Nowadays signs—in one form or another—can be found nearly everywhere, be it the door of a huge shopping mall or a lonesome road in the middle of nowhere. But what was the first sign ever created, one might wonder?
Well, it might be difficult to determine exactly that, but the symbols in caves dating as far back as the Ice Age are likely to be among the first ones, at least. Canadian paleoarchaeologist Genevieve von Petzinger explored such caves in great detail and revealed that the symbol, which is considered to be the oldest example of cave art (roughly 41,000 years old), is painted inside a rock formation in El Castillo, Spain. “It’s the size of a teacup’s saucer,” she pointed out to TED.
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Genevieve von Petzinger also revealed that there are 32 symbols that can be found in ancient caves all over Europe. Such a discovery wasn’t made in a day, though. Over a decade ago, the paleoarchaeologist started her mission of systematically cataloging the geometric signs in caves all over the continent.
One of the paleoarchaeologist’s very first steps was compiling a database of geometric signs that were found at roughly 370 known rock art sites across Europe. Then, in 2013 and 2014, von Petzinger continued her exploration focusing on caves in Spain, Portugal, France, and Italy, recording the details of geometric signs in 52 of them.
Ted reports that after finishing with the fieldwork, the expert analyzed the catalog she put together and found that 32 signs repeated themselves across the span of 30,000 years and the entire continent of Europe. “That really small number tells you that they must have been meaningful to the people who were using them, because they were replicating them,” von Petzinger suggested.
Among the 32 signs documented by von Petzinger, there are dots, asterisks, spirals and a thing called ‘negative hands’. The latter refers to a negative image of a handprint, which is considered to be one of the oldest and the most popular signs of the time (roughly 22,000 - 40,000 years ago).
Nowadays, common signs and symbols exceed 32, but some are still known across entire continents if not even further. Let’s take another symbol of a hand, for instance, the Hamsa, popular throughout North Africa and in the Middle East, which is believed to bring good luck, protection, and good health.
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If you’re wondering why the “change my mind” bit sounds somewhat familiar, it's because a sign saying exactly that became an internet sensation back in 2018. That’s when, according to Know Your Meme, American-Canadian podcaster Steven Crowder uploaded a picture on his Twitter account of him seated by the table with the renowned phrase written on it outside of Texas Christian University.
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Seemingly dating as far back as the Ice Age, signs have long been helping people express themselves and their opinions. Such a way of communicating ideas never seemed to have lost its relevance, as it is still vastly used today, whether in the shape of a piece of cardboard saying that the one holding it loves Harry or Taylor or a thought-provoking sign ending with a “change my mind”.
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The uploaded picture was reportedly part of Steven's podcast and YouTube series, where he tries to have people with opposing views discuss various issues with him. Even though the sign in the original picture read “Male privilege is a myth / Change my mind”, it soon became a template—an empty canvas, if you will—for people to let their imagination run free and insert whatever they feel is worth discussing.