What are the chances that the Cave drawing are the first human written ledgers of info. (tracks) traded between tribes [poll]

Question

Has anyone tried to look at these Cave drawing, that usually are found from Indonesia to France with some common factors, we call those common factors of proto language like hand prints, dots, vertical line and animal drawing. I think they are not proto language they are proto ledgers that created the need for language hence also proto language. Logically a human's need to communicate begins with the need to eat. But food assurance is only possible in herds and cooperation, it is obvious that a tribe that got lucky in one year, may be sitting on valuable animal track information that is not useful for them this year because they are well stocked already, but next year they may not be so lucky and hence a ledger will begin, to trade information on hand from this year to an assurance (balance) that is a credit for the next year. Same thing that we do today in our ledgers. I think the reason all the paintings are found concentrated usually in one cave in particular parts is because they were also market places like craig