Abstraction

Humans are thought to have first developed the ability to think abstractly and plan for the future about 40,000 years ago. Anthropologists arrived at this conclusion after archaeological digs revealed intricate artwork, craftsmanship, and early signs of language in the form of symbols dating back to that time period.

Lubang Jeriji Saléh cave might be the most striking – and oldest – example of these findings. Interestingly, there are many examples of cave art that date older than this one, but Lubang Jeriji Saléh is said to be the first cave art that isn’t merely a tracing or scribbles. Since it’s the first clear representation of a cow, this is what the scientists pointed to as the genesis of human intelligence as it’s roughly experienced today. Hand tracings on the walls of caves are extremely common for millennia leading up to this piece of artwork, so the fact that this one shows active participation with the environment is a particularly interesting divergence from previous pieces.

The second most famous cave art can be found on an island called Sulawesi, one of the 17,508 islands in the Indonesian chain. It dates slightly younger than the cow cave art above, but provides more confirmation that humans were, in fact, making abstract observations at that time. Depicted in the Sulawesi cave is a large red painting of a babirusa, which is a “deer-pig”, and part of the endemic fauna of Indonesia. Again, the divergence from all-to-common hand tracings really seems to catch the attention of anthropologists.