Painted Seashell
These days, it is not rare to hear people use “Neanderthal” derogatorily. However, we are learning more about them through new research and discoveries. The primitive people had complex thought and made art! This was evident when they found a painted fossil shell in a cave in Northern Italy. Cavemen lived anywhere from 130,000 to 40,000 years ago. The revelation suggests that they also valued, created, and even collected art. They must be a lot more sophisticated than most people assume they were.
Painted Seashell
Chinese Bird Figurine
Thus far, the tiny bird figurine below is the earliest Chinese work of art that has been discovered. The carving was made around 13,800 years ago. It is almost eight millennia older than the East Asian animal sculpture found before it. This was discovered in Lingjing, Henan. The bird rests on a small pedestal and has been considered a gamechanger by experts. It is possible for it to have come from a different artistic tradition not connected to others from that period since the darkening method is unusual for that time.
Chinese Bird Figurine
