Humans are a story-telling species. The stories we tell ourselves and each other guide how we live in and relate to the world. They are the social technology through which we make sense of the world and give meaning to our lived experiences. Like the mycelium that runs below our feet, stories are everywhere, threading and reshaping our reality,... See more

The earliest attempt at communication was through cave paintings, the earliest of which have been dated at more than 40,000 years old. In this period, known as the Upper Paleolithic, paintings appeared in places as far apart as Western Europe and Indonesia. These earliest representations were hand stencils and simple geometric shapes. It was around

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One hundred thousand years ago at Blombos Cave on the South African coast, one of humanity’s first workshops flourished. It processed a liquified ochre-rich mixture – used for multiple purposes, including religious, medicinal, and for group identification – and stored it in abalone shells. Production involved a multi-step process, starting with a... See more