Rock Art Research

The phenomenon of pareidolia, of experiencing meaningful patterns in random stimuli, is explained in neurophysiological and neuropsychological terms, before its roles in rock art interpretation are considered. A case of group pareidolia in Inner Mongolia is reported in detail, and analysed together with other examples of imagined or pareidolically misinterpreted palaeoart and other phenomena. The process of etic interpretation of rock art is explained neurologically and epistemologically. It is described as a function of the lateral geniculate nucleus of the thalamus yielding to the internal model of the visual cortex in the occipital lobe. This strategy favours incorrect causal associations to be made. It is inherent in the visual system, deriving from its efficacy in natural selection, but its application in rock art interpretation is an impediment to veracity in rock art research. Unless ethnographic information about the meaning of rock art is accessible, rock markings created by humans whose mental and cognitive world is entirely unknown cannot be interpreted with scientific credibility. In such endeavours, meaning is created purely within the brain of the ‘interpreter’.