Record · Prehistory · Africa
What is the oldest known drawing, and who made it?
Nine ochre lines on a stone flake from Blombos Cave, South Africa, about 73,000 years old, drawn by Homo sapiens and reported in Nature in 2018.
· 71,000 BCPrehistory (before 3500 BC)
Before writing, the record is stone, bone and DNA. These articles cover human origins, the ice ages and the first farmers, up to the moment cities and script appear.
Record · Prehistory · Oceania
How do we know people were in Australia 65,000 years ago?
Single sand grains put the lowest tools at Madjedbebe, on Mirarr country in Arnhem Land, at about 65,000 years. Some archaeologists dispute the date.
· 63,000 BC
Record · Prehistory · Europe
Who painted Chauvet and Lascaux, and how are the paintings dated?
Aurignacian hunters drew Chauvet about 37,000 to 33,500 years ago; Lascaux was painted about 21,500 years ago. Radiocarbon on charcoal and bone says so.
· 34,000 BC
Record · Prehistory · East Asia
Why did Japan's Jōmon foragers make pots and villages without farming?
Foragers at Odai Yamamoto in northern Japan fired plain pots about 13,000 BC and cooked fish in them; by 3900 BC Sannai-Maruyama ate chestnuts and fish.
· 13,000 BC
Record · Prehistory · The Americas
How did Monte Verde in Chile end the "Clovis first" story?
A camp under a Chilean bog, dated to about 14,500 years ago, put people in South America before the Clovis hunters. Later claims reach 23,000 years.
· 12,500 BC
Record · Prehistory · West Asia
Who built Göbekli Tepe, and why does it upset the farming-first story?
Hunter-gatherers raised Göbekli Tepe's T-pillar rings about 9500 BC, before farming reached the region. Excavators now call it a settlement with rituals.
· 9500 BC
Record · Prehistory · South Asia
What is painted at Bhimbetka, and how are the paintings dated?
Sandstone shelters near Bhopal hold paintings from the Mesolithic to historic times, ordered by overlap, style and weathering; the paint itself is undated.
· 8000 BC