This challenges the traditional narrative that writing began with the Sumerians around 3400 B.C.E.
It is proposing instead that symbolic communication systems, possibly even early forms of writing, existed thousands of years earlier.
https://www.openculture.com/2025/09/40000-year-old-symbols-found-in-cav…
Paleoanthropologist Genevieve von Petzinger's research into prehistoric cave symbols suggests that early humans may have used a set of recurring marks, such as feather shapes and hand stencils, across different regions. These symbols, though still not fully deciphered, point to a shared symbolic system that predates formal writing and indicates cognitive complexity and communication far earlier than previously acknowledged.
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