This one is fun, though. Nicholas J. Conard, a German archaeologist, found the oldest example of figurative art currently known. It's 35,000 years old and it is, of course, of a "...voluptuous woman...earthier, with huge, projecting breasts and sexually explicit genitals." Read the NY Times article. It's fun. And there are pictures.
But forget the porn and go back to the beginning of that paragraph. It's currently one of the oldest examples of figurative art known in the world. There is no head - in fact, in place of a head, there is a ring, which suggests it was worn as a necklace or perhaps hung somewhere. This is definitely not "stick-figure-show-you-where-buffalo-are" art. It's a link back to the beginning of our understanding of aesthetics, of design, of art. Thirty-five thousand years ago, back when the Neanderthals were still around, we felt the need to create for creation's sake. I find that pretty cool.
NPR's On Science correspondent, Rebecca Davis put it best. "There's something about the discovery of things aesthetic that is far more exciting and inspiring than a tool. This is where we start linking...I wouldn't say spiritually exactly...but we do start linking in a different way, our own feelings and our own passions, with our ancestors from tens of thousands of years ago."
I would say spiritually. Any connection to the past holds its own ghosts - ghosts that archaeologists spend their entire lives trying to ferret out. And to have a connection to people from 35 millennia ago, one that gives us clues to beauty, art, society and culture - that is most definitely spiritual.
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