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Near Eastern - North African Acheulian Figurine Symbolizing Traditon
Neanderthals and Modern Humans
Near Eastern - North African Acheulian Figurine Symbolizing Traditon

"The anthropomorphic shape is self-evident. The grooves separating the two 'arms' from the torso and the 'legs' are natural. Grooves at right angle to these are more complex. The one's nearest the 'head' are made by human percussion; the lower one's are natural with only a small area of impact....The impact traces underscore the iconic nature of the object and they required considerable skill on the part of the human maker. Further, the figurine was painted, coated with a red pigment, unlike the tools nearby. The Tan-Tan specimen is a modified manuport that has been treated in precisely the same way as the one from Berekhat Ram." "At 400,000 years of age the Tan-Tan figurine presents the earliest direct evidence we currently have of a pigment application, and it sis also the earliest currently known proto-sculpture, and thus the oldest evidence for iconic perception in hominoids.""[source]

The archeologists quoted above consider this not the first object of its kind created by humans, but rather a symbol of a tradition during that time. This figurine is from before the time that our species Homo sapiens originated. That means as long as there have been humans, humans have been creating art. It seems that Noam Chomsky's idea about language being inherent to humans could apply here as well. It seems that art is inherent to humans, all human cultures create art.

Submitted by
Hans-Christoph Steiner

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