Mobile artifacts with geometric signs of the Swabian Aurignacian. Plaquette with hybrid creature (so-called “Adorant”), ivory, from Geissenklösterle (gkl0025). Mammoth figurine, ivory, from Vogelherd (vhc0145). CREDIT: Landesmuseum Württemberg, Hendrik Zweitasch/ University of Tübingen, Juraj Lipták.

40,000 years ago, humans in Europe carved over 3,000 geometric signs—symbols we still can’t decode. A new study finds their complexity rivals the earliest protocuneiform tablets of ancient Mesopotamia. Read more in PNAS: https://ow.ly/fUFH50Yoa6T

Modifications observed on shells from La Roche-à-Pierrot in Saint-Césaire, France, including perforations made by pressure and pigment staining. CREDIT: Solange Rigaud

Pigments and shells with drilled holes to be used as beads found with Châtelperronian stone tools in France suggest humans—or Neanderthals—were decorating themselves in the Middle Paleolithic, just as Homo sapiens were moving into Eurasia. In PNAS: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Unveiling the multifunctional use of ochre in the Middle Stone Age: Specialized ochre retouchers from Blombos Cave Seven ochre artifacts from Blombos Cave show evidence of lithic retouching and pressure flaking, revealing specialized MSA tools.

Very happy that our new paper is out in ScienceAdvances showing direct evidence of #ochre used as lithic reotuchers during the MSA "Unveiling the multifunctional use of ochre in the Middle Stone Age: Specialized ochre retouchers from Blombos Cave www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...