Filtri stilistici e stadi cognitivi nell'arte paleolitica mediterranea

Abstract

The arrival of Homo sapiens in Europe between 45,000 and 40,000 years ago was accompanied by a cultural “big bang”
involving various lifestyles and symbolic actions: larger settlements indicative of greater social aggregation, innovative specialized production,
a complex funerary rite, and symbolic practices of nonverbal communication (art, music, etc.), which were accompanied by
a verbal language that had become more complex than in the past. The social consortium found a strength, which justifies its growth,
also in figurative production, bearers of symbols that, when shared, cemented the hunter-gatherer communities. During the 30,000
years of the Upper Paleolithic, which conventionally ends at the end of the Pleistocene, visual culture evolved throughout Europe
and, referring to the focus of this text, throughout the Mediterranean basin. After a pan-European culture that gave rise to a variety
of figurative forms, among which a naturalistic style prevailed, a more essential artistic art emerged, which Paolo Graziosi has defined
as the “Mediterranean style,” which evolved towards a geometric-linear graphic style that closed the cycle. The Author describes the
most significant aspects and documents, making reference to and comparing the findings in the Mediterranean area with those
in continental Europe. The various aspects of visual culture can be correlated, in the mental evaluation of a global model, with
differentiated cognitive stages, which are illustrated here.