The Earliest Dancing Scenes in the Near East

How long ago did people begin to dance as a means of expression? After investigating hundreds of prehistoric depictions of dancers from sites from southern Europe to Pakistan and executed in clay, stone and paint, the author concludes that this was indeed a very old and widespread motif. He suggests that dancing as a form of ritual had a particular place in early agricultural societies and that its popularity had much to do with the changing concepts of space and time that were part of the agrarian lifestyle.