Human

=== The arts ===
{{Main|The arts||}}Human arts can take many forms including [[Visual arts|visual]], [[Literary arts|literary]], and [[Performing arts|performing]]. Visual art can range from [[painting]]s and [[sculpture]]s to [[film]], [[fashion design]], and [[architecture]].<ref>{{Cite book|vauthors=Mavrody S|url={{GBurl|id=tBqgBQAAQBAJ}}|title=Visual Art Forms: Traditional to Digital|publisher=Sergey's HTML5 & CSS3|year=2013|isbn=978-0-9833867-5-9|language=en|access-date=30 July 2022}}</ref> Literary arts can include [[prose]], [[poetry]], and [[drama]]s. The performing arts generally involve [[theatre]], [[music]], and [[dance]].<ref>{{cite web|date=2020|title=Types of Literary Arts and Their Understanding – bookfestivalscotland.com|url=https://bookfestivalscotland.com/types-of-literary-arts-and-their-understanding/|access-date=5 May 2021|website=Bookfestival Scotland|language=en-UK|archive-date=5 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210505234546/http://bookfestivalscotland.com/types-of-literary-arts-and-their-understanding/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Bachelor of Performing Arts|url=https://www.otago.ac.nz/performing-arts/otago056890.pdf|website=[[University of Otago]]|access-date=30 July 2022|archive-date=14 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211214010758/https://www.otago.ac.nz/performing-arts/otago056890.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> Humans often combine the different forms (for example, music videos).<ref>{{Cite journal| vauthors = Brown S |date=24 October 2018|title=Toward a Unification of the Arts|journal=Frontiers in Psychology|volume=9|page=1938|doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01938|issn=1664-1078|pmc=6207603|pmid=30405470|doi-access=free}}</ref> Other entities that have been described as having artistic qualities include [[Culinary arts|food preparation]], [[Video games as an art form|video games]], and [[medicine]].<ref>{{cite web|date=21 October 2019|title=Culinary arts – How cooking can be an art|url=https://www.northernartprize.org.uk/culinary-arts-cooking-can-art|access-date=5 May 2021|website=Northern Contemporary Art|language=en-US|archive-date=11 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210511102807/http://www.northernartprize.org.uk/culinary-arts-cooking-can-art|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|vauthors=Smuts A|date=1 January 2005|title=Are Video Games Art?|url=https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/liberalarts_contempaesthetics/vol3/iss1/6|journal=Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)|volume=3|issue=1|access-date=30 July 2022|archive-date=29 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220529081114/https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/liberalarts_contempaesthetics/vol3/iss1/6/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Cameron IA, Pimlott N | title = Art of medicine | journal = Canadian Family Physician | volume = 61 | issue = 9 | pages = 739–740 | date = September 2015 | pmid = 26371092 | pmc = 4569099 }}</ref> As well as providing entertainment and transferring knowledge, the arts are also used for [[The arts and politics|political purposes]].<ref>{{Cite journal| vauthors = Bird G |date=7 June 2019|title=Rethinking the role of the arts in politics: lessons from the Négritude movement |journal=International Journal of Cultural Policy|language=en|volume=25|issue=4|pages=458–470|doi=10.1080/10286632.2017.1311328|s2cid=151443044|issn=1028-6632}}</ref> [[File:British Museum Flood Tablet.jpg|thumb|upright|The [[deluge (mythology)|Deluge]] tablet of [[Epic of Gilgamesh|the ''Gilgamesh'' epic]] in [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]]]]

[[Art]] is a defining characteristic of humans and there is evidence for a relationship between creativity and language.<ref name="Morriss-Kay-2010">{{cite journal | vauthors = Morriss-Kay GM | title = The evolution of human artistic creativity | journal = Journal of Anatomy | volume = 216 | issue = 2 | pages = 158–176 | date = February 2010 | pmid = 19900185 | pmc = 2815939 | doi = 10.1111/j.1469-7580.2009.01160.x }}</ref> The earliest evidence of art was shell engravings made by ''Homo erectus'' 300,000 years before modern humans evolved.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Joordens JC, d'Errico F, Wesselingh FP, Munro S, de Vos J, Wallinga J, Ankjærgaard C, Reimann T, Wijbrans JR, Kuiper KF, Mücher HJ, Coqueugniot H, Prié V, Joosten I, van Os B, Schulp AS, Panuel M, van der Haas V, Lustenhouwer W, Reijmer JJ, Roebroeks W | display-authors = 6 | title = Homo erectus at Trinil on Java used shells for tool production and engraving | journal = Nature | volume = 518 | issue = 7538 | pages = 228–231 | date = February 2015 | pmid = 25470048 | doi = 10.1038/nature13962 | s2cid = 4461751 | bibcode = 2015Natur.518..228J }}</ref> Art attributed to ''H. sapiens'' existed at least 75,000 years ago, with jewellery and drawings found in caves in South Africa.<ref>{{cite news|vauthors=St Fleur N|date=12 September 2018|title=Oldest Known Drawing by Human Hands Discovered in South African Cave|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/12/science/oldest-drawing-ever-found.html|access-date=20 September 2018|archive-date=14 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200414094752/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/12/science/oldest-drawing-ever-found.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|vauthors=Radford T|date=16 April 2004|title=World's oldest jewellery found in cave|language=en-GB|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/apr/16/artsandhumanities.arts|access-date=23 September 2020|issn=0261-3077|archive-date=12 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210212095737/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/apr/16/artsandhumanities.arts|url-status=live}}</ref> There are various hypotheses as to why humans have [[Adaptation|adapted]] to the arts. These include allowing them to better problem solve issues, providing a means to control or influence other humans, encouraging cooperation and contribution within a society or increasing the chance of attracting a potential mate.<ref>{{cite book| vauthors = Dissanayake E |title=World Art Studies: Exploring Concepts and Approaches|publisher=Valiz|year=2008| veditors = Zijlmans K, van Damme W |location=Amsterdam|pages=241–263|chapter=The Arts after Darwin: Does Art have an Origin and Adaptive Function? }}</ref> The use of imagination developed through art, combined with logic may have given early humans an evolutionary advantage.<ref name="Morriss-Kay-2010" />

