The first artists?
The search for the first artists is featured in the January 2015 issue of National Geographic magazine. It is claimed that the greatest innovation in human history was the invention of symbolic expression by the first artists. What evidence did the archaeologists find? How was it interpreted? And what assumptions did they make?
The evidence
The archaeologists searched in caves which may have been occupied many years ago for the earliest expression of symbolic expression. Evidence is presented from caves in Europe (Spain, France, Germany, Czech Republic), Africa (Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Africa, Namibia), Russia, the Middle East (Israel) and Indonesia.
The human artifacts they found included drawings on cave walls, pigment, engraved shells, engraved stones, bone tools, stone tools, sculpture, pierced shells used as beads, pierced and grooved animal teeth worn as pendants, and musical instruments (flutes).
The evidence shows that sometime in the past people occupied these areas and they were capable of crafting tools and works of art.
The interpretations
The archaeologists dated the findings and related them to stages in human development and technology. The dates ranged between 5,000 and 265,000 years ago. They assign the first symbolic expressions in Africa and the Middle East to the middle Paleolithic (middle Stone Age) (40,000 to 265,000 years ago). Then abstract and realistic art is said to be more widespread in Africa and Eurasia in the upper Paleolithic (late Stone Age) (40,000 to 5,000 years ago).
The assumptions
The findings were interpreted by radiometric dating and the evolutionary model of human development. Samples were taken from cave art and from the sediments associated with artifacts for radiometric dating. The results of such dating is always interpreted in terms of the evolutionary model.
It’s unfortunate that these assumptions are not mentioned by the National Geographic. Instead they document the dates as a scientific fact with little uncertainty. This is an example of circular reasoning where these dates are used to support the evolutionary model.
What does the Bible say?
The Bible gives an eye-witness account of ancient history. After all, its message came from the God who created everything (2 Tim. 3:16).
The Bible says that God created the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, separate to the animals (Gen. 2:7, 21-23). This means that the idea of evolution, where apes are the ancestors of people, doesn’t match this historical record.
The Bible also says that the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, were capable of symbolic expression. Adam named the animals (Gen. 2:19-20). Adam and Eve communicated via spoken language (Gen. 3:12-13). Vocabulary and language involve symbolic expression. As they were created in the image of a creative God, they were creative from the beginning (Gen 1:27). Because they were creative, they could craft tools and art.
In the beginning Adam and Eve had a perfect human genome, with no mutations. But since they disobeyed God, more mutations have accumulated with each human generation. So their physical bodies and minds were superior to ours, which is opposite to the idea of evolution.
The next generation was also capable of symbolic expression. Cain built a city (Gen. 4:17). The design and construction of buildings in a city involves symbolic expression.
In the seventh and eighth generations they played stringed instruments and pipes and forged with bronze and iron Gen. 4:21-22). Music and metal work involve symbolic expression.
So according to the Bible, creativity and symbolic expression are intrinsic to humanity. National Geographic says “creativity made us human”. But they have it back to front, as Biblical history says being human makes us creative. The Bible also asserts that humans don’t have any animal ancestors.
Caves
Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc cave in a limestone cliff in southern France contains stunning figurative cave paintings. Spain’s Altamira cave in the top of a limestone hill also contains spectacular cave art.
According to Wikipedia:
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). Most limestone is composed of skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera. Limestone makes up about 10% of the total volume of all sedimentary rocks. The solubility of limestone in water and weak acid solutions leads to karst landscapes, in which water erodes the limestone over thousands to millions of years. Most cave systems are through limestone bedrock.
According to the historical record in the Bible, most of the earth’s sedimentary rock would have formed during the global flood about 2,350 BC (Gen. 6-8). Also, mankind didn’t disperse from the Middle East until after the tower of Babel in about 2,200 BC (Gen. 11:1-9). This means that all the cave art in the world wouldn’t be more than 4,200 years old and older dates inferred for these by the archaeologists are erroneous.
Conclusion
The radiometric data presented by National Geographic in “The first artists” don’t match Biblical history. This indicates that radiometric data is unreliable when interpreted in terms of the evolutionary model. The reason for this is that the idea of evolution is inconsistent with Biblical history. After all, recorded history trumps science, particularly in the case of ancient history.
According to the Bible, Adam and Eve were the first artists and all the cave art that has been discovered was painted after the dispersion of mankind from the Middle East about 4,200 years ago.
Written, January 2015
Also see: Using history and science to investigate ancient times
Cavemen in the Bible
George's Journal 
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