In at least 400 European caves such as Lascaux, Chauvet and Altamira, Upper Palaeolithic Homo sapiens groups drew, painted and engraved non-figurative signs from at least ~42,000 bp and figurative images (notably animals) from at least 37,000 bp. Since their discovery ~150 years ago, the purpose or meaning of European Upper Palaeolithic non-figurative signs has eluded researchers. Despite this, specialists assume that they were notational in some way. Using a database of images spanning the European Upper Palaeolithic, we suggest how three of the most frequently occurring signs—the line <|>, the dot <•>, and the <Y>—functioned as units of communication. We demonstrate that when found in close association with images of animals the line <|> and dot <•> constitute numbers denoting months, and form constituent parts of a local phenological/meteorological calendar beginning in spring and recording time from this point in lunar months. We also demonstrate that the <Y> sign, one of the most frequently occurring signs in Palaeolithic non-figurative art, has the meaning <To Give Birth>. The position of the <Y> within a sequence of marks denotes month of parturition, an ordinal representation of number in contrast to the cardinal representation used in tallies. Our data indicate that the purpose of this system of associating animals with calendar information was to record and convey seasonal behavioural information about specific prey taxa in the geographical regions of concern. We suggest a specific way in which the pairing of numbers with animal subjects constituted a complete unit of meaning—a notational system combined with its subject—that provides us with a specific insight into what one set of notational marks means. It gives us our first specific reading of European Upper Palaeolithic communication, the first known writing in the history of Homo sapiens.

在拉斯科、肖维和阿尔塔米拉等至少 400 个欧洲洞穴中，旧石器时代晚期的智人群体绘制、绘画和雕刻了至少约 42,000 bp的非具象符号和至少 37,000 bp的具象图像（尤其是动物） 。自从大约 150 年前发现以来，欧洲旧石器时代晚期非比喻符号的目的或意义一直困扰着研究人员。尽管如此，专家们认为它们在某种程度上是符号化的。使用跨越欧洲旧石器时代晚期的图像数据库，我们建议如何使用三个最常出现的标志——线< | >、点<•> 和<Y>——作为通信单位。我们证明，当发现与动物图像密切相关时，线 < | > 和点<•> 构成表示月份的数字，并构成当地物候/气象日历的组成部分，从春季开始，并以农历月份记录从此时开始的时间。我们还证明，<Y> 符号是旧石器时代非具象艺术中最常见的符号之一，其含义是“生育”。位置_标记序列中的 <Y> 表示分娩月份，这是数字的序数表示形式，与统计中使用的基数表示形式不同。我们的数据表明，该将动物与日历信息相关联的系统的目的是记录和传达有关地理区域中特定猎物类群的季节性行为信息。我们提出了一种特定的方式，其中数字与动物主题的配对构成了一个完整的意义单位——一个与其主题相结合的符号系统——这为我们提供了对一组符号的含义的具体见解。它为我们提供了对欧洲旧石器时代晚期交流的第一次具体解读，这是智人历史上第一个已知的文字。