Re: Cave sculptures go on display for first time in 15,000 years

First painting, and now sculpture; is it any wonder white people think
their race is superior?

Its not as if realism was impossible for Africans.
http://www.africadirect.com/productsdesc.php?ID=18425 and
http://www.flickr.com/photos/avmobley/page5/ shows us some of the 12th
century Yoruba work from Ife. In the middle ages, Ife in Benin was
doing portraiture better than anyone in Europe at the time.

But then, the power structure collapsed, and they all went back to the
usual 'primitive' art. And in France we see modern realism going on in
the paleolithic.... which then disappears, only to re-emerge later,
fall with Rome, and then arise yet again in the Rennaisance.

The ongoing work of Ramachandran on the occipital lobes suggests there
are neurological reasons for this that are written in the DNA. Whether
this is "superior" is a matter of your artistic sensibilies. i've
raised cattle, and was struck by the powers of observation shown in
the last image. Those are not the legs of cows or bulls, but yearlings
whose feet do not yet have to support the massive weight, and so
because of the tendons, tend to walk on "tippy toes".

This attention to detail led to a host of innovations.
.