History
Archaeological Evidence for Early Human Symbolic Behavior
Quick fact
Shell beads and engraved ochre from Blombos Cave in South Africa, dated to about 75,000 years ago, are among the earliest evidence of symbolic behavior, preceding the European cave paintings of Lascaux by tens of thousands of years.
Why this is interesting
Imagine finding a 100,000-year-old necklace—why would ancient humans invest time in making something purely decorative?