Quotes by James David Lewis-Williams, The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Art

Explore a curated collection of 34 quotes by James David Lewis-Williams, The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Art. Discover timeless wisdom, insightful thoughts, and memorable words that have inspired readers around the world. Browse through the gallery below and click on any quote to read more.

The first two-dimensional images were thus not two-dimensional representations of three-dimensional things in the materi — James David Lewis-Williams, The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Art
Shamanism is not simply a component of society: on the contrary, shamanism, together with its tiered cosmos, can be said — James David Lewis-Williams, The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Art
Perhaps the most striking feature of the west European Upper Palaeolithic, one on which many writers comment, is a sharp — James David Lewis-Williams, The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Art
The notion that an image is a scale model of something else (say, a horse) requires a different set of mental events and — James David Lewis-Williams, The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Art
Around 30,000 years ago, in the Aurignacian, at the beginning of the Upper Palaeolithic, someone or some group in the Ey — James David Lewis-Williams, The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Art
Consciousness has evolved biologically and can therefore be explained biologically. — James David Lewis-Williams, The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Art
The cerebral cortex, the outer ‘skin’ of the brain, contains as many as ten billion neurons. This complexity is daunting — James David Lewis-Williams, The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Art
Primary consciousness is a state of being aware of things in the world – of having mental images in the present.But it i — James David Lewis-Williams, The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Art
Primary consciousness is a kind of ‘remembered present’… — James David Lewis-Williams, The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Art
I believe it is reasonable to assume that higher-order consciousness developed neurologically in Africa before the secon — James David Lewis-Williams, The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Art
Improved memory made possible the long-term recollection of dreams and visions and the construction of those recollectio — James David Lewis-Williams, The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Art
Some researchers believe that dreaming is what happens when sensory input to the brain is greatly diminished: the brain — James David Lewis-Williams, The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Art
Once human beings had developed higher-order consciousness, they had the ability to see mental images projected onto sur — James David Lewis-Williams, The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Art
In southern Africa, a great many figures are ithyphallic. This feature has generally – and rather vaguely – been taken t — James David Lewis-Williams, The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Art
For the makers, the paintings and engravings were visions, not representations of visions. — James David Lewis-Williams, The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Art
In Lascaux and other sites, hoofs are depicted to show their underside, or hoofprint. — James David Lewis-Williams, The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Art
Under certain social circumstances, which may have varied from time to time and place to place, certain people (shamans) — James David Lewis-Williams, The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Art
The portable animal statuettes were therefore far more than decorative trinkets: they were reified three-dimensional spi — James David Lewis-Williams, The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Art
I now argue that entry into Upper Palaeolithic caves was probably seen as virtually indistinguishable from entry into th — James David Lewis-Williams, The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Art
Certainly, the sensory deprivation afforded by the remote, silent and totally dark chambers, such as the Diverticule of — James David Lewis-Williams, The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Art