Naturalised Epistemology, Human Models of Reality, Salience and Cave Iconography‪.‬

Abstract. In Robert Bednarik's own words, the ultimate purpose for the study of rock art is an epistemological investigation about 'the origins of the human model of reality'. This think piece begins with a discussion of Bednarik's definition of epistemology and my proposal to adopt a newer version of the discipline called naturalised epistemology. This, I argue, is something that would be needed in order to establish epistemology as a rigorous model of investigation. Following this fundamental addendum to Bednarik's proposal for 'an epistemological renaissance' in rock art studies, I hypothesise about human constructs of reality(ies). This brings me to a discussion about Bednarik's acute observations stating that these constructed realities provide models that present the most reliable evidence for anthropocentric attempts at rationalisation while consciously experiencing alterity (otherness). These 'frames of reference' are externalised manifestations of intentional constructs of which rock art is the best-preserved example. Also discussed is the human use of salience on cave walls as a 'palaeoanthropic' means to alter the environment and construct a model of subjective reality. KEYWORDS: Epistemology--Empiricism--Model of reality--Cognition--Salience