And now I'm off to look up sheep facts. Why do you do this to me? 😆
Was there any indication of how long the periods of isolation were? Was the person transitioning separated to symbolize an end or "death" of that persona and to let the image of them dim in the group memory? If so, maybe that made their "reintroduction " more like greeting a new person to the group?
I'm often amazed by the skill in rock art pieces. They did more expression with ground up stones and animal fat than people like myself (artistically stuck on stick figures) are able to.