Expressing one's thoughts has been a goal of mankind for generations. Taking what is in the mind, and placing it as an image on things that will remain, seems to be an activity from the earliest times. From the first "doodle" [an aimless scribble, design, or sketch] to the "Mona Lisa" [a master piece], mankind has left such markings.
The sketch to the right is a tracing from one of the earliest human images. It is an engraving on a bone, thought to be a piece of reindeer bone. Some believe it to be an image of a man. The lines are certainly purposeful. A man...or a bird... or a... what do you think? The bone was found in a limestone cave [Pin Hole Cave], Derbyshire, England. It must have been one of those long winter nights with spare ribs for dinner. After eating, what does one do to pass the time. Let's take this little piece of flint and carve into this bone while it is still soft. Legs, arms, head... an eye... maybe could use a knife in hand... a little chunky maybe. Oh well, try again next time.
Wow, I thought... Adam's rib it is. The first to draw an image left to us...sort of.
The tracing is made from a picture shown:
Piggott S., Daniel G., A Picture Book of Ancient British Art, Cambridge, University Press, 1951. plate I.
Also shown in:
Hadingham, E. Secrets of The Ice Age, A Reappraisal of Prehistoric Man, Walker and Company, NY, 1979. p.226.
Pin Hole Cave is discussed in:
Dyer, J., Prehistoric England and Wales, Penguin Books, NY, 1981. p.99.
What would you have drawn?
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