What prehistoric art tells us about the evolution of the human
brain. (Of course, while the 2009 article described above passed
a review for accuracy this March, Lehrer himself was a master at
distorting facts to achieve a more pleasing, orderly story. For
this reason alone, he belongs in a discussion of falsehoods that
charm the brain.) Cave art illuminates some of the truths of the
prehistoric world: that buffalo meat made a great dinner; that
women seemed magically procreative; that the parts of the lion
to watch out for were its head and mouth. (It also reminds us
that our ancestors were relentless hunters—some of the most
haunting cave art depicts animals that we may have driven to
extinction, including the cave bear, auroch, Irish elk, and
woolly rhinoceros.) But peak shift doesn’t quite explain the
strange patterns overlying some of the animal images in Altamira
and Lascaux—a drifting scrim of dots, lines, and grids with no
discernible reference points. We could consult the perceptual
grammar that gove