Researchers recently discovered, in sites across what are today Crimea and Ukraine, examples of objects used to draw as long ago as 70,000 years. They were sticks of ochre that had been carefully chipped, and used on multiple occasions, comparable in shape and function to a modern crayon.
Writing systems as we know them today would not be invented for many years, but the invention of specialist tools like these, to make marks on surfaces such as cave walls, were a significant step towards written language. The fact that these items were specially selected, modified, and then retained for use, over and over again, suggests that they were used to create images or other marks that played a role in the transmission of cultural knowledge – in other words, a precursor to written language.
Photo Source: https://unsplash.com/photos/a-close-up-of-a-rock-with-a-pattern-on-it-BH7H9aNJUwE
