When did we begin to create images and, more importantly, find tangible meaning in them? How did this conceptual leap lay the groundwork for our modern, visually oriented culture? This program investigates when and why humanity underwent what archaeologists call the “creative explosion” and invented pictorial art. Beginning with the Altamira cave paintings in Spain, the film addresses questions surrounding the emergence of Paleolithic art and the idea that recognizing and creating images is a learned, not inherent, human behavior. Shifting to the rock paintings of southern Africa’s San Bushmen, then to Turkey’s Gobekli Tepe stone monuments, the program spotlights a visual vocabulary that unites much of prehistoric art. A BBC/KCET Co-production. A part of the series How Art Made the World. (47 minutes)