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World’s oldest drawing is Stone Age crayon doodle

‘Hashtag’ pattern drawn on rock in South African cave is 73,000 years old.
  1. Colin Barras
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360 view of Blombos cave. To the left the dig can be seen, to the right the cave entrance can be seen

Blombos Cave in South Africa, shown here in panoramic view, was home to prehistoric artists. Credit: Magnus M. Haaland

Sometime in the Stone Age, human artists began experimenting with a new form of visual art: drawing. Now, from the ancient rubble that accumulated on the floor of a South African cave comes the earliest-known example — an abstract, crayon-on-stone piece created about 73,000 years ago.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-06664-y

References

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