A member of the now-extinct hominid species Homo erectus engraved a geometric design on a sea shell nearly half a million years ago, long before the earliest evidence of comparable etchings made by modern humans, researchers say.
Fossil mussel shells excavated more than a century ago at an H. erectus site on the Indonesian island of Java include a shell with engravings of an M shape, two parallel lines and a reversed N shape, the scientists report December 3 in Nature. Another shell contains an intentionally sharpened edge with a polished surface, indicating it was used as a cutting or scraping tool, they say.
