Outrage Over Discovery of Ancient Ostrich Eggshells, Revealing Early Human Intelligence

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - Early humans apparently possessed highly creative, structured, and geometric ways of thinking as far back as around 60,000 years ago, based on the discovery of intricately engraved fragments of ostrich eggshells in southern Africa on Tuesday (24/03/2026). The fragments, first described in 2010, were not scribbled haphazardly like doodles in a notebook, but etched with deliberately geometric features such as grid and diamond patterns. This design was analysed in a new study by researchers in Italy, providing a bridge across eras and insights into the minds of our human ancestors. Archaeologist from the University of Bologna and senior author of the study, Silvia Ferrara, said these markings reveal a surprisingly structured geometric way of thinking. “We are talking about people who did not just draw lines, but arranged them according to repeating principles, namely parallelism, grids, rotation, and systematic repetition: a visual grammar in embryonic form,” Ferrara stated in an article written by ScienceAlert, as quoted on Tuesday (24/3/2026). To decipher the geometric grammar used by the eggshell decorators, the researchers analysed the spatial arrangement of marks on 112 engraved ostrich eggshell fragments. Found at two rock shelter sites in South Africa and one cave site in southern Namibia, these intact shells may have been used in their heyday as water containers, as some foragers in the region still do today. The researchers examined nearly 1,300 etched lines on the shell fragments and concluded that their makers demonstrated a striking level of cognitive organisation. More than 80 percent of the etchings showed coherent spatial regularity with designs rich in parallelism, right angles, and repetition of lines and patterns, where more complex creations featured hatched bands, grids, and diamond motifs. These designs provide evidence that early humans not only had steady hands but also creative minds capable of cognitive operations such as rotation, translation, and embedding that transform simple lines into diverse creations and hierarchical designs. This serves as concrete proof of the cognitive foundations necessary for the emergence of abstract thinking, namely the ability to conceptualise things beyond one’s personal experience, including things that cannot be seen or may not exist. Silvia Ferrara emphasised that these engravings are organised and consistent, demonstrating mastery of geometric relationships. “There is not only a process of repeating marks: there is real visual-spatial planning, as if the engraver already had an overall image of the figure in mind before carving it,” said Ferrara. Although it is unclear whether these designs had deeper esoteric meanings, this finding highlights a crucial advancement in human thought evolution that laid the groundwork for a future filled with art and invention. The analysis shows that Homo sapiens 60,000 years ago already possessed extraordinary abilities to organise visual space according to abstract principles. PhD student at the University of Bologna and first author of the study, Valentina Decembrini, explained that transforming simple shapes into complex systems by following clear rules is a profoundly human trait. “This trait has characterised our history for thousands of years, from the creation of decorations to the development of symbolic systems and, ultimately, writing,” stated Decembrini.