Between the reading and the video, there are a lot of interesting ideas.  In the video, it is backed up with science that certain shapes are attractive to us.  Even before we knew how to speak, we knew that some things were more attractive than others.  This means that yes, while culture does influence the method or style of art that we create and enjoy, the basics are the same universally.  The thing that modern culture has mostly done is refine that base to introduce more elaborate or complicated artworks, but not change it.  In the reading, it says on page 22 that “in the evolution of the human species, not only did we gradually acquire certain characteristic physical and physiological adaptations…  but behavioral adaptations as well… Among these tendencies, I claim, is also the behavior or propensity to ‘make special,’ particularly things that one cares deeply about.”  This says perfectly what the homo sapiens were still learning.  Even though they couldn’t describe what exactly they were doing or thinking, they were taking these rocks and shaping them into symbols.  Maybe the hand axe shape represented hunting or skill, but the physical, symmetrical shape also made the axes beautiful in the eyes of their viewers.  Hunting in this case would have been a cultural influence, but the shape, symmetry, and concepts are all the same today as they were back then.

On page 23, it says “I suggest that to our ancestors, it was essential not only to make good tools — spears and arrows for the hunt — but to make sure they worked by making them and the activities that were concerned with them special.  In hunting societies that we know of today, behavior made special is as much a part of preparation for the hunt as readying spears or arrows.”  Today, that would be similar to mounting an old hunting rifle on the wall, or putting up ornate swords.  Symbols of hunting today have changed, but the concepts are constant.