We, as humans, define ourselves as a species that tells stories. These [paintings] are the oldest evidence of us doing that. It shows that the painters were conveying more information about images than just static images.
The art is preserved behind a layer of calcium carbonate which formed over the cave wall over thousands of years trapping the art like an insect in amber. Previous dating techniques dated the oldest art at roughly 44,000 years old.
But a new version of the method using a laser to sample the rock allowed a more accurate and efficient way to date the art. The new method pushed the date of the cave art back by 4,000 years, to around 48,000 years ago.
#oldest-narrative-cave-art #human-animal-interaction #storytelling-abilities #archaeology #cave-art-dating-techniques
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