A cross-hatched pattern drawn with an ochre crayon on a small piece of siliceous rock (silcrete) is 73,000 years old. It pre-dates the earliest previously known abstract drawings by at least 30,000 years and demonstrates the ability of early Homo sapiens to produce graphic designs on various media using different techniques. The find is described in a paper published this week in the journal Nature. Image of the Blombos Cave silcrete flake displaying...
