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Predicting The Past, Recounting The Future: Human Ecology And A Prehistory Of Consciousness, Paul Faulstich

Pitzer Faculty Publications and Research

This paper is concerned with the organic derivation and primary meaning of Pleistocene finger flutings; I propose that in order to gain insight into the significance of the flutings, we must attempt an understanding of the physical and mental contexts in which they emerged. I suggest that finger flutings provided a cultural record in the Pleistocene which documented thought and action, and made it ready for reflection. Through the process of finger fluting, the human 'self' was objected and reality was modified in the experience of self-consciuosness. I argue that finger flutings, like language, were employed to discover and convey …