui.edu
www.ksharpe.com

and

Leslie Van Gelder

Walden University, Minneapolis, Minnesota
10 Shirelake Close, Oxford OX1 1SN, United Kingdom
leslievg@ksharpe.com

Finger Flutings and the Evolution of Language and Cognition

ABSTRACT. Finger flutings (lines made with fingers in soft surfaces) from the Paleolithic are found in limestone caves through southwestern Europe, southern Australia, and Papua New Guinea. Though extensive, they have been poorly investigated because the desire for meaningful and beautiful prehistoric renditions of animals has overshadowed their importance. Nevertheless, the authors have developed techniques for the study of flutings and from which insight may be gained into the fluters themselves. This leads to information about the cognition and linguistic behaviors of Paleolithic people.

The presentation will describe flutings and theories about them. Then it will focus of two of the forms of flutings that the authors have isolated – Kirian and Rugolean flutings from Rouffignac Cave, France – pointing out their intentionality, linearity, orderliness, and repetition of motifs. The possibility of some of the flutings being a form of communication will be raised.