Early Dates for Artistic Europeans

New radiocarbon dates of artworks found in a cave in southwest Germany suggest to some researchers that certain artistic behaviors emerged first in Europe rather than Africa. The earliest known musical instruments—flutes of bird bone and mammoth ivory—were found in prehistoric caves in southwest Ger...

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Published inScience (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 336; no. 6085; pp. 1086 - 1087
Main Author BALTER, MICHAEL
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published American Association for the Advancement of Science 01.06.2012
Subjects
African culture
Bones
Caves
Central Europe
Evolution
Figurines
Human
Human behavior
Humans
Musical instruments
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Summary:New radiocarbon dates of artworks found in a cave in southwest Germany suggest to some researchers that certain artistic behaviors emerged first in Europe rather than Africa. The earliest known musical instruments—flutes of bird bone and mammoth ivory—were found in prehistoric caves in southwest Germany, as were the earliest mythical figurines. Now new radiocarbon dates put modern humans in one of these caves, Geissenklösterle, several thousand years earlier than previously thought. As far back as 42,000 years ago, while the last Neandertals were hanging on in western and southern Europe, modern humans were carving sculptures and making music in central Europe. The early dates, published online last month in the Journal of Human Evolution , also suggest to some researchers that certain artistic behaviors emerged first in Europe rather than Africa.
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ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.336.6085.1086