Thursday, December 4, 2014

The origins of art, some 300,000 years *before* humans evolved

The dates for early art keep getting pushed back.

This time, it's way, way back --- to some 430-540K years ago, when homo erectus was top of the evolutionary ladder and people like us --- homo sapiens --- were maybe 300K years in the future.

Until now, h.erectus was thought to make stone tools, and that was about it.

But researchers found geometric etchings on a clam shell: They're not much to look at, but were, at the time, a wholly new invention in the world: decorative art.

Here's a close up of some; clearly intentional, clearly artificial, and rather delicately done:



Meet the artist: Homo erectus looked like this:






Story: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22429983.200-shell-art-made-300000-years-before-humans-evolved.html#.VIBdgqgo5J-

Timeline of all early art finds, including the etched shell:

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