Jasper cobble found at Makapansgat, South Africa, in 1925, in a site where the presence of Australopithecus africanus, one of the earliest forms of human ancestors, has been ascertained. It is dated at a period between 2.9 and 2.5 million years B.P. This object is not produced by the intervention of man, but it has been modified by natural forces, that have given it a shape that reminds of a human face. Since the material was not available on the site, but it comes from a place located at about four kilometres away, it could be supposed that ancient hominids found it, gathered and kept it for reasons that remain unknown (Bednarik 2013). One cannot avoid, however, to notice that the appearance of the object seems to recall a human skull or a mask, suggesting that it could have been regarded as the “visualization” of a transcendent being (ancestor or spirit). The object is kept in the Natural History Museum of London.

[Image: http://people.ucls.uchicago.edu/~bwildem/art_hist_laba/prehistoris.html]