New PNAS study finds structured signs on 40,000-year-old Aurignacian artefacts. Researchers analyzed more than 3,000 intentional geometric engravings, comprising 22 sign types, on 260 objects, including ivory figurines and tools. Sign use was non-random across object types, and the study compared its statistical complexity with protocuneiform. The authors argue that this may be a conventional notation system and possible proto-writing, but its meaning is unknown; numerical recording is one proposed function.
PNAS study finds structured signs on 40,000-year-old Aurignacian artefacts
Key facts
- C. Bentz and colleagues analyzed more than 3,000 intentionally engraved geometric signs, comprising 22 sign types, on 260 mobile artefacts from an approximately 40,000-year-old Aurignacian assemblage.
- The signs were distributed non-randomly across artefact types; the marked objects included both ivory figurines and tools.
- The study compared the Aurignacian signs' statistical organization and complexity with protocuneiform.
- The authors describe the system as conventional notation and argue that it may be a precursor to writing; numerical recording is one proposed function, not a demonstrated meaning.
- The comparison supports an early notation system, but does not by itself confirm that the signs constitute proto-writing or encoded language.
- The system predates protocuneiform by tens of thousands of years, and the paper was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Sources
Symbols found carved into 40000-year-old artifacts may be ...cnn.com
Sculptures and tools from the Stone Age show markings that could be an early precursor to written language, according to a new analysis.
Humans May Have Used These Mysterious Symbols to ...smithsonianmag.com
The symbols, discovered on 40000-year-old artifacts in caves in southwest Germany, may have been a precursor to the first written language.
Humans 40000 y ago developed a system of conventional ...pnas.org
These sign sequences have a complexity comparable to the earliest protocuneiform and were selectively applied to yield higher information density on figurines ...
Stone Age symbols may push back the earliest form of writingnewscientist.com
“What this study shows is that the way that the marks are being used on the Aurignacian pieces has a type of configuration that closely matches ...
Early Humans May Have Invented System of Symbols ...sci.news
Over roughly 10,000 years, the researchers found, the structure of the sign system remained remarkably stable — unlike protocuneiform, which ...
Do these Stone Age symbols push back the origins of writing ...linguisticdiscovery.substack.com
The artifacts together bear over 3,000 engravings consisting of 22 different signs writing because it did not represent language, merely ...
The Marks That Predate Writing by 35000 Yearsanthropology.net
What the statistics do show is that the Aurignacian system was systematic. The signs were not distributed randomly across object types.
Stone Age Cave Symbols May All Be Part of a Single ...kottke.org
Stone Age Cave Symbols May All Be Part of a Single Prehistoric Proto-Writing System. While studying some of the oldest art in the world found ...
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