[SunkenCiv]

Does this strike anyone else as "not news"? :')

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[Tax-chick]

This seems fairly obvious, given the average lifespan under Paleolithic conditions.

[Dustbunny]

Does this strike anyone else as "not news"?

Me.

[BenLurkin]

"Using new forensic techniques on fossil handprints..."

Could also mean that the shaman obliged everyone in the tribe to place their handprint in the cave for good luck and and then he went back to work painting bison.

[MillerCreek]

The lifespan of the average adult during those times was...what, twenty five or thirty if you were "old aged"?

I'm also thinking that most humans lived in small groups and the notion of a "shaman" was probably rare...while painting, imagery, seems OF COURSE the effort of self expression for a number of motivations, many of which had to do, certainly, with how to keep busy during times of lower-to-no-light. Happened every day, had to be motivational for nearly everyone to figure out what to do with the several hours in the evening before sleep, and/or during the days of rain and storms when they were limited to keeping "indoors".

[ApplegateRanch]

I took several anthropology and intro archeology courses in the early 1970s, along with ancient art history. Naturally, "cave art" and "rock art" were covered.

...and I put my new found knowledge to (not so) good use: there is a fine set of petroglyphs that I made under a sandstone overhang near (but not too near) a SoCal nature trail.

So far, I'm still waiting to hear that they have been "discovered".