Cave Art - 'writing system' discovered

[Apech]

Quote

In at least 400 European caves such as Lascaux, Chauvet and Altamira, Upper Palaeolithic Homo sapiens groups drew, painted and engraved non-figurative signs from at least ~42,000 BP and figurative images (notably animals) from at least 37,000 BP. Since their discovery ~150 years ago, the purpose or meaning of European Upper Palaeolithic non-figurative signs has eluded researchers. Despite this, specialists assume that they were notational in some way. Using a database of images spanning the European Upper Palaeolithic, we suggest how three of the most frequently occurring signs—the line <|>, the dot <•>, and the <Y>—functioned as units of communication. We demonstrate that when found in close association with images of animals the line <|> and dot <•> constitute numbers denoting months, and form constituent parts of a local phenological/meteorological calendar beginning in spring and recording time from this point in lunar months. We also demonstrate that the <Y> sign, one of the most frequently occurring signs in Palaeolithic non-figurative art, has the meaning <To Give Birth>. The position of the <Y> within a sequence of marks denotes month of parturition, an ordinal representation of number in contrast to the cardinal representation used in tallies. Our data indicate that the purpose of this system of associating animals with calendar information was to record and convey seasonal behavioural information about specific prey taxa in the geographical regions of concern. We suggest a specific way in which the pairing of numbers with animal subjects constituted a complete unit of meaning—a notational system combined with its subject—that provides us with a specific insight into what one set of notational marks means. It gives us our first specific reading of European Upper Palaeolithic communication, the first known writing in the history of Homo sapiens.

 

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/cambridge-archaeological-journal/article/an-upper-palaeolithic-protowriting-system-and-phenological-calendar/6F2AD8A705888F2226FE857840B4FE19

[Nungali]

Interesting !    If , as they suppose,  marks represent Moon cycles (months )  appearing near animal ( when they breed or are available for hunting ) signs ... that is like a  first recorded 'zodiac'  .

 

[  " We have seen above that the quantification of things using mental number lines and the additive/plus one principle, wherein one mark equates/represents one thing, was a characteristic of Upper Palaeolithic mark sequences. In our hypothesis, when associated with an animal they should mark units of calendrical time. Given that the number of these is always relatively few, it is unlikely these represent days. We think it likely that the total number of marks in a sequence is one way of denoting a number of months. The most obvious units of time for non-agricultural groups are lunar months (de Smedt & de Cruz Reference de Smedt and de Cruz2011; Marshack Reference Marshack1991). The recurrent cycle of the moon's four individual phases provides a readily visible framework for quantifying time, particularly when assisted by material scaffolding and, if necessary, the cycle of ~29 days could be subdivided into four subphases of ~7 days (Jègues-Wolkiewiez Reference Jègues-Wolkiewiez2005; Overmann Reference Overmann2013). As none of the sequences in our database (see below) contains more than 13 marks, they are consistent with the 13 lunar months of a year. Hence, we hypothesize that sequences are conveying information about their associated animal taxa in units of months. In other words, they present ethological information as a seasonal calendar." ]

 

 

'Down here ' , we still have the traditions  alive so some  can read our cave art symbols and  preserve their meaning ;

 

 

 

The big difference here is , it is said ,  there are no tally marks , Aboriginals did not count beyond three   ..... I find that hard to conceive .