Art of the Middle Paleolithic

The oldest undisputed examples of figurative art are known from Europe and from Sulawesi, Indonesia, dated about 35,000 years old (Art of the Upper Paleolithic).^[1] Together with religion and other cultural universals of contemporary human societies, the emergence of figurative art is a necessary attribute of full behavioral modernity.

There are, however, some examples of non-figurative designs which somewhat predate the Upper Paleolithic, beginning about 70,000 years ago (

). These include the earliest of the The markings on the walls of a cave in La Roche-Cotard in the Loire valley have been identified as the oldest known Neanderthal engravings and have been dated to more than 57,000 years ago.

Europe

The 130,000-year-old eagle claws found in Krapina, Croatia, have been viewed by some anthropologists as an example of Neanderthal art. Some have suggested that Neanderthals may have copied this behavior from Homo sapiens. But David W. Frayer has disputed this view, saying that Homo sapiens were not in the region where claws were discovered even after 100,000 years.^[8]

In Spain,

The

Southern Africa

In 2002 in

stones were discovered engraved with grid or cross-hatch patterns, dated to some 70,000 years ago. This suggested to some researchers that Engraved ochre has also been reported from other Middle Stone Age sites, such as Klein Kliphuis,[13] Wonderwerk Cave^[14] and Klasies River Cave 1.^[15] Arguably, these engraved pieces of ochre represent – together with the engraved ostrich egg shells from Diepkloof^[16][17] – the earliest forms of abstract representation and conventional design tradition hitherto recorded. The interpretation of the hatching patterns as "symbolic" has been challenged, and several purely functional explanations of the objects have been proposed, e.g. as an ingredient in mastic, skin protection against sun or insects, as soft-hammers for delicate knapping, as a hide preservative or as medicine.^{[18][19][20][21]} The Blombos Cave cross-hatches, dated to as early as 73,000 years old, have been described as "abstract drawings" in a 2018 publication.^[5]

Claimed Lower Paleolithic art

A 500,000-year-old

Homo erectus had long before produced seemingly aimless patterns on artifacts such as is those found at Bilzingsleben in Thuringia. Some have attempted to interpret these as a precursor to art, allegedly revealing the intent of the maker to decorate and fashion. The symmetry and attention given to the shape of a tool has led authors to controversially argue Acheulean hand axes as artistic expressions.

There are several other claims of Lower Paleolithic art, namely the "Venus of Tan-Tan" (before 300 kya)^[23] and the "Venus of Berekhat Ram" (250 kya). Both of these may be natural rock formations with an incidental likeness to the human form, but some scholars have suggested that they exhibit traces of pigments or carving intended to further accentuate the human-like form.^{[citation needed]}

See also

References