ENTRY 3
LABYRINTHINES
1,000 000 - 50,000 Early Lower Paleolit
INTRODUCTORY CITATIONS
Symbols, Signs, and Sacred Scripts.
Humans have been communicating
by means of symbols for a very long time.
Abstract signs emerge in the Lower Paleolithic Acheulian
and Mousterian periods (from circa 300,000 to 100,000 B.C.),
long before the appearance of the extraordinary
Upper Paleolithic art (from circa 35,000 to 10,000 B.C.)
First Hominins to Leave Africa.
Acheulean traces are found throughout Africa
and are widely distributed in Eurasia,
though classic handaxes are absent from eastern Asia.
For this reason, the Acheulean is regarded as the
technological adaptation of the first hominins to leave
the African tropics and become widely and permanently
established in temperate climatic zones.
(MAU: 102.)
Foundation for Language.
Modern humans symbol in complex ways
and express this behavior as art and body decoration.
Perhaps more importantly, this ability to symbol
is the foundation for language, which is a very complex
form of symbol and analogy that is hardwired into our brains.
(MAU: 97.)
ENTRY NARRATIVE
* Given two thirds of the fossils have yet to be microscopically analyzed,
further dating determinations remain in process.
The Early or Lower Paleolithic is from 1,000,000-50,000 BCE. Evidence of the
initiating aspects of human culture evolution includes ancient stone tools * and
cave dwellings. To date, fire is believed to have been invented c. 1,000,000 –
500,000 BCE; use of ocher c. 285,000-200,000 BCE; cooking fires came into use c.
300,000 – 250,000 BCE; and human burial is indicated c. 80,000 BCE. In Upper
Galilee, horse bones have been found as well as evidence of human made
drainage and cave remains including the rhinoceros, cave-bear, hyena, reindeer,
and elephant bones. Numerous human cave dwellings have also been discovered
in Syria, Lebanon, Anatolia, North Arabian Desert, and South Kurdistan. Cave
remains have also been excavated in England, France, Belgium, Switzerland, and
Denmark. Rich cave discoveries include exquisite animals and an “astonishing
number of symbol and sign groupings.” (TLG: 44.) Tools and implements include
various flint core items, lances, bodkins (bobbins), and bone needles.
* Update 2015.
Ancient stone tools have been discovered at Lomekwi 3 in West Turkana,
Kenya. They were made 3.3 million years ago, predating the earliest sils
of the first member of the human genus – Homo habilis – by about
500,000 years. ‘The cores and flakes are clearly knapped,’ says team
member Sonia Harmand of Stony Brook University, but they are also very
different from the Oldowan examples that were previously the earliest
stone tools’ (TFT: 12).
Humans have been communicating by means of symbols for a very long
time. Abstract signs emerge in the Lower Paleolithic Acheulian and
Mousterian periods (from circa 300,000 to 100,000 B.C.), long before the
appearance of the extraordinary Upper Paleolithic art (from circa 35,000
to 10,000 B.C.) The familiar Upper Paleolithic images depict exquisite
animals painted or etched on cave walls. They were also carved on bone or
stone tools and made into figurines [figures] (TLG: 43).
FURTHER RESEARCH RECOMMENDATIONS
Further 2015 stone tools update.
In addition to the Lomekwi discoveries including primal stone tools, also
see the 2015 scientific reports on the Rising Star Cave near South
Johannesburg. “More than 1,500 fossil elements documenting the
discovery constituted the largest sample for any hominin species in a
single African site and one of the largest anywhere in the world.” * The
Rising Star Cave is around 3 million years and landmark discoveries
include a new hominin species called H. Naledi (star) between 2.5 to 2.8
million years old. Cave findings support a vast burial chamber of the H.
Naledi (Homo habilis), “who were apparently among the first
toolmakers.” (CYA: A1, A3.) (Also, RGS: 538 BCE-70 CE, Second Temple
Period.)
Wilford, John Noble. “Cave Yields Addition to the Human Family
Tree.” New York Times, Sept. 11, 2015: A1, A3. (CYA.)
* Given two thirds of the fossils have yet to be microscopically analyzed,
further dating determinations remain in process