ARCHAEOLOGY has long suffered from a colonial hangover. The sophisticated prehistoric art of France, Spain and Germany fitted nicely with the notion that Europe must have been the cradle of human culture – the location of a "creative explosion" 40,000 years ago, supposedly spurred by a mutation that gave Europeans advanced cognitive powers. Somehow this trait then spread to humans elsewhere.
We now know that this is Eurocentric bias. A new appreciation of the archaeology of Africa and Asia shows that culture goes much further back (see "Art's early dawn: When intelligence really began"). It also appears that Europe's creative explosion had nothing to do with genes, but was probably a cultural consequence of a population boom.
But it is important not to get carried away. The artistic culture of Europe 40,000 years ago was utterly remarkable. That doesn't mean that Europeans were inherently superior then or now – but it is an interesting empirical fact that is worthy of further investigation. What were the social processes that led to it? Avoiding the prejudices of old is a noble aim – as long as it doesn't get in the way of the truth.
This article appeared in print under the headline "Europe, capital of culture?"
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