Around 60,000 years ago, when human beings had not yet invented paper and pen, they might have been engaged in “playing geometry”. A new study has found that ostrich eggshells unearthed in southern Africa bear repeated imprints of parallel lines, right angles, grids, and other regular patterns. These seemingly simple engravings may not have been casual marks but rather evidence that humans at that time already possessed the ability to recognize and utilize spatial, geometric shapes, and rules.
Archaeologists from the University of Bologna in Italy discovered hundreds of ostrich eggshell fragments with special patterns at multiple sites in southern Africa dating back over 60,000 years, believed to have been crafted by the people living in the area at that time.
The study, titled “Earliest geometric patterns: Cognitive analysis of Howiesons Poort ostrich eggshell engravings,” was published in the scientific journal “PLOS ONE”. The research indicates that these engravings are not just random scratches or impromptu decorations but rather highly regular arrangements that conform to geometric features such as parallel lines, right angles, and repetitive patterns.
Silvia Ferrara, a professor of Classics and Italian Studies at the University of Bologna, stated, “These engravings reflect an astonishing geometric thinking of the humans of that era. They didn’t draw lines randomly but rather arranged them according to repetitive patterns, using parallel lines, grids, rotations, and systematically repeated patterns, forming a set of regular visual expressions.”
These ostrich eggshells may have been used as containers for holding or storing water. Researchers analyzed the direction, angles, and arrangement of engraved lines on 112 eggshell fragments found at two archaeological sites in South Africa – Diepkloof and Klipdrift, as well as the Apollo 11 site in Namibia, using geometric and statistical methods.
Previously, the research team had never analyzed these engravings using geometric methods.
The analysis results show that over 80% of the combinations of engravings exhibit fixed spatial patterns, with common forms including right angles close to 90 degrees and parallel lines. More complex patterns, such as intersecting lines, grids, and rhombuses, display features like rotation, translation, repetitive arrangement, and “nesting” – one pattern containing another, forming different layers.
“Nesting” refers to one pattern containing another, forming different layers.
Ferrara explained, “The organized and consistent arrangement of these engravings demonstrates the human beings of that time had mastered geometric relationships. They were not simply repeating patterns but had already planned the overall layout of the patterns before engraving, possessing genuine visual spatial planning abilities.”
The study’s first author, Valentina Decembrini, remarked that the engravers must have had a certain level of thinking and cognitive abilities to create these patterns according to regularities, reflecting that humans at that time already had abstract thinking skills.
“The analysis shows that humans 60,000 years ago had extraordinary abilities to organize and arrange visual lines and patterns according to abstract principles,” she said. “People at that time would follow certain rules to combine simple shapes into complex patterns, which is a significant ability unique to humans. This ability has continued for thousands of years, from the creation of early decorative patterns to the development of symbolic systems, ultimately evolving into writing.”
This article references a report from ScienceDaily.