Some definitions of terms found in "The Signs of All Times"

Most of the unfamiliar words in this article have relatively simple meanings. You just need to know what the definitions are and where to find them.

Entoptics - ("within vision") "visual sensations derived from the structure of the optic system anywhere from the eyeball to the cortex" (Lewis-Williams, 1988, p. 202).

Upper Paleolithic period - "paleo" just means "old," "lithic" means "stone," "upper" refers to the most recent division of this time period which is divided into the lower, middle, and upper paleolithic. Upper Paleolithic is thus the most recent of 3 divisions of the "old stone age" i.e. before metal tools were invented or when chipped stone tools were used. After the Upper Paleolithic came the "mesolithic" or "middle stone age" (12,000 to 8,000 years ago) and the "neolithic" or "new stone age" (the beginning of farming and agriculture), the "bronze age," (the beginning of metal tools) and then the "iron age." The Upper Paleolithic occurred between about 40,000 years ago and 12,000 years ago. The Upper Paleolithic was when the great cave paintings and cave art of Europe were created. Art history classes usually begin with this period. It is the earliest complex art made by human beings. It is also the period during the late "ice age" (or "pleistocene") when humans hunted now extinct mammoths (similar to a large elephant with long, thick fur) and other "large animals" (megafauna) such as the aurochs (an extinct form of cattle), giant bison, etc. with "atlatls" or spearthrowers. Neanderthals were replaced in Europe by Homo sapiens during this period and many animals that we now associate with Africa such as the lion and rhinoceros lived in Europe. Europeans spell the word "palaeolithic" with an extra "a."

Upper Paleolithic art - This art includes cave paintings from nearly 200 caves and 10,000 small carvings such as "Venus" figurines (which may have been related to fertility or just small dolls) and musical instruments such as bone flutes.

Archaeology - the study of the material remains (e.g. excavated artifacts and rock art) and the material culture of human beings in the past

Archaeologist - someone who studies archaeology

Anthropology - the study of human beings. Anthropology is composed of four related fields: 1) archaeology (the study of past human material culture or artifacts), 2) social and cultural anthropology (the study of living cultures today by observing and participating in the cultures), 3) physical anthropology (the study of human evolution), and 4) linguistics (the study of human languages).

Ethnography - the writings of anthropologists (people who study human beings and their "culture" or ways of doing things) who observe and participate in different societies

Ethnographic analogy - the suggestion that people in the past were "like" or "analogous" to people in the past in some particular way

Rock art - paintings ("pictographs") and carvings ("petroglyphs" or "rock writing") on rock

Neurology - the study of the nervous system

Neuropsychological - the nervous system related to psychology and consciousness

Shaman - a specialist in contacting the otherworld, usually through altered states of consciousness; "medicine men" and "medicine women" healed the sick by intervening with the spirits that made people sick, controlled the weather, controlled animals, etc. Some form of "shamanism" may have been the earliest human religion.

Shamanistic - related to or made by shamans

San - an African hunter-gatherer tribe, frequently called the "Bushmen," a now disfavored term

Shoshone - A Native American tribe in the Far West of North America

Coso Range - a mountain range in California and the far southwest

Mobile art - art that can be moved such as small sculptures called "Venus figurines." Some carvings show animals and some show people in great detail including hairstyles or headwear.

Parietal art - paintings and carvings inside caves; cave art.

Altered states of consciousness - entoptic phenomena, hallucinations, and other unusual "trance" states or unusual states of consciousness or mental awareness.

Quantitative - involving quantities or numbers, usually mathematical or statistical

Induction - the inference of a general conclusion from particular instances; a kind of reasoning to reach a conclusion.

Australopithecines - Human beings are called Homo sapiens sapiens ("wise person or man"). Before us in human evolution was Homo erectus ("erect person or man"), Homo habilis ("handy person or handy man"), and before the biological Genus Homo were the Australopithecines who were upright bipedal (meaning they walked on two legs) "hominids" who were "like humans"

Redundant - needless or unnecessary repetition

Percepts - an impression of an object obtained by use of the senses

Catenary - the smooth curve that a cord makes when it hangs between two points

Migraine - a condition with recurring severe headaches often with nausea and visualization of entoptic phenomena (David Lewis-Williams is a migraine sufferer).

Schizophrenia - a mental disorder which can result in hallucinations and delusions

Phosphenes - images stimulated "within the eye" (as opposed to within the brain) by physical stimulation e.g. pressing the eyeball gently.

Form constants - images derived from the optic system (the eye) but "probably beyond the eyeball itself" (Lewis-Williams, 1988, p.202).

Hallucinations - David Lewis-Williams and Thomas Dowson try to distinguish "entoptic phenomena" from "hallucinations" which they define as being unrelated to the "actual structure of the optic system." Most writers generally do not do make that distinction and include entoptics as one part of "hallucination."

Iconic visions - a sign or symbol whose form suggests its meaning (e.g. your computer uses "icons" rather than words for many things).

Culture - customary ways of doing things, beliefs, social forms, and material traits of human beings

Somatic - "bodily"

Aural - hearing, relating the ear.

Filigrees - a delicate or intricate design

Acheulian - the name of a time period before the Upper Paleolithic that is often characterized by reference to a specific kind of large stone tool called an "Acheulian hand ax."

Magdalenian - One of the several time divisions within the Upper Paleolithic in Europe. 18,000 years ago to 13,000 years ago.

Aurignacian - One of the time divisions within the Upper Paleolithic in Europe. About 34,000 to 30,000 years ago.