Modern Cave Man

I recently watched a documentary on excavations of the Rising Star Cave in South Africa. It discussed the archeological discoveries of 250,000 year old graves by a species called Homo naledi. I am a little claustrophobic, so the 39 ft descent down a 7.5 inch wide feature called "the chute" had me looking away at parts. In addition to the numerous sets of bones from this group of hominids, there was an obvious tool in a child's grave, evidence of fire, and deep intersecting grooves etched into the cave walls.

It gave me chills thinking about the "artist" making these marks 250,000 years ago. There are similar marks by Cro-Magnons from 100,000 years ago, and others by Neanderthals and Home sapiens from 50,000-80,000 years ago. These discoveries, if accurate, push back the notion of when creative thought was born. What makes something art? Who were the first artists? Questions like these are at the center of research into early humans.

I try to not get lost in the particulars or the noise of the debates. I prefer to wonder about what I perceive as the perhaps more profound question of how are we so different. Have emotions and passions changed that much. Certainly, materials have evolved. Though some cave painters used hollow bones to basically air brush pigment into the porous rocks, preserving their creations for thousands of years. As a painter I feel connected to the mark makers of the past, reaching through time with each point, line, or plane (Kandinsky said something like this.) There is a compulsion that is perhaps embedded in our DNA to cut or mark on the surfaces of spaces or objects. The caves held these echos like a message in a bottle for modern humans to find.