back to article Boffins unearth the ultimate antique art - 500,000 years old

The oldest example of our ancestors' artistic talents has been unearthed, after spending over a century hiding in plain view. Early art on mussel shell Primitive doodle by primitive The artifact in question is a mussel shell found near the bones of a member of the species Homo Erectus in the 1890s by Dutch paleontologist …

  1. Montreal Sean

    Porn sure has improved over the millenia.

    Though Unk was a big hit at parties with his collection of shells.

    1. Graham Marsden

      Re: Porn sure has improved over the millenia.

      > Though Unk was a big hit at parties with his collection of shells.

      Until the Tribal Elders, spurred on after a campaign by the Daily News Rock (Prop: Murr Dok) outlawed this shell art as it was corrupting the minds of youngsters, proven after a series of incidents involving the new discovery of fire (resulting from the excessive rubbing of sticks)

  2. Khaptain Silver badge

    Shark tooth huh.

    How do they know that this particular shell wasn't actually eaten, or at least rolled around in a shark's mouth,hence causing the scratches and was later picked up by Homo Erectus as he strolled along the beach looking for shiny things.

    The story does appear to be a little bit far fetched.

    1. Mark 85

      Re: Shark tooth huh.

      I wondered that also. Then there's the bit about it being on an island when supposedly all the homo group were either from Africa or the area known as the Middle East. Did they have sea travel to spread the population? Maybe I'm wrong on this whole thing.

    2. Grikath

      Re: Shark tooth huh.

      well... you mean besides the fact that mollusc-eating species of shark simply crush the shell, and don't even have the teeth to make this kind of impression?

      The shell in question shows the specific type of tool use described in the article to get it to open ( easily done with a shark tooth, if you've got an opposable tumb..), and is scratched on the inside in a way that takes several passes to get even that shallow identation, showing clear intent ( or casual boredom...) Calling it "art" is stretching things a bit though.

      1. Allan George Dyer

        Re: Shark tooth huh.

        'Calling it "art" is stretching things a bit though.'

        Perhaps Unk did it while he waited for his elder sister to finish her detailed sand sculpture of a palm tree? We only find the stuff that survives.

        1. Tom 7

          'Calling it "art" is stretching things a bit though.'

          not been to a gallery lately then?

          1. Khaptain Silver badge

            Re: 'Calling it "art" is stretching things a bit though.'

            >not been to a gallery lately then?

            In that case, and since it's Friday, it might actually be the very first represention of the PHB, quickly scribbled down by the PFY as he awaited the BOFH to finish telling the local police that he had seen someone sodomising a wooly mammoth and that they had managed to do a quick artists impression on this inside of a shell.

          2. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge

            Re: 'Calling it "art" is stretching things a bit though.'

            not been to a gallery lately then?

            Tom 7,

            Why yes. I have been. I decided to shelve my prejudices and go to Tate Modern. Rather than getting my opinions of modern art from the press and TV, I decided it was better to give it a fair crack of the whip.

            After a couple of hours, I found myself in one particular gallery full of crap paintings and I heard somenone say (rather loudly), "this is all utter bollocks!" I must say I found myself in full agreement with their opinion, and looked round to see who this perceptive individual was.

            Only to see everyone else looking around too, and at me. On replaying the voice in my head, I realised that the person speaking had been me. And decided that this was a good time to beat a tactical retreat to the cafe, and consume a pot of tea, and a very large cake. Modern art and I seemingly don't get on...

            1. Dr Patrick J R Harkin

              Re: 'Calling it "art" is stretching things a bit though.'

              I'm with you, I Ain't Spartacus. SWMBO dragged me round the Hepworth. After I'd restrained myself suitably, I was rewarded with tea and cake in the cafe which overlooks the river. There was a small whirlpool directly under where we sat and it had attracted a collection of flotsam.

              "That's rather ugly", she said, "They could have cleared that up."

              "No!", I replied, "That's an installation! It's called 'The Journey My Heart Took". The artist has collected a naturally wind-fallen branch from everywhere she has ever lived and trapped them in a cage hidden under the surface of the water to circle endlessly without ever repeating the exact sequence of events."

              "Oh, is it?"

              "No, of course it bloody isn't but the fact that you could think it might be, even for an instant, should tell you a lot about the other 'art' we've seen tonight!"

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Shark tooth huh.

          "Perhaps Unk did it while he waited for his elder sister...."

          Is that the brother and sister who were taught by their mum? A renowned landscape artist who specialised photo-realistic landscape watercolours on large sheets of bleached paper, which were burned after a week in homage to the gods?.

  3. Francis Boyle Silver badge

    Translated:

    I'm Wayne. This is mine.

    Wayne was a popular hominid name, wasn't it?

    1. tony2heads
      Coat

      Re: Translated:

      No, I am sure it says Shelly

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Coat

        Re: Translated:

        Possibly Sheldon

    2. Sceptic Tank Silver badge

      Re: Translated:

      "Made in China"

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Translated:

        iShell Mini

        Designed in California

        Made in China

  4. Pete 2 Silver badge

    Join the dots

    A series of connected straight lines?

