Our ability to think and act using symbols – and to make art as a result – is an integral part of being human.

In South Africa the development of artistic activity has left a visible trace of our evolution, establishing it as one of the places where our ancestors first became fully human.



The story begins around 3 million years ago, with objects that were collected and valued for their appearance. This continued in the deliberate shaping of objects to make them aesthetically pleasing, forerunners of true artistic traditions that began 100,000 years ago.



From at least 77,000 years ago, people began to decorate objects and their own bodies and, eventually, to produce two-dimensional paintings and engravings of humans and animals. This archaeological evidence identifies South Africa as one of the cradles of humankind, and is an important part of the country’s national identity.



The Makapansgat Pebble is an early piece of evidence for hominid curiosity. It was found in a cave with the remains of early human ancestors, Australopithecus africanus, which are 3 million years old. The stone is not from the cave but was brought there from a site many miles away.

It was not used as a tool but was perhaps valued and kept by its collector because the natural features on both sides look like faces, which were aesthetically pleasing. This could be called ‘found art’, a practice that many contemporary artists employ today.



The deep artistic past is important in contemporary South Africa because it identifies the country as one of the locations where modern human behaviour began. Archaeological evidence, such as the Makapansgat Pebble, also shows it as one of the places where the modern human body developed. This means that we are all descended from Africa, both in terms of our bodily structure and in the way that we act, think and feel.

Some contemporary artists have found inspiration in the celebration of southern Africa as one of the places where modern humans evolved.

This computer-generated image was created for a 1985 poster celebrating the 60th anniversary of the discovery of the skull of a child that’s 2.5 million years old, known as the Taung Child. This child was the same species of early human ancestor as the individual who collected the Makapansgat Pebble.

The discovery of the Taung Child provided evidence that humanity’s earliest ancestors evolved first in Africa and not in Europe as previously believed. Nel has a long-held interest in the interface between art and science and his image drew upon the most advanced computer technology of the time. It subtly links the skills of the palaeontologist, the artist and the computer software designer.



See cutting-edge contemporary works alongside some of the earliest examples of human creativity in our special exhibition South Africa: the art of a nation (27 October 2016 – 26 February 2017).



The Makapansgat Pebble. Collected about 3 million years ago. On loan from Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.



Exhibition sponsored by Betsy and Jack Ryan

Logistics partner IAG Cargo

Karel Nel (b. 1955), Taung, Early computer-generated image, 1985. Artist’s collection. © Karel Nel.

