A new study shows that though thousands of years have passed, some human behaviors still remain. Researchers from Cambridge University and Spain’s University of Cantabria studying Paleolithic paintings have deduced that some of the world’s oldest paintings might have been the handiworks of children. Since the dawn of time, it seems like kids have been doing drawings… What are the chances?
The team examined 180 hand stencils painted in Spanish caves around 20,000 years ago. The researchers found that up to 25 percent of the hand marks were not large enough to belong to adults or teenagers. Furthermore, they found that these prehistoric images would have been made by blowing pigments through a hollow reed or bone onto hands placed against the cave wall—a process that would have made the outlines slightly larger than the hands themselves. They theorized that due to the slightly complex process, these children might have gotten the help of adults.
Images: VerónicaFernández-Navarro/Journal of Archaeological Science
#archaeology #CaveArt #hand #prehistoric #paleolithic #painting #children