Abstract and depictive representations produced by drawing—known from Europe, Africa and Southeast Asia after 40,000 years ago—are a prime indicator of modern cognition and behaviour1. Here we report a cross-hatched pattern drawn with an ochre crayon on a ground silcrete flake recovered from approximately 73,000-year-old Middle Stone Age levels at Blombos Cave, South Africa. Our microscopic and chemical analyses of the pattern confirm that red ochre pigment was intentionally applied to the flake with an ochre crayon. The object comes from a level associated with stone tools of the Still Bay techno-complex that has previously yielded shell beads, cross-hatched engravings on ochre pieces and a variety of innovative technologies2–5. This notable discovery pre-dates the earliest previously known abstract and figurative drawings by at least 30,000 years. This drawing demonstrates the ability of early Homo sapiens in southern Africa to produce graphic designs on various media using different techniques.A silcrete flake with a 73,000-year-old cross-hatched ochre drawing, from Blombos Cave, South Africa, demonstrates that early Homo sapiens used a range of media and techniques to produce graphic representations.

中文翻译：

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南非 Blombos Cave 73,000 年历史的抽象画

40,000 年前在欧洲、非洲和东南亚已知的绘画产生的抽象和描绘性表示是现代认知和行为的主要指标1。在这里，我们报告了用赭石蜡笔在南非 Blombos Cave 大约 73,000 年前的中石器时代水平的地面硅质混凝土薄片上绘制的交叉影线图案。我们对图案的微观和化学分析证实，赭石红色颜料是故意用赭石蜡笔涂抹在薄片上的。该物品来自与 Still Bay 技术综合体的石器相关的级别，该技术综合体以前曾生产过贝壳珠、赭石块上的交叉影线雕刻和各种创新技术2-5。这一显着的发现比已知最早的抽象和具象图早至少 30 年，000 年。这幅画展示了南部非洲早期智人使用不同技术在各种媒体上制作图形设计的能力。来自南非布隆博斯洞穴的带有 73,000 年历史的交叉影线赭石绘图的硅质混凝土薄片表明早期智人智人使用一系列媒体和技术来制作图形表示。