Ancient figurines carved from animal bones tell of a lost chapter of human history dating back 40,000 years.
Archaeologists who analyzed over 3,000 carvings on 260 prehistoric relics discovered one of the earliest known symbolic systems, much older than the first Sumerian cuneiform script (3400–3300 BC) in Mesopotamia.
Many of these objects were found in caves in the Swabian Jura, including a small mammoth figurine from the Vogelherd Cave in the Lone Valley, southwest Germany. The relics include flutes, animal carvings and human-animal figurines, all marked with 22 repeating symbols, from V-shaped holes to lines, crosses and dots.
"These objects predate the first writing systems by tens of thousands of years," said study co-author Ewa Dutkiewicz, an archaeologist at the Museum of Prehistory and Early History in Berlin, according to Popular Science.
The carvings appeared to be a structured symbolic system, not simply decoration, suggesting early forms of communication or information storage, which could have recorded calendars, rituals, counting, or cultural identity.
Professor Christian Bentz from Saarland University added:
"There are many theories, but until now there has been little empirical work on the basic and measurable characteristics of these signs."
The researchers emphasized that the goal was not to decipher the concrete meanings of the signs, which remain unknown.
The researchers analyzed 260 objects, including ivory figurines, bone tools, flutes and pendants, dating from about 43,000 to 34,000 years ago. They found that some objects, especially figurines, contained a higher “information density,” meaning that more symbols were intentionally carved onto each surface.
Tools, flutes, and ornaments also bear symbols, but to a lesser extent, suggesting a hierarchy in the use of signs, depending on the function of the object.
Other objects from the Swabian Jura show similar markings. Prominent examples include the “Adorant”, a mammoth slab from the Geißenklösterle cave in the Ach Valley, which shows a hybrid human-lion creature, and the Lion Man from the Hohlenstein-Stadel cave, a mythical human-lion figure with regular holes along its arm.
These and other objects show a deliberate symbolic system repeated in many objects.
"Signs on archaeological objects are often repeated—cross, cross, cross, line, line, line. This kind of repetition is not found in spoken language," Bentz told Popular Science.
The findings suggest that people who arrived in Europe during the Upper Paleolithic were already capable of complex symbolic thought. The systematic use of signs suggests that these early hunter-gatherers had ways to store and transmit information beyond the spoken word, essentially an early form of external memory.
"Our findings show that Paleolithic hunter-gatherers developed a sign system with statistical information density comparable to the earliest proto-cuneiform tablets from Mesopotamia, which appeared 40,000 years later," added Bentz.
The researchers compared the statistical properties of the engravings with early cuneiform, noting similarities in structure, repetition, and information density.
Although not writing in the modern sense, the carvings show a level of conventionality and intentionality comparable to the earliest attempts to record information in human history. The exact meaning remains unknown, but scholars suggest that some of the markings may reflect seasonal patterns or animal migration cycles, the hybrid figures and repeating patterns may have had religious or cultural significance, and the arranged holes may have served as counting or recording systems.
Certain symbols that regularly appear on human or feline figures, compared to other tools and animals, indicate early social conventions.
While it was now widely believed that the first writing system emerged in Mesopotamia with Sumerian cuneiform around 5,400 years ago, these new discoveries push complex symbolic communication back at least 35,000 years, challenging previous assumptions about the timing of modern human cognitive and cultural evolution.
The researchers also emphasized the importance of empirical analysis. Using statistical models and classification algorithms, they were able to measure the structure, consistency, and information content of the carvings, providing a framework for the broader study of prehistoric symbols.
"There are many sequences of signs to be discovered in objects. We've only just scratched the surface," Dutkiewicz said.
As researchers continue to analyze and catalog these objects, they hope to uncover patterns that can shed more light on the symbolic lives of prehistoric communities. /GazetaExpress/
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