The First Leap to Consciousness with Paul Bahn & Elle Clifford

The First Leap to Consciousness with Paul Bahn & Elle Clifford

From See See by Ceci by Dr. Cecilia Ponce Rivera

February 4, 2026 · 1h 57m · Season 4 · Episode 1

About this episode

This episode explores the origins of consciousness and art through the lens of Ice Age caves and their cultural significance.

In this episode of See See by Ceci, we journey hundreds of thousands of years into the past, to the flickering firelight and painted depths of Ice Age caves. What did it mean to live embedded in the landscape, wearing it “like a big cape”? How did the mastery of fire reshape not only our bodies but our minds? And what can we learn from the haunting images left deep within caves—some meant to be seen, others engraved in darkness, never intended for any eye but the spirit world? From the earliest trace of aesthetic awareness, a pebble that looked like a face, carried home, to dots, stencils, animals, geometric forms and so much more, we explore how symbolic culture emerged not from necessity but from play, imagination, and the suspension of ordinary reality. We consider how caves themselves became spaces of meditation and transformation, how music and birdsong may have shaped early consciousness, and what these first leaps into abstraction reveal about the origins of art, religion, and the human mind itself. In conversation with Paul Bahn one of the world’s leading authorities on prehistoric rock art, Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and author of over one hundred publications…

People in this episode

Host: Dr. Cecilia Ponce Rivera

Guests: Paul Bahn, Elle Clifford

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Society of Antiquaries

Books & works: Images of the Ice Age

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