What Insights Do Animals and Ancient Creativity Offer - Barbara J. King

Earlier this week, it was announced that as possibly as long ago as 40,000 years, a pair of birds was painted in red ochre on a rock overhang in northern Australia. The images speak directly to a human fascination with animals expressed far back in time. The focus on animals in this art is fairly unsurprising. Judging from the heretofore earliest-known art from caves or rocks of Australia, Africa, and Europe, the early human mind was preoccupied with all sorts of birds and mammals. Less predictable perhaps is the type of bird chosen for depiction in Australia. It has been identified as the genus Genyornis—a supersized (“megafauna”) bird that went extinct about 40,000 years ago.

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