ABSTRACT
How did portable art evolve? A likely mechanism is that hominids co-opted forms and rules from pre-existing aesthetically pleasing objects used for public signalling. This chapter argues that lithic artefacts were portable objects that had long been used for signalling within hominid lineages and provided models for other kinds of portable art. Archaeologists can better comprehend the onset of new organic- and ochre-based artistic/signalling systems by studying the operation of the earlier lithics-based artistic/signalling systems.
