1. Begouen, R. and Clottes, J. (1981) Apports mobiliers dans les caverns du Volp (Enlene Les Trois-Feres, Le Tuc d’Audoubert) Altamira Symposium. In the art history literature, there is much debate as to whether these are actual quotes. Picasso did visit the caves, and saw the paintings at a time when his every utterance was dissected and potentially embellished or even created de novo. But “None of us could paint like that” is a great quote. Another quote also attributed to Picasso from the same visit, “We have learned nothing in 12,000 years,” for the purpose of this presentation, may even be better (Curtis, G. [2006] The Cave Painters. New York: Anchor Books, p. 96). At the time of Picasso’s visit, with pre-carbon dating, this was the presumed age of the cave paintings.
2. Levi-Strauss, C. (1968) Structural Anthropology, trans. C. Jacobson and B. Grundfest Schoepf. London: Penguin.
3. The Cave Painters: Probing the Mysteries of the World’s Finest Artists;Curtis,2006
4. The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Art;Lewis-Williams,2002
5. Neandertal DNA sequences and the origin of modern humans;Krings;Cell,1997