Where does early man's sense of beauty come from?

Question

I hope you're not laughing at me, I just wonder what evolutionary significance an aesthetic sense would have- what made them want to paint, draw, adorn themselves, their weapons, etc.

Answer 1

Early man's brain came wired that way from birth.

Answer 2

Same as now. The smell and look of survival vs smell of death and sickness.

Answer 3

Aesthetics aren’t just about looks, form has function and symbolizes things about the wearer or user, such as wealth, social position, age, belief system even fertility and fecundity.

Adornment functions as a symbol of material wealth, and overall, luster seems to have been highly valued in most ancient civilizations. Bling has always been bling.

A heavily adorned man might have attracted more followers or romantic partners due to their outward display of wealth. People might be more apt to believe in the leadership of a person who might, in turn lead them towards resources.

The less functional the wear's adornment or trappings, the more specialized that person's role within a society was. e.g. a ruler or a spiritual leader. Since their wear was more about expressive form than daily function, it was symbolic of their position and the amount of wealth and effort it took to sustain their appearance, both symbolic of a functional economy.

Some women, ( and men ) , still grow their nails to various lengths under the guise of fashion, when it's a matter of similar symbolism, that of leading a lifestyle that permits superfluous growth upon the typical human's main survival assets; their hands! Like long hair, think of this as a "desirable nuisance".

A smooth skinned, delicate person in prehistory would have been an anomaly, or an extreme social specialist, as the rigors of the environment were ever active in shaping the body.  

This to effect might be why light skin ( indoor leisure) was once so desirable  and soft and smooth skin still is; it symbolizes detachment from the physical world.  Now, since post- industrialites spend so much time indoors with machines, a good tan and fitness symbolizes what paleness and delicateness once did!

Biologically, a person's prime reproductive years are expressions of what we might call beauty as defined by the media. We have found prehistoric venus figures with exaggerated b*****s and hip lipid stores that symbolize reproductive fertility. I do recall a study in which South American tribesmen were asked to rate pictures of women for attractiveness. They often choose the same characteristics just mentioned stating that they were "healthy", instead of beautiful. They equate health to beauty, a bit of a contrast to the waifishness that is valued in fashion today, but again , an obvious indication of the lifestyle and developmental differences between their culture and ours.

Answer 4

Early man was probably a lot less concerned with beauty and a lot more concerned with which early woman wasn't already claimed, or which early man he can beat up to take his early woman.

I highly doubt they had any concept of beauty or romance or the like.

Answer 5

Beauty in other humans was related to capacity of surviving better and having more and stronger children, for example, men should be tall and strong and women should have large hips, which meant they would be better at giving birth, this concept of beauty still exists today. Beauty in objects was probably at first connected to their utility, a well made spear, for instance, was more beautiful than a poorly made one, as it would be better for hunting, some other objects could be beautiful for being connected to something that was beautiful or reminded people of well being or pleasure, for example, animal paintings could remind them of abundance of food. These are my theories anyways...

Answer 6

I think this goes back further than mankind, this is about finding a mate and passing your genes on to the next generation.

This is like the stag with the biggest horns getting to mate with the females. This is the same as the frog with the loudest croak getting the girls. This is the same as a bird's song or the lion's mane or a baboon's red bum. They are all signals to the opposite s*x that say "I am a fit, desirable and powerful animal. I'm beautiful, mate with me."

Check out the bowerbird on this page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowerbird

This should give you ideas about how all animals have a sense of beauty. This is so deep in our evolutionary past that it is somewhere in our genes. It probably goes back to the dawn of life in some limited form or other.

Answer 7

from his dad's side of the family.

Answer 8

The best explanation so far I have seen from readings is perception of beauty is the convergence of human perception towards "symmetry"....

Just as the human body itself (outside) and most things in nature are symmetric.A vast number of objects that might appear beautiful but are asymmetric  has a keen sense of symmetry from a subconscious perspetive when they are deemed as pleasant to the sence of vision.

Answer 9

Yes, that wouldn't make sense under evolution, would it?