The First Marks: Who made them and where did they come from?

Developed by cognitive archaeologist Derek Hodgson, the Neurovisual Resonance Theory proposes that early humans created "art" because certain visual patterns—like symmetry and repetitive marks —resonated with the structure of their brains. In other words, our ancestors weren’t just painting what they saw, they were painting what their brains were wired to respond to. This resonance comes from the way our visual cortex processes information. Over millions of years, humans evolved to detect movement and forms in complex environments. These survival skills shaped the way we see—and ultimately, the way we create.