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Image: mmn.com

We humans have been at it a long, long time. Making stuff, painting pictures, carving symbols and animals into rock, all in the interest of making our surroundings a little nicer to look at.

Image: HeritageDaily.com

We’re getting closer and closer to pinpointing the exact era in our history when art came to occupy our minds, and with a recent finding in France, it looks like humans first picked up a brush about 37,000 years ago. The recently unearthed artwork is a huge 1.5 metric ton block of limestone with images painted on it and carved into it. It is believed to have adorned the home of ancient reindeer hunters in what is now France.

Image: history.com

No wonder so many of the masters have been French – they’ve had more practice than the rest of us! The subject matter is pretty hard to make out, but apparently there are some figures and a few carved elements of anatomy (ahem!). Pretty controversial stuff for way back then, which just goes to show you that artists have always been pushing boundaries.

I wonder what art from today will look like in 37,000 years. If you have any ideas, please share them with us here on WallSpin!

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