ABOUT THE CHRONOLOGY OF PALEOLITHIC SIGNS. CONSTANCY AND EMERGENCE OF SYMBOLS

The question of chronology in rock art remains a complex and delicate subject to be approached. In this domain, the signs occupy generally a completely marginal place, the priority of the dating concerning rather animal figures, whether it is by direct or indirect dating, or stylistic approach. Nevertheless, by their number, by their morphological variety, the signs constitute an important group in the graphic universe. If absolute dating brings only little benefit, it is possible to fix a not insignificant part of them within the various cultures of the Upper Palaeolithic. Whether simplest or most complex, the abstract forms can reflect as well a common fund of the prehistory as the punctual behaviour, but also constitute image references for a region or period, sometimes well confined. Through a panorama of the most complex signs of the Palaeolithic, we perceive the emergence of the geometrical abstract phenomenon, the various forms that it sets in time, and the decisive moment in the rise of codification.