Is an Aesthetics of Prehistoric Flints Possible?
Some scholars argue that there are means of uncovering valued sensory experience in the Stone Age.[29] They apply their methods and interpretations to what we Westerners commonly call art; that is, to wearable ornament, portable figurines, and rock images. But for tools, archaeologist Paul S. C. Taçon points out that “we have no indigenous insight into aesthetic and symbolic aspects of their form.”[30] Nevertheless, their fine formal qualities and skilled crafting have been called “aesthetic” and seen as indicators of prehistoric aesthetic sensibility and pleasure in materials.[31] The question of meaning in the making and using of these tools moves us to think of the cognitive elements that enhance sensory appreciation. If we turn to ethnographic research among living peoples, we can see the richness of meaning and the conveyance of sensory appreciation in stone tools, even though, as I have already pointed out, the application of ethnographic comparison to prehistory is as much a que