Evidence of humans engaging in musical activities predates cave art and so far music has been [[Cultural universal|practiced by virtually all known human cultures]].<ref name="Morley-2014">{{cite journal | vauthors = Morley I | title = A multi-disciplinary approach to the origins of music: perspectives from anthropology, archaeology, cognition and behaviour | journal = Journal of Anthropological Sciences = Rivista di Antropologia | volume = 92 | issue = 92 | pages = 147–177 | date = 2014 | pmid = 25020016 | doi = 10.4436/JASS.92008 | doi-broken-date = 2024-03-20 }}</ref> There exists a wide variety of [[music genre]]s and [[ethnic music]]s; with humans' musical abilities being related to other abilities, including complex social human behaviours.<ref name="Morley-2014" /> It has been shown that human brains respond to music by becoming synchronized with the rhythm and beat, a process called [[Entrainment (biomusicology)|entrainment]].<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Trost W, Frühholz S, Schön D, Labbé C, Pichon S, Grandjean D, Vuilleumier P | title = Getting the beat: entrainment of brain activity by musical rhythm and pleasantness | journal = NeuroImage | volume = 103 | pages = 55–64 | date = December 2014 | pmid = 25224999 | doi = 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.09.009 | s2cid = 4727529 | url = https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02446627/file/Trost2014_UncorrectedProof.pdf }}</ref> Dance is also a form of human expression found in all cultures<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Karpati FJ, Giacosa C, Foster NE, Penhune VB, Hyde KL | title = Dance and the brain: a review | journal = Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences | volume = 1337 | issue = 1 | pages = 140–146 | date = March 2015 | pmid = 25773628 | doi = 10.1111/nyas.12632 | s2cid = 206224849 | bibcode = 2015NYASA1337..140K }}</ref> and may have evolved as a way to help early humans communicate.<ref>{{cite web|date=22 March 2010|vauthors=Chow D|title=Why Do Humans Dance?|url=https://www.livescience.com/8132-humans-dance.html|access-date=21 September 2020|website=livescience.com|language=en|archive-date=1 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210201180750/https://www.livescience.com/8132-humans-dance.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Listening to music and observing dance stimulates the [[orbitofrontal cortex]] and other pleasure sensing areas of the brain.<ref>{{cite web|vauthors=Krakauer J|date=26 September 2008|title=Why do we like to dance{{snd}}And move to the beat?|url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/experts-dance/|access-date=21 September 2020|website=Scientific American|language=en|archive-date=28 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210228035904/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/experts-dance/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Unlike speaking, reading and writing does not come naturally to humans and must be taught.<ref>{{cite web|vauthors=Prior KS|date=21 June 2013|title=How Reading Makes Us More Human|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/06/how-reading-makes-us-more-human/277079/|access-date=23 September 2020|website=The Atlantic|language=en-US|archive-date=29 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210129222006/https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/06/how-reading-makes-us-more-human/277079/|url-status=live}}</ref> Still, [[literature]] has been present before the invention of words and language, with 30,000-year-old paintings on walls inside some caves portraying a series of dramatic scenes.<ref name="Puchner">{{cite web|vauthors=Puchner M|title=How stories have shaped the world|url=https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20180423-how-stories-have-shaped-the-world|access-date=23 September 2020|website=www.bbc.com|language=en|archive-date=5 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210105053111/https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20180423-how-stories-have-shaped-the-world|url-status=live}}</ref> One of the oldest surviving works of literature is the ''[[Epic of Gilgamesh]]'', first engraved on ancient [[Babylonia]]n tablets about 4,000 years ago.<ref>{{cite book| editor-first = Stephanie | editor-last=Dalley | editor-link=Stephanie Dalley | title=Myths from Mesopotamia: Creation, the Flood, Gilgamesh, and Others|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2000|isbn=978-0-19-283589-5|edition=revised|page=41}}</ref> Beyond simply passing down knowledge, the use and sharing of imaginative [[fiction]] through stories might have helped develop humans' capabilities for communication and increased the likelihood of securing a mate.<ref>{{cite journal|vauthors=Hernadi P|date=2001|title=Literature and Evolution|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3685504|journal=SubStance|volume=30|issue=1/2|pages=55–71|doi=10.2307/3685504|jstor=3685504|issn=0049-2426|access-date=30 July 2022|archive-date=30 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210130052249/https://www.jstor.org/stable/3685504|url-status=live}}</ref> Storytelling may also be used as a way to provide the audience with moral lessons and encourage cooperation.<ref name="Puchner" />