Decoding European Palaeolithic Art: Extremely Ancient knowledge of Precession of the Equinoxes

Abstract

A consistent interpretation is provided for zoomorphic artworks at Neolithic Göbekli Tepe and Çatalhöyük as well as European Palaeolithic cave art. It appears they all display the same method for recording dates based on precession of the equinoxes, with animal symbols representing an ancient zodiac. The same constellations are used today in the West, although some of the zodiacal symbols are different. In particular, the Shaft Scene at Lascaux is found to have a similar meaning to Pillar 43 at Göbekli Tepe. Both can be viewed as memorials of catastrophic encounters with the Taurid meteor stream, consistent with Clube and Napier’s theory of coherent catastrophism. The date of the likely comet strike recorded at Lascaux is 15,150 ± 200 BC, corresponding closely to the onset of a climate event recorded in a Greenland ice core. A survey of radiocarbon dates of these animal symbols from Chauvet and other Palaeolithic caves is consistent with this zodiacal interpretation with an extraordinary level of statistical significance. Finally, the Lion Man of Hohlenstein-Stadel, circa 38,000 BC, is also consistent with this interpretation, indicating this knowledge is extremely ancient and was widespread.