Optical Illusions

You must have seen these images, typically used for displaying optical illusions. For example, in the first image, do you see a duck or a rabbit? In the second image, do you see an old woman or young woman? Now National Geographic has reported on one of the oldest such illusions which comes from a Paleolithic cave in France.

In a particularly striking example, a small figurine has been given the details of a bison on one side and those of a mammoth on the other. The Paleolithic artist was clearly playing with the similar contours of the two animals and creating a single object that could be flipped to represent one species or the other.[World’s Oldest Optical Illusion Found? ]

You can see the image here. This prompted Ravages  to sent the following photo, found in temples in Tamil Nadu. Do you see a bull or an elephant?

3 thoughts on “Optical Illusions

  1. This particular photo is from Darasuram temple, about 4 kils from Kumbakkonam. Other Chola temples have similar panels. I also think that the Pallavas had very similar ideas.

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