The higher hierarchical position of the horse in the Paleolithic rock art iconography

Abstract

An updated study about animal lateralization in Paleolithic rock art shows that all species are left-orientated, with the exception of the horse which is mainly right-orientated. This particular feature concerns complete figures more than heads and protomes. Experimental brain research has lead to explain why Homo sapiens generally prefer left profiles, which they find easier to identify. Thus, the horse seems to be a selective «anomaly» of probable cultural origins. We have brought together a series of elements that shows the differences between the horse and the other species, and this has enabled us to conclude that the horse played a key role in the Paleolithic iconography. The horse was at the top of a conceptual pyramid and he maybe was inversely oriented to highlight his difference and superiority in that hierarchy of symbolic values represented by animals.