38,000-year-old cave art may provide insights into modern human life

(Image for representational purposes only)

New Delhi: Scientists reveal that they have discovered a 38,000-year-old cave art that may provide insights on modern human life.

"The discovery sheds new light on regional patterning of art and ornamentation across Europe at a time when the first modern humans to enter Europe dispersed westward and northward across the continent," said Randall White, an anthropologist at the New York University, who led the excavation in France's Vezere Valley.

The findings centre on the early modern humans' Aurignacian culture, which existed from about 43,000 to 33,000 years ago.

Abri Blanchard, the French site of the recently uncovered engraving, a slab bearing a complex image of an aurochs, or wild cow, surrounded by rows of dots, was previously excavated in the early 20th century.

Researchers began their exploration of remaining deposits at the site in 2011, with the discovery occurring in 2012.

Aurignacian art offers a window into the lives and minds of its makers - and into the societies they created, White said.

(With PTI inputs)