In a deep black pit lies a prone figure menaced by an enraged and partially disemboweled bison. Head back, eyes wide, arms and fingers outspread, the man in the cave at Lascaux, France, confronts the knowledge of death. This drawing, the world’s oldest narrative depiction of a human being, may convey one man’s mortal surprise and sorrow, but it also seems to say something momentous about humanity. French philosopher Georges Bataille proposed that it reveals the instant, some 17, 000 This story is from Kinfolk Issue Twenty-Eight Buy Now Related Stories Arts & Culture Food Issue 47 Object Matters An itemized history of the menu. Arts & Culture Issue 46 Future Proof How not to become a cultural dinosaur. Arts & Culture Issue 36 Rebecca Horn The German conceptual artist Rebecca Horn has spent a half-century using fans, feathers and curious masks to extend the human body. Arts & Culture Issue 33 Object Matters A zip through history. Arts & Culture Issue 29 Stay Woke Human hibernation is the stuff of fairytales. Is it also the key to space travel? Arts & Culture Issue 27 In Defense of Loneliness Harriet Fitch Little shines a light on one of life’s most concealed emotions.
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