Papers from the session 'The Intellectual and Spiritual Expression of Non-Literate Societies' given at the XVI World Congress of the International Union of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Sciences (Florianopolis, Brazil, 4-10 September 2011). Contents: Presentation (Emmanuel Anati); 1) Les adaptations humaines et l'expression spirituelle des premiers Hommes anatomiquement modernes a la transition du Paleolithique moyen au Paleolithique superieur (Janusz K. Kozlowski); 2) The Lipari Middle Paleolithic and early navigation in the Mediterranean (Emmanuel Anati); 3) The Paleolithic sanctuary at Har Karkom, Negev desert (Emmanuel Anati); 4) The Karkomian flint industry: the context of the Har Karkom sanctuary at the transition between Middle and Upper Paleolithic (Federico Mailland); 4) Geoglyphs on Har Karkom plateau: witness to the early start of the expression of conceptual ideas during the early Upper Paleolithic (Federico Mailland); 5) Astronomical representations in rock art: some examples of the cognitive and spiritual processes of non-literate people (Fernando Coimbra); 6) Ancient myths and scientific fiction: the representation of big head in the prehistoric art and its recreation in Western culture (Santiago Guimaraes); 7) The pre-contact pueblo Kachina in the American Southwest: its iconography, first appearances and contexts of symbolic meanings (Jessica Joyce Christie); 8) Deer representation in Sierra da Capivara National Park: morphology, syntax and archaeological contexts: a visual analysis (Elaine Ignacio); 9) Indigenous dolls and figurines: where sacred and social worlds merge and the implications for archaeologists (Sharon Moses); 10) Conveying an understanding of the landscape: the rock art of the Tagus and the Guadiana Valleys (Luiz Oosterbeek); 11) The deer figures in Tagus rock art (Sara Garces); 12) The geometric art of the Iberian schist plaques (Cristina Lopes); 13) Anthropozoomorphic figures and other monsters: mythical fantastic figures in Alpine rock art (Umberto Sansoni); 14) Beliefs and Practices Connected with Megalithic Burial Customs in Eastern India (Ranjana Ray); 15) Substrats neolithiques aux arts traditionnels des Balkans (Marcel Otte).