Neanderthals create world’s first string
At 90,000 years old, the material purported to be string predates the arrival of Homo sapiens in Europe.
Europe
Early humans of Austria create the Venus of Galgenberg
The Venus of Galgenberg is one of the earliest examples of figurative art in Europe. The sculpture was discovered in 1988 close to Stratzing, Austria.
Châtelperronian culture flourishes in France
The Châtelperronian is a claimed industry of the Upper Palaeolithic that produced denticulate stone tools and also a distinctive flint knife with a single cutting edge and a blunt, curved back.
First known cave art created in modern-day Spain
One motif – a faint red dot – at El Castillo Cave in Spain is said to be more than 40,000 years old.
Homo sapiens settle island of Great Britain
The earliest direct evidence of Homo sapiens on Britain is a jaw fragment found in Kent’s Cavern, Devon estimated it to be at least 40,000 years old.
Human invent tally marks, their first numeral systems
Around 43,000 years ago, early humans carved the first tally marks into bone, inventing the earliest known numeral systems. This brilliant shift toward abstract mathematics allowed our ancestors to track lunar cycles and inventory resources. It laid the vital groundwork for modern mathematics, commerce, and advanced human societal planning.
Lion-man of the Hohlenstein-Stadel, the first known example of figurative art, is made
Discovered in 1939 at the Hohlenstein-Stadel cave in Germany, the 40,000-year-old “Lion-man” is the Aurignacian culture’s masterpiece. This ivory figure, requiring 400 hours to carve, proves early humans possessed the abstract imagination to create supernatural beings, marking the dawn of complex symbolism and mythology.
Humans intentionally use adhesives for the first time, perhaps in modern-day Italy
This groundbreaking innovation profoundly improved early human hunting and survival capabilities. The invention of glue allowed for the creation of superior composite tools. It laid the foundation for complex engineering and materials science thousands of years later.
The Azores are discovered, possibly by Vikings
Although it was traditionally believed that Portuguese explorers were the first humans to arrive on the Azores – an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the Macaronesia region of the North Atlantic Ocean – there is evidence to suggest otherwise. Researchers have discovered that 5-beta-stigmasterol is present in sediment samples from between 700 and 850 C.E. This compound is found in the feces of livestock, such as sheep and cattle, neither of which are native to the islands. Additionally, mice on the Azores were discovered to have mitochondrial DNA suggesting they first arrived from Northern Europe, suggesting that they were brought to the islands by Norwegian Vikings.