adjective
Describing a conceptual or psychological state that predates structured thought or symbolic cognition—an imaginative evocation of existence before metaphor, language, or tool-use. It refers to an aesthetic or intellectual regression to a mythic proto-consciousness, untouched by civilization’s imprint.
Etymology:
Variant of Præolithic—a pseudo-archaic formation combining Latin præ- (before) with lithos (stone), modeled after Paleolithic, but emphasizing not temporal antiquity, but conceptual anteriority to cognition itself.
Example Sentence:
His artwork wasn’t primitive—it was preolithic, as if conceived in a time before the idea of time.