Journal Article

The near and the far: Sensory perceptions in prehistory

de Beaune, Sophie A

2018

Overview

Just as ethnologists studying distant peoples endow them with intentions and desires based on their own psychology, prehistorians also attribute sensory aptitudes to prehistoric humans based on their own sensory experiences. Here, I will examine just how valid such an approach can be. Starting with indirect evidence, we will see that it is possible to propose the hypothesis that the sensory perception of various peoples belongs to a shared humanity. Prehistorians largely attempt to recover what is ineffable, i.e. things that are almost imperceptible. It is, nevertheless, realistic to construct a coherent system of hypotheses if each material trace undergoes verification, which is facilitated today by highly sophisticated technologies developed in auxiliary disciplines, and one is open to comparison with results from other social sciences. Working with currently accessible data in prehistory and, in particular, using the author’s own research related to prehistoric techniques, in addition to a few forays into the ethnographic field, the author proposes herein hypotheses on the sensory perceptions of Palaeolithic peoples.‪

• Publisher: Éditions de l'EHESS