Geometric marks carved into Paleolithic tools and figurines were not random decoration. A new computational analysis shows that Ice Age humans used these repeated sequences of dots, lines, and notches to encode information.
Published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers examined more than 3,000 signs found on 260 objects dating between 34,000 and 45,000 years ago and found that the sequences follow consistent statistical patterns. Their informational structure is comparable to early proto-cuneiform tablets (some of the earliest known writing records from ancient Mesopotamia) — not because they represent spoken language, but because they share similar levels of repetition and predictability.