Old Flames: Rekindling ideas of fire, humanity and representation through creative art practice

For millennia, art has played a fundamental role in the conceptualisation and communication of knowledge regarding human origins. There are various ways in which art and artists have become a persistent influence, both as subjects and producers, upon the visions of early human life with which we are most familiar. Several writers have specifically noted how ideas and debates about human origins have been encapsulated as imagery, often generating inaccurate and/or ideologically-loaded stereotypes. Scenes of art production are amongst the more commonly portrayed pursuits associated with early modern humans, in fact the imaging of art creation may be regarded as ‘representing the ultimate development in our evolution’. Various attempts to decolonise archaeological practice and human origins research have been discussed amongst archaeologists, anthropologists and historians. Images are integral to the practice of archaeology and art has played an important role in the formulation of ideas about human origins.