    Not so much art as a diagram. Maybe this isn't the earliest form of art, but the earliest form of a diagram. Homo erectus could have been an engineer.

    1. LaeMing

      Re: Join the dots

      Homo Erectus invented the truss. But they abandoned it because it didn't roll well.

    2. Jonathan Richards 1
      Happy

      Not so much art as a diagram...

      ...Feynman, possibly. Now, if Homo erectus irradiated stuff, that would *really* screw up the carbon dating!

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "If you don't know the intention of the person who made it, it's impossible to call it art,"

    I think that given it's 500,000 years old, it doesn't really matter a bugger what it means. Just the fact of it alone is awesome.

    For my part, I think it reflects the existence of commerce at the time. The engravings probably translate into Best before ...

    1. mmiied

      Re: "If you don't know the intention of the person who made it, it's impossible to call it art,"

      "For my part, I think it reflects the existence of commerce at the time. The engravings probably translate into Best before ..."

      no silly what it obviously says is "may contain nuts"

      1. Peter Gathercole Silver badge

        Re: "If you don't know the intention of the person who made it, it's impossible to call it art,"

        No, no.

        It's the earliest example of ridiculous warnings. It actually says "May contain fish"

        1. Khaptain Silver badge

          Re: "If you don't know the intention of the person who made it, it's impossible to call it art,"

          And today that might read "Might contain some traces of natural food".

  6. Winkypop Silver badge
    Joke

    Early mail system?

    "Send more mussels"....

  7. Andy The Hat Silver badge

    A cynic

    If I was in any way a Homo type thing, would I bother to take a long time to make a neat little hole at the bottom of a shell followed by fiddling around with a sharp stick to cut the muscle to open it? I'd just smack the hinge with a small stone or perhaps put it in the embers of the fire ...

    Looks like an 'adornment' piece to me like a bangle or necklace - the hole is for a cord of some kind. Perhaps it is some kind inscription - could be Erectus for 'Ug's necklace', or may even be the Homo version of a Rosetta shirt ...

    1. Oninoshiko

      Re: A cynic

      If you're not a "Homo type thing" what, praytell are you?

      Homo Sapiens want to know!

  8. Gray
    Windows

    The Silly Sods ...

    The photo is upside down!

    It is actually "VV II" which anyone knows is "12" ... the age of Ogg's daughter when he made the shell necklace and presented it to her for her coming-of-age ceremony.

  9. 0laf

    It's Ugg's shopping list as dictated by Mrs Ugg, "get more mussels, a pointy stick, fire and chocolate"

  10. Spotfist

    Looks a bit like writing in the picture, maybe it belonged to someone named Mike as it looks a bit like an "M" it could actually be proof that Homo Erectus understood some fundamentals of biology and was trying to write Mitochondria?

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    iShell

    It's white (well, ish) and it has very, very rounded corners......it's not just art, it's prior art. The fruiteers need to be writing a really big cheque, payable to 'H. Erectus'.

  12. Jedit Silver badge
    Coat

    I wish to complain about the title of this article

    I am disappointed in its implication that if someone likes creating art, they must be a Homo.

  13. Smallbrainfield

    If only that Monolith had been more instructive.

    This was the only art tutorial.

    All the other tutorials were about bludgeoning your rivals with crude bone weapons.

  14. Adolph Clickbait

    Duh! It's a star map

    Aquarius or somewhere, crank up the star gate.

    1. Frumious Bandersnatch

      Re: Duh! It's a star map

      Nope... it's money. The writing clearly states "[1 A]ltarian Doll[ar]" (the text is clipped in the image). No wonder their currency collapsed.

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "Alright darlin, do you want to come back to my place to see my collection of sea shells?"

    I'm using that one tonight, pure chat up gold!

    1. Frumious Bandersnatch

      Re: "Alright darlin, do you want to come back to my place to see my collection of sea shells?"

      I'm using that one tonight, pure chat up gold!

      Not as pithy as "does this rag smell like chloroform to you?", I'm afraid.

  16. Chris Evans

    How do they know when the marks were made?

    O.K. they can age the shell but how do they know when the marks were made?

    If they'd been made say 100,000 years ago would they look any different now?

    I expect the experts have worked this one out, its just a pity that this vital bit is missing from the article. (It's also missing from the fuller story on nature.com.

  17. Chris G

    I for one

    Can only admire the bold self assured scratches of the Selachii odontoid utensil that allude to the positive and negative waviform temporal metric between life and death.

  18. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
    Coat

    An early UI?

    It's obviously an early user interface running C-Shell. BASH was more femur shaped. We had to wait for the ancient Greeks to develop a GUI.

  19. Martin Budden Silver badge

    Counting?

    The glyphs / and V can make an effective tally system. If that is what is going on here it shows mathematics, writing and bookkeeping. Far more impressive than mere art.

  20. Colin 4
    Boffin

    Relativity

    It's clearly an early attempt to describe time dilation a'la Special Relativity, using the "light clock on a passing train" thought experiment.

    A bit of credit where it's due please people.

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