They have been identified the oldest geometric decorations made by Homo sapiens known to date, datable between 64,000 and 59,000 years ago. As reported by the new study conducted byUniversity of Bologna in collaboration with Wisdom of Rome, these are some engravings found on fragments of ostrich egg shellsfound in three different sites ofSouthern Africa – between South Africa and Namibia – and characterized by crossed lines and grids, organized into coherent patterns.
The finds belong to the so-called Howiesons Poort culturean expression of the populations who lived in Southern Africa at the end of Middle Paleolithicaround the 60,000 years ago. In three sites, two in South Africa and one in Namibia, they were found 112 ostrich eggshell fragmentswhich feature different series of engravings. The study, which has as its leader Valentina Decembrini of the University of Bologna, demonstrated how these they were not random. The incisions would be made deliberatelyreporting as the first Homo sapiens they already owned cognitive abilities such as to lead to the realization of geometrically and spatially complex shapes and patterns.
The fragments of the shells (in Africa ostrich eggs have been used as water containers starting from the Middle Paleolithic, and some communities use them Still for this purpose) were first subjected to a digital tracking of all reasons, and then to scrupulous geometric, spatial and statistical analyseswhich they allowed us to identify shapes and patterns recurringas well as theirs incidence in the analyzed sample. Account has been taken of curves and gods cornersbut also of elements such as parallelismthe spacing among the engravings, the repetitions and the variations of a certain scheme.
Statistically, approx 79% of the incisions analyzed are made up of straight linescharacterized by a strong presence of parallel signs. Furthermore, the 90° angles are much larger frequent than they would be if the incisions were random. Considering these elements, it is very unlikely that the engravings on the shells were not made in a proper manner intentional. The decorations would therefore have been done deliberately, by individuals who already owned them advanced cognitive abilitiescapable of generating complex geometric and spatial thought, already 60,000 years ago.
