December 18, 2003
Cave Colours Reveal Mental Leap
Red-stained bones dug up in a cave in Israel are prompting researchers to speculate that symbolic thought emerged much earlier than they had believed.
Symbolic thought - the ability to let one thing represent another - was a giant leap in human evolution.
It was a mental ability that allowed sophisticated language and maths.
New excavations show that a red colour made from ochre was used in burials 100,000 years ago, much earlier than other examples of colour association.
Posted by Dienekes at December 18, 2003 10:51 PM | PermaLinkComments
So why are the red bones sinificant?
Posted by: Soma at January 28, 2004 12:26 PMPost a comment