260 artifacts from Swabian Jura, Aurignacian culture (35‑40 kyr), show linear sign sequences like early numeric tablets, stable for 10 kyr
Swabian Jura, culture: 35,000-40,000-year-old proto-writing in Germany
GermanyTheorySignificant Find
Key facts
- Swabian Jura, is a group of caves in southwest Germany where 260 artifacts were found
- Dating to around 35,000-40,000 years ago (Aurignacian culture)
- Artifacts include mobile objects that could be carried - bones, antlers, ivory
- Sign sequences statistically similar to earliest numeric proto-form tablets from Uruk V period (3500-3350 BC)
- Sign system shows incipient design features found in writing: inventory of sign types and linear arrangement
- System remained stable for 10,000 years then disappeared
- Crosses appear on animal figurines and tools but never on anthropomorphic figures
- Dots appear on human and feline figurines but never on tools - shows deliberate cultural conventions passed over generations
Sources
link.springer.com
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