Do these handprints show humanity's earliest creative instinct?

Debate rages over whether markings can be considered art

20211203 ZhangMain

Guangzhou University geologist David Zhang with the handprint and footprint "Art Panel" in Quesang, Tibet, made during Earth's last ice age, between 169,000 and 226,000 years ago. (Photos courtesy of David Zhang)

PAVAN SHAMDASANI, Contributing writer

QUESSANG, Tibet -- Until recently, the ancient hand and footprints embedded deep into a boulder high up on the Tibetan Plateau -- their origins unknown but seemingly composed with deliberate intent -- have gone unnoted by academic researchers.

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