“From archaeological and anthropological evidence, we can conclude that family groups lived separately for most of the time but gathered periodically in Paleolithic equivalents of the Olympic Games at sites where there was enough food to support temporary gatherings of hundreds of individuals. In the Snowy River region of Southeast Australia, for example, many groups came together when millions of bogong moths hatched, providing the food needed to support the large gatherings known today as corroborees. At these meeting, stories were swapped rituals and gifts were exchanged, ties of solidarity were maintained in dances and ceremonies, and and marriage partners (or disgruntled individuals) moved from group to group. In the south of France fifteen thousand years ago, there were similar gatherings as human communities followed and hunted herds of horses, deer and cattle and engaged in periodic rituals that generated beautiful rock art. The art and sculptures produced at sites such as the Lascaux Caves and the La Madeleine rock shelter in the Dordogne region, and the even older stone carvings found in many parts of Australia, are, to modern eyes, as beautiful and sophisticated as any art ever produced by humans. They help illuminate the rich intellectual and mental world of our Paleolithic ancestors.” A passage from Origin Story: A Big History of Everything by David Christian.