Examination of 50 engraved stones unearthed in France has revealed that our earliest ancestors likely created intricate works of art by firelight.
The stones were engraved with artistic designs about 15,000 years ago and show patterns of heat damage that suggest they were carved near the flickering light of a fire, according to the new study.
The study, carried out by researchers from the universities of York and Durham, analyzed the collection of engraved stones, known as platelets, which are kept in the British Museum. They are likely to have been made with stone tools by the Magdalenian peoples, a hunter-gatherer culture dating back between 23,000 and 14,000 years.
The researchers identified pink heat damage patterns on the edges of some of the stones, showing that they had been placed near a fire.
Following their discovery, researchers have experimented with reproducing the stones themselves and have used 3D models and virtual reality programs to recreate the plates as prehistoric artists would have seen them:under firelight and with white lines fresh that engravers would have made when they first cut into the rock thousands of years ago.
Study lead author Dr Andy Needham, from the Department of Archeology at the University of York and co-director of the York Experimental Archeology Research Centre, said:It had previously been assumed that visible heat damage to some plates was likely to have been caused by accident, but experiments with replica plates showed that the damage was more consistent with being placed near a fire on purpose. Today we might think that art is created on a blank canvas in daylight or with a fixed light source; but now we know that people 15,000 years ago created art around a fire at night, with flickering shapes and shadows .
Working in these conditions would have had a dramatic effect on the way prehistoric people experienced making art, the researchers say. It could have activated an evolutionary ability designed to protect us from predators called pareidolia , in which perception imposes a meaningful interpretation, such as the shape of an animal, a face, or a pattern where there is none.
Dr. Needham added:Creating art by firelight would have been a very visceral experience, activating different parts of the human brain. We know that flickering shadows and light enhance our evolutionary ability to see shapes and faces in inanimate objects and this could help explain why it is common to see plate designs that have used or integrated natural features in the rock to draw animals or artistic forms. .
The Magdalenian era saw a flourishing of primitive art, from cave art and the decoration of tools and weapons to stone and bone engraving.
Study co-author, PhD student Izzy Wisher, from Durham University's Department of Archaeology, said:During the Magdalenian period conditions were very cold and the landscape was more exposed. Although the people were well adapted to the cold and wore warm clothes made from animal skins, fire was still very important to keep warm. Our findings support the theory that the fire's warm glow would have made it the center of the community for social gatherings, storytelling, and art making .
In a time when vast amounts of time and effort were spent searching for food, water, and shelter, it's fascinating to think that people still had the time and ability to create art. It shows how these activities have been part of what makes us human for thousands of years and demonstrates the cognitive complexity of prehistoric peoples .