In 2011, archaeologists cleaned the cave ash and found red lines that changed the story of drawing
TIMESOFINDIA.COM / May 31, 2026, 15:50 (IST)
A 73,000-year-old ochre fragment from Blombos Cave, South Africa, reveals a deliberate cross-hatched pattern, pushing back the earliest evidence of drawing by 30,000 years. This finding, supported by microscopic and chemical analyses, indicates sophisticated planning and intentional graphic expression by early humans, predating previous assumptions about the origins of art and symbolic thought.