Palaeontology

Earliest known human engraving discovered

By T.K. Randall
December 4, 2014

Image: Homo Erectus
Credit: Cicero Moraes / CC BY-SA 4.0 (adapted) The zig-zag pattern, which was discovered in Indonesia, is thought to have been created by a member of the Homo erectus species, an ancestor to modern humans that is believed to have gone extinct somewhere around 143,000 years ago.

Not only does the find significantly outdate the previous oldest known writing, which dates back 130,000 years, it is also the first evidence that Homo erectus was a lot more like modern humans than had been previously realized. "Immediately when I saw the markings there I thought, those are human engravings, there's no other explanation," said Stephen Munro who co-authored the report. "This is the first time we have found evidence for Homo erectus behaving this way."

The discovery may help to confirm what scientists had long suspected - that Homo erectus possessed far greater manual dexterity and cognitive abilities than was previously thought.

Whether the engraving was actually created as a form of art however remains a mystery.

Source: BBC News

Tags: Homo Erectus, Early Man