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In the Eurasian Upper Paleolithic after about 35,000 years ago, abstract or depictional images provide evidence for cognitive abilities considered integral to modern human behavior. Here we report on two abstract representations engraved on pieces of red ochre recovered from the Middle Stone Age layers at Blombos Cave in South Africa. A mean date of 77,000 years was obtained for the layers containing the engraved ochres by thermoluminescence dating of burnt lithics, and the stratigraphic integrity was confirmed by an optically stimulated luminescence age of 70,000 years on an overlying dune. These engravings support the emergence of modern human behavior in Africa at least 35,000 years before the start of the Upper Paleolithic. International audience

Dating Cave Paintings A number of caves in Europe contain exquisite ancient art. Most of the art has been thought to be produced during the time of last glaciation by recently arrived modern humans, but dating of the art has been problematic because the art contains only minimal amounts of carbon for radiocarbon dating. Pike et al. (p. 1409 ; see the cover; see the Perspective by Hellstrom ) have now obtained U-series dates on the calcite crusts that formed over the art from 11 caves in northwestern Spain. The ages from three caves are older than 35,000 years ago, and one dates to nearly 41,000 years ago. The earliest art used primarily red and was relatively formless; animal depictions appeared later. This dating is near the time of the arrival of modern humans and, because Neandertals were also present, complicates identifying the artists.

Jonathan Stalling and Maghiel van Crevel talk about the “wild and crazy” mainland Chinese poetry scene, insiders and outsiders and shifting positions, learning Chinese over and over again, (not) be...

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That a national play, explicitly or implicitly, can be critical of both national thought and identity too is illustrated Herman Heijermans’s The Good Hope (1900). The Good Hope displays the poor living conditions of and the dependency of the common people in a pittoresque fishing village. The play focuses on the people and folk culture and has an extensive performance history which is meticulously analysed. It becomes clear that against the background of all the recent discussion about Dutch identity the play is inextricably bound up with the history of Dutch culture, and with the history of Dutch painting and the Dutch landscape as well.

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