WEBVTT

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In 1879, amateur archaeologist
Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola

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and his young daughter Maria
explored a dark cave in Northern Spain.

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When Maria wondered off by herself,
she made an amazing discovery.

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They were standing inside 
a site of ancient art,

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the walls and roofs decorated with
prehistoric paintings and engravings,

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ranging from 19,000 to 35,000 years old.

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Similar marks of our ancestors have been
preserved in caves all over the world.

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The oldest we've found were made up to
40,000 years ago.

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What do these images tell us
about the ancient human mind

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and the lives of their creators?

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These early artists mixed minerals, clay,
charcoal, and ochre with spit or animal fat

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to create paint.

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They drew with their hands and tools,
like pads of moss, twigs, bones, and hair.

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In many instances, their images follow
the contours of the cave

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to create depth and shade.

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The most common depictions
are of geometric shapes,

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followed by large mammals, like bison,
horses, mammoths, deer, and boars.

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Human figures appear rarely,
as well as occasional hand prints.

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Some have theorized that these artworks
are the creation of hunters,

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or of holy men in trance-like states.

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And we've found examples created by
men, women, and even children.

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And why did they create this art?

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Perhaps they were documenting 
what they knew about the natural world,

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like modern scientists,

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or marking their tribal territory.

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Maybe the images were the culmination
of sacred hunting rituals

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or spiritual journeys.

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Or could they be art for art's sake,
the sheer joy and fulfillment of creation?

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As with many unsolved mysteries
of the ancient world,

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we may never know for sure,

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barring the invention 
of a time machine, that is.

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But while the answers remain elusive,

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these images are our earliest proof
of human communication,

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testifying to the human capacity 
for creativity

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thousands of years before writing.

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They are a distinct visual language 
that imagines the world outside the self,

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just like modern art forms,

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from graffiti and painting
to animated virtual-reality caves.