Where wonder began
73,000 years ago — on the southern coast of what is now South Africa.
It was an ordinary day.
The cave had seen thousands of days just like this one.
The sea breathed in and out against the rocks.
Smoke drifted lazily through the air.
The smell of salt, earth, and ash filled the cave.
Children's voices echoed against the stone walls.
Time moved slowly here.
Inside the cave, an older man sat quietly grinding a piece of red ochre against a flat stone.
The rhythmic scraping blended into the sounds around him.
For generations, its deep red pigment had been used to colour skin and prepare animal hides.
The sea.
The wind.
The fire.
The cave.
Everything was as it had always been.
Until he drew.
Artistic recreation — engraved ochre, Blombos Cave, South Africa (c. 73,000 years old).
9,000 years later, nearly 8,500 kilometres away, ice covered much of Europe.
In what is now Spain, a Neanderthal woman sat before the wall of a limestone cave.
She placed her hand against the rock.
Someone beside her held a torch.
Another covered her hand with red ochre.
When she pulled her hand away...
something remained.
Artistic recreation — hand stencil, Maltravieso Cave, Spain (c. 64,000 years old).
Wonder didn't stop there.
Almost twenty thousand years later, on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.
Perhaps it went something like this.
A young boy grabbed his spear and followed.
"You're staying," said an elder.
He watched the hunters disappear into the forest.
Unable to resist, he wandered into the trees on his own.
Then he saw it.
The biggest wild pig he had ever seen.
He didn't move.
Neither did the pig.
For a few moments, they watched each other.
Then it disappeared into the forest.
By sunset, the hunters returned.
They carried a pig across their shoulders.
The boy looked at it.
A small smile crossed his face.
"The one I saw was twice as big."
No one believed him.
So that evening, while the doubt still stung, he ground ochre.
Artistic recreation — pig painting, Leang Tedongnge, Sulawesi (c. 45,500 years old).
Science stops where evidence ends.
The rest belongs to imagination.
Every child's drawing proudly carried home.
Every shell slipped into a pocket.
Every rock turned over.
Every stick turned into something else.
Every tree climbed.
Every feather picked up.
Every butterfly followed.
They all carry a faint echo of those who came before us.
Quietly asking us to notice.
Because long before every discovery...
there was wonder.