The first evidence for drawing were found on rocks in the Blombos Caves in southern Africa and dates back to between 75,000 to 100,000 years ago. These consist of geometric patterns.
The new painting, in the limestone cave of Leang Karampuang in the Maros-Pangkep region of South Sulawesi, shows representational art – an abstract representation of the world around the person or people that painted it.
It therefore represents an evolution in the thought processes in our species that gave rise to art and science.
The question is what triggered this awakening of the human mind, according to Dr Henry Gee, who is a senior editor at the journal Nature, where the details were published., external
“Something seems to have happened around 50,000 years ago, shortly after which all other species of human such as Neanderthals and the so-called Hobbit died out.
“It is very romantic to think that at some point in that time something happened in the human brain, but I think it is more likely that there are even earlier examples of representational art”.
