Symbolic behavior in modern humans

Researchers examine early symbolism in modern humans. Symbolic behavior was essential to the evolution of modern humans, but it is unclear how such behavior evolved. Kristian Tylén and colleagues conducted five experiments using engraved ochre and ostrich eggshell fragments from South Africa’s Blombos Cave and Diepkloof Rock Shelter dating to between 52,000 and 109,000 years ago. The authors asked 296 participants in Aarhus, Denmark to detect patterns presented to one eye while vivid, flickering colors were presented to the other eye. The participants were quicker to identify young patterns than old patterns. When participants were presented with two patterns and asked which was more likely to have been intentionally made by a human, they more often chose the young pattern than the old pattern. When participants saw a pattern for 3 seconds before it disappeared, they were able to reproduce young patterns more accurately than old patterns. Further, when participants were asked to determine which of two patterns came from the same site as a target pattern, they more accurately recognized young patterns than old patterns as belonging to a specific site. The findings suggest that the engravings were created with aesthetic intention and evolved to become easier to remember and replicate, according to the authors.

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Article #19-10880: “The evolution of early symbolic behavior in Homo sapiens,” by Kristian Tylén et al.

MEDIA CONTACT: Kristian Tylén, Aarhus University, DENMARK; tel: +45-26455032; email:

[email protected]

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