"The Humble Approach Initiative (Templeton Foundation)

Artifacts discovered at Blombos Cave in South Africa by Christopher Henshilwood and his team of archaeologists: shell beads (top) and a red ochre rock engraved with geometric patterns.

In January, a dozen scholars gathered in Cape Town, South Africa for a four-day symposium entitled "Homo Symbolicus: The Dawn of Language, Imagination, and Spirituality." They were there to discuss the implications of a recent discovery that sent shock waves through the archaeological world: 75,000-year-old shell beads and engraved ochre found at the Blombos Cave, about 200 miles east of the meeting site. The beads and engravings provide fairly conclusive evidence of symbolic expression among human beings 40,000 years earlier than many researchers had thought possible.
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