Looking at our Looking: A New Approach to the Definition of a Rock Art Scene

The specific aim of this article is to offer a precise definition of a scene and of related terms such as juxtaposition and association. Its larger aim is to introduce a new way of talking about rock art images in general, viz. by reference to the way we have evolved to see them. In this connection I put forward a philosophical argument which touches on various issues relevant to perception of a scene: the intention of those who made the rock art, the methodological ideal of objectivity, the role of neurophysiology and symbolic interpretation, and the assumption of the universality of perception.