To the Editor:

Re “Cave Contains World’s Oldest Figurative Art, Dating Back Over 40,000 Years” (news article, Nov. 8):

As the political sniping continues after the midterms and the Democrats anoint themselves saviors of the country they claim is broken, it is a welcome distraction to read about an era long past and the enthusiasts who investigate it.

Using a new dating method that measures the deterioration of minerals in a clear cave wall coating with the lovely name of flowstone, archaeologists can say that certain hand stencils and drawings of animals found in mountain caves in Borneo are at least 40,000 years old.

As these hunter-gatherers settled and their populations grew, it is thought that they may have used art to communicate, teach and build community. Today many schools view arts education as outside of core skill requirements and are cutting it from the curriculum.

The discoveries in Borneo remind us that artistic expression has always been an essential part of what it means to be human.

Margaret McGirr
Greenwich, Conn.

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