[muawiyah]

I give it the extra 15,000 years just in case we find something older than the materials that started showing up 35,000 years ago.

Now, about the "jewelry" ~ unless it's been handpolished, carved into a recognizable animal or human form, had a hole drilled in it to hang on a thong, it ain't art ~ just a shiny rock and even crows like shiny rocks.

[blam]

"I would argue that the existence of jewerly that is far older than any cave painting shows that the origion of the esthetic arts is truly primordial."

"Now, about the "jewelry" ~ unless it's been handpolished, carved into a recognizable animal or human form, had a hole drilled in it to hang on a thong, it ain't art."

The 'Hobbits' (on Flores Island) have been pretty much accepted to have been Homo-Erectus and one was buried with an 80,000 year old 'well-worn' shell necklace. 'Art' goes way back.