The “ revolution of symbols” that Jacques Cauvin perceived in the Khiamian may largely be a consequence of the paucity of symbolic expressions in the Kebaran and the Natufian, ornaments excepted. However, the cave art of Western Europe, contemporaneous with the Kebaran and Natufian, offers rich possibilities to compare the structure of Palaeolithic and PPNA/ Early PPNB symbolic expressions. The importance of the common features, both in what is depicted and what is excluded, suggests a definite continuity in symbolic thought. However, an evolution – rather than a revolution – is also clearly perceptible, in particular with the emergence of verticality. The latter can be seen as a parallel to a social reorganization based on lineages and on an emphasis on descent, deriving from sedentism.