Richard Leakey: Most

Richard Leakey is Kenyan paleoanthropologist, conservationist, and politician. Explore interesting quotes on most.
Richard Leakey: 78   quotes 0   likes

“Of the range of images in Upper Paleolithic art, the most arresting are the therianthropes. There are not many… but they seize the imagination. The most famous is the so-called sorcerer… In a manner unusual for Upper Paleolithic images, the sorcerer is staring directly out of the wall, a full-face stare that transfixes the spectator.”

Richard Leakey

Origins Reconsidered: In Search of What Makes Us Human (1992)

Art , Imagination

“To our western eyes, the painted images are the most prominent component of a corpus of artistic expression. This Western bias, a particularly Eurocentric bias, has been pervasive and deep. …it has resulted in a lack of attention to, and concern about, prehistoric art of equal and sometimes greater antiquity in eastern and southern Africa.”

Richard Leakey

Origins Reconsidered: In Search of What Makes Us Human (1992)

Art , Painting

“Dots are just one example of an element in Lascaux art, and in all cave art… This is a profusion of nonrepresentational, geometric patterns. In addition to dots, there are grids and chevrons, curves and zigzags, and more. …The coincidence of these geometric motifs with representational images is one of the most puzzling aspects of Upper Paleolithic art. …images, six different kinds in all, are shimmering, incandescent, mercurial—and powerful. Called entoptic images—which means "within vision"—these phenomena are products of the basic neural architecture of the human brain.”

Richard Leakey

Origins Reconsidered: In Search of What Makes Us Human (1992)

Art

“Because the art of Africa was on rock shelters, not deep in caves, as in Europe, the ravages of time have eroded most of a rich expression. What we now see is the merest glimpse of what was on the minds of these people.”

Richard Leakey

Origins Reconsidered: In Search of What Makes Us Human (1992)

People , Art , Time

“The first era of the Upper Paleolithic, the Aurignacian, is notable for several reasons, one of which is the absence of painted caves. …One of the most evocative pieces from this era, from the Abri Blanchard in southwestern France, is a flute. Music must have been an integral part of Upper Paleolithic life too.”

Richard Leakey

Origins Reconsidered: In Search of What Makes Us Human (1992)

Life , Music , Parting , Painting

“The first major discovery of prehistoric art was the Spanish cave of Altamira, which, like Lascaux, is one of the most spectacular examples of Upper Paleolithic art yet known.”

Richard Leakey

Origins Reconsidered: In Search of What Makes Us Human (1992)

Art

“The French archeologists Iégor Reznikoff and Michael Dauvois conducted detailed surveys of three decorated caves in the Ariège region of southwest France. …they moved slowly through the caves, stopping repeatedly to test the resonance of each section… spanning three octaves… those areas with highest resonance were also those most likely to harbor a painting or engraving. …a fascinating discovery that… Chris Scarre commented at the time, draws "new attention to the likely importance of music and singing in the rituals of our early ancestors."”

Richard Leakey

The Origin of Humankind (1994)

Music , Singing , Time , Drawing