Mark Making is an Ancient Art

Carved Marks Are Older than Modern Mans Ancestors by 300,000 yrs.

Java Man’s fossils have recently been given a closer look. Sea shells with intentional zigzag patterns emerge, along with sharks teeth tools used to grind holes at the hinge point forcing the shell to open for a quick meal. These were made by a branch of the family tree far earlier than our modern day ancestors. Dating back to possibly as far as 540,000 yrs ago,  marks show that ancients were engraving, carving, and making holes in rocks and shells as a permanent record of their existence, thoughts, and rituals since the dawn of thinking creatures.

Marks make a sacred site even more special. They also go along with body tattoos and weavings found on mummified remains. Making their mark is no different than artists today. Marks individualize a person, as they adorn, pierce, and augment bodies and clothes. They also bring people together in their tribe. Communities seemed to have their own particular geometric shapes, large and small, to strengthen survival and cooperation.

As rituals developed with singing, dancing, and mark making, so did trust, confidence, and togetherness. These all enhance the brain and bring evolution forward to the great cave paintings at Lascaux and Chauvet. It all began somewhere, far back in the midst of time, as a universal human activity. People are born with the need to express themselves. Little cup shapes pounded by the thousands into stone, or zigzags meticulously carved and painted are found on every continent. Mark making is a community act as people take the mundane and make it special, imbuing  objects with significance. Artists today, can be seen as the continued link of a deeper connection to makers in all human history. They are the storytellers of each civilization, the recorders of history, the carvers of the signs that proclaim we existed and we left our mark.