Author Description

The First Canvases: The Untold Global Story of Prehistoric Art and Human Creativity100,000 Years of Cave Paintings, Ancient Symbols, and Monumental Masterpieces That Shaped the Human MindDiscover the world's oldest masterpieces - and the story they tell about who we are.Long before cities, writing, or kingdoms, our distant ancestors left a trail of images that still speak to us: pigment on cave walls, carved figurines, painted skulls, and stone circles aligned with the sun. The First Canvases is the definitive, globe-spanning journey into that silent, astonishing world. This richly illustrated and science-driven account rewrites the history of human creativity - revealing art as the spark that helped shape modern minds and societies.Why readers love this book: Truly global: Moves beyond a Eurocentric story to include Sulawesi, Blombos, Bhimbetka, the Australian rock art tradition, Göbekli Tepe, Newgrange, and more.Science-first history: Explains the cutting-edge dating methods (Uranium-Thorium, luminescence, radiocarbon) that pushed prehistoric art back tens of thousands of years.Rich storytelling: Combines archaeological detective work, cognitive science, and cultural context to make complex discoveries accessible and compelling.Multilayered interpretations: Presents competing theories-from shamanism and sympathetic magic to self-portrait and survival-symbol-so you can judge the evidence yourself.Inside you'll discover: Immersive tours of the great sanctuaries (Chauvet, Lascaux, Altamira) and the dramatic techniques artists used to animate rock and stone.Breakthrough discoveries from Sulawesi and Africa that prove the creative impulse was global and ancient.A deep dive into the Venus figurines, the world's first temples at Göbekli Tepe, and the engineering genius behind megaliths like Stonehenge and Newgrange.Practical, readable guides to the scientific tools that establish chronology - and what those dates tell us about human thought and ritual.A clear Chronologic