First pre-human art found
Scientists looking over a museum collection stumbled across the first ever piece of art made by a pre-human species.
Venus figurines, Indonesian art and the interconnectedness of the Stone Age
The Venus figurines were manufactured across Europe for tens of thousands of years during the stone age. How could ideas like this spread before mass movement, mass media and mass hysteria?
A 13,530 year old stone age map
Archaeologists have found an engraved rock that appears to be a map of the surrounding landscape
Neanderthals more innovative than we thought?
We thought Neanderthal technology didn’t really increase in complexity over time. But a new way of measuring technological complexity suggests it did after all.
Stone tipped spears used 500,000 years ago
Attaching stone points to spears was a key moment in human evolution. A recent discovery suggests tips were first used on stone thrown spears 280,000 years ago; but there is even older evidence of stone tipped spears.
Early humans were hunting 1.8 million years ago
Humans are adept hunters, but when did we develop this ability?
The earliest art predated humans
Just what is the earliest example of art produced by our family? Cave art, shell beads, figurines; or perhaps something much more ancient.
Neanderthals invented specialised bone tools
As humans migrated into Europe Neanderthals appear to have copied a lot of their technology. Now evidence of a tool independently invented by Neanderthals has been found, and it appears to predate its creation by humans. Perhaps we copied them!
The evolution of cave art
Modern humans migrated into Europe around 40,000 years ago. Almost immediately they began decorating cave walls and continued to do so for the next 30,000 years (PIke et al., 2012). Over the course of this period the artwork appears to have undergone an incredible evolution. The earliest images consist of simple scratches in the rock…
Why did prehistoric people make cave art?
Humans have been painting caves for tens of thousands of years (and many tribes continue to do so). Some of the most famous art are from the European Upper Palaeolithic, being manufactured between 40 and 12,000 years ago. These images include the famous Lascaux paintings, along with hundreds more found across the continent. This prehistoric…
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