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Hi Carrie,
David Lewis Williams and T.A.Dowson published a paper in 1988
The signs of all times:entopic phenomena in upper paleolithic in the journal Current Anthropology. In which they identified six entopic forms generated by the inherent structure of the visual nervous system and related these and their appearance in rock and cave art to shamanistic hallucinatory trance. Lewis williams went on to write a book with Jean Clottes, entitled the Shamans of Prehistory:Trance and Magic in the Painted caves published by NewYork:Abrams it recieved poor academic aclaim at the time since it was based on speculation and recent observation of shamanistic practise to draw possible comparisons with the paleolithic art.
In 2002 David Lewis Williams published The Mind in The Cave:Consciousness and the origins of Art London: Thames&Hudson
which could be the book you mention
but also moving into the Neolithic
J.Dronfield published a paper titled Migraine,light and hallucinations:the neurocognitive basis of Irish megalithic art Oxford Journal of Archaeology 14 1995
In which he sim argues that the neolithic rock art was the product of altered state of conciousness.
in all of this we are not dealing with what the art means merely the possible mental processes of its creators.
Reading gets really interesting for me with the likes of Alexander Marshack in The roots of civilization The cognitive beginings of mans first art, symbol and notation McGraw-Hill Book CO 1972
He leaves shamanistic practises aside and concentrates on trying to identify evidence of time factored notation and storytelling in both cave and parietal paleolithic rock art.He does this by an exhaustive study of the art ,looking for evidence of time factoring, periodic seasonal use of caves and recorded art and how the art could be involved in storied meanings
and to my mind rather impressively seems to have revealed indications of Paleolithic notations or recordings of the observation of lunar phases and periods.
Hope this helps
Brigit
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