What is art?
From Africa, we find the earliest evidence of human recognition of images in the natural environment, or the first examples of what people now call "art". In 1925, explorers unearthing a cave at Makapansgat in South Africa discovered traces of
Australopithecus, a predecessor to modern humans, and a carved pebble that 'bears an uncanny resemblance to a human face'. According to these explorers, these pebbles were found some twenty miles away from the cave. Scientists have theorized that an early human, awestruck at the 'face' on the pebble brought it back to his dwelling for safekeeping.
For art historians to consider something, such as this pebble, "art", it must have been modified by humans, not simply stored or taken. Evidence indicates that not until three million years after this pebble was originally found, around 30.000 B.C did humans 'intentionally manufacture' sculptures and paintings. That is when the story of art begins.
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