Oldest book, first cartoon, and other oldest cultural artifacts of its kind

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Art is one of the defining traits of humanity, and the creation of art uses a whole set of skills that are unique to Homo Sapiens: pattern recognition, visual and motor coordination, opposed thumbs, and the ability to plan. Art, including paintings, stories and music, was used by prehistoric people long before writing was invented, and since then, each culture has developed its own versions of art. But in every kind of art there was always something first, from which it all began.

1. First cartoon (1908)

The roots of animation can be traced back to the 1650s with the magic lanterns of the time. In the 1800s, this genre began to evolve with the advent of optical illusion devices such as the thaumatrope, zootrope, and cineograph. Then, when the film was invented, some films had a few seconds of animation inserted among the actual frames. The first fully animated film (cartoon) was created only in 1908 by the French cartoonist Emile Kohl and it was called "Phantasmagoria". In total, Kohl used 700 shots and it took him several weeks to complete the cartoon. Phantasmagoria lasts about 80 seconds and has no specific storyline. It starts with a hand drawing the main character, and then this character goes through various fairy-tale adventures, which are constantly transformed into other bizarre scenes.

2. First feature film (1903)

The technology that later led to motion pictures began to develop in the 1880s, and the first films were essentially documentaries. For example, two of the most famous early films were a tape showing a train arriving at a station and an 18-second video of people kissing. Also, due to technology limitations, early films tended to be less than a minute long and usually only showed one scene.

The film that changed all this, becoming the first feature film with a plot, was a short story, The Great Train Robbery. The 12-minute film, directed by Thomas Edison and directed by Edwin Porter, tells the story of four gangsters who rob a passenger train and then die in a chase and shootout.

The Great Train Robbery revolutionized the film industry for several reasons. This was the first time many different technologies were used. It was also the first action movie and western.

3. First comic strip (1827)

Today everyone is used to comics about superheroes, but the world's first comic book had nothing to do with them. It is generally believed that it was "The Adventures of Obadia Oldbuck", 40 pages with 6-12 drawings each, created by the Swiss artist Rudolf Tepfer in 1827. There were no word bubbles flying out of the characters' mouths; instead, the text was written below the picture.

The comic tells the story of Obadia Oldbuck, who fell in love with a very plump woman who later lost weight. By hook or by crook, he is trying to ensure that his passion returned to its former forms. Critics at the time, not even Toepfer himself, did not believe the work would be groundbreaking. They just thought it would be "reading" for children and illiterate people of the "lower classes".

4. First photograph (1826)

With the advent of digital cameras, photography has become an integral part of life. In 2013, 250 billion images were uploaded to Facebook, and 350 million new photos were added every day. And this is only one social network, in how many there are. The popularity of photographs can be traced back to the Frenchman Nicephore Niepce and his invention, the camera obscura.

The problem with the pinhole camera was that it took eight hours of exposure to fix the image, and usually the image then faded over time. One of the few surviving first photographs in the world - "View from the window at Le Gras", taken by Niepce in 1826.

5. Theater play (472 BC)

It is believed that the plays were developed by the ancient Greeks, and at first they showed only one character, who was called the protagonist. The actor, who has always been a man, stood in front of a group of people called a “choir,” and the choir asked the protagonist questions to develop the plot.

The first to add a second character to the play was the famous Greek playwright Aeschylus. He is also the author of the oldest surviving complete piece, The Persians, which was first performed in 472 BC. There are four characters in this tragedy, and it tells the story of Atossa, the mother of Xerxes, who awaits the return of her son from his trip to Greece. The main theme of the play is that even the most powerful states can be destroyed due to aggression.

6. Oldest Book (600 BC)

The oldest multi-page book consists of six linked pages made of 24-karat gold and held together by rings. The book was found over 70 years ago in a cave near the Struma River in southwestern Bulgaria. It contains illustrations and symbols for things such as the horseman, soldier, lyre, and mermaid.

The book, dating back to 600 BC, was created by the Etruscans, who are considered one of the most mysterious ancient peoples of Europe. They are believed to have migrated from Lydia (modern-day Turkey) and settled in Northern and Central Italy about 3000 years ago. Unfortunately, many of the Etruscan records were destroyed by the Romans, who conquered them in the fourth century BC. A total of 30 similar gold plates have been found around the world, but none of them are tied together like the golden book of the Etruscans.

7. Oldest extant poem (2100 BC)

Although poems are most often associated with love and romance today, they were first used to tell stories. The oldest surviving poem, which is also the oldest literary work, is the Epic of Gilgamesh by the ancient Sumerians. The poem, written on 12 stone tablets (which have not survived completely), describes the former ruler of Sumer, who ruled the city of Uruk in Mesopotamia. Although it is believed that Gilgamesh was a real person, the story of him written on the tablets is fictional.

The poem describes Gilgamesh as a demigod, great builder, warrior and sage. He fights a savage named Enkidu who lived among animals and was created by a god. Gilgamesh wins and they become friends, and then both go on a series of crazy adventures like killing a magic bull and surviving a huge flood.

In 2011, the Sulaymaniyah Museum in Kurdistan acquired 60-70 tablets from smugglers, among which another 20 lines of the world's oldest poem were found on one.

8. Oldest extant song (3400 BC)

Music has always been a part of everyday life for many people, because it has an amazing ability to excite a wide range of emotions in a person.

It is believed that humans invented music as a way to bring people together in a community, which was incredibly important in early hunter-gatherer groups. A sense of community with fellow tribesmen was important because everyone needed to work as a team in order to survive.

Before writing was invented, most songs were transmitted orally, so much of the early music was lost. The oldest piece of the song was found in the early 1950s in Ugarit, Syria. It was written on a clay tablet by the Hurrians, who disappeared by the end of the second millennium BC.

9. The oldest surviving sculpture (33,000 - 38,000 BC)

In 2008, in southwestern Germany, archaeologists found the oldest sculpture in the world, which is estimated to be between 35,000 and 40,000 years old. The statue, named Venus from Hole Fels, is finger-sized and carved from the tusk of a mammoth.

The statuette is made in the form of the body of a hypertrophied woman; she has no arms, legs or head, but it is easy to see very large breasts, buttocks and genitals. Today, the purpose of this sculpture is no longer known. Some argue that it is a representation of fertility and reproduction, while others believe that it is a symbol of health and longevity. But until people invent a time machine and learn to speak the language of the Aurignacian culture, probably no one will know what the sculpture really meant or what it was used for.

10. Oldest painting (37,000 - 39,000 BC)

It is believed that humans first appeared in Africa about 200,000 years ago. About 50,000 years ago, they migrated to the territory of modern Australia, stopping on the island of Sulawesi (Indonesia) on the way, where the most ancient cave drawings were found. Today, with the help of modern methods based on the decay of uranium, the age of the substance that has covered the drawings for thousands of years has been verified. It is a calcite mineral that is formed when water flows through limestone in a cave. The results of the study showed that some of the paintings are at least 39,000 years old.

The most ancient rock paintings are hand stencils. Artists created them by placing their hand on the roof or wall of a cave and spraying dye over the top, leaving the outline of the hand.

Another painting found in the cave, dated 35,400 years old, depicts a Babirus animal. It is possibly the oldest known figurative drawing in the world.