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Interesting how similar these look to cave paintings in Europe. Is it convergent cultural evolution, or was this a result of some sort of cross-continent cultur
by briga 7y ago
Interesting how similar these look to cave paintings in Europe. Is it convergent cultural evolution, or was this a result of some sort of cross-continent cultural transmission?
My guess is that the first paintings were painted much earlier than 44,000 years ago, although most of the older paintings have probably been lost to time.
- chrisco255 7y agoThis is probably correct. Homo sapiens appeared roughly 200-300K years ago and they had the same brains we do. I also suspect that humans painted regularly on animal canvas and that all of them have been lost to time long ago. When you look at the Lescaux caves paintings (27K years old) and the beautiful art work there, there's no way that was done without a very practiced artist. These were Da Vincis of their age.
- asdff 7y agoThe aurochs in that cave look like they were drawn by an art student today. Very impressive.
- asdff 7y agoHumans during this time followed game and ripening fruits. They had huge ranges compared to the neolithic. It's easy to imagine different bands frequently coming into brief contact and trading artwork or technology. If your band ranges over 200 miles in a year, it would only take a couple dozen bands to span from France to Japan across the eurasian steppe. The art was also not likely limited to caves. Painting on hides, or exposed to the elements would not survive. Caves are ideal conditions for preservation.