Overview
- The peer‑reviewed analysis catalogued more than 3,000 crosses, dots, and lines on about 260 objects from Schwäbische Alb caves dated roughly 34,000 to 45,000 years ago.
- Information‑theoretic measures, including entropy and repetition patterns, indicate the sequences are structured and not random decoration.
- The marks are too repetitive to encode spoken language, yet their statistical properties closely match proto‑cuneiform administrative notations.
- Sign placement varies by object type, with crosses observed on animals and tools but not humanlike figures, and dots on figurines but not tools, suggesting deliberate symbolic distinctions.
- The authors caution that specific meanings remain unknown and report plans to apply their methods to other European finds to narrow possible interpretations.