Study Finds 60,000-Year-Old Eggshell Engravings Follow 80% Geometric Rules
Updated
Updated · Good News Network · Aug 9
Study Finds 60,000-Year-Old Eggshell Engravings Follow 80% Geometric Rules
3 articles · Updated · Good News Network · Aug 9
Summary
University of Bologna researchers found engravings on 112 ostrich eggshell fragments from South Africa and Namibia were structured rather than improvised, pointing to planned visual design by Homo sapiens 60,000 years ago.
More than 80% of the patterns showed coherent spatial regularities, including near-90-degree angles, parallel lines, grids, hatched bands and diamond motifs.
Geometric and statistical analysis let the team reconstruct line trajectories and identify operations such as rotation, translation, repetition and hierarchical embedding within the same surface.
The study argues those markings on eggshell water containers reflect abstract visuo-spatial planning, suggesting key cognitive foundations later linked to symbolic systems and ultimately writing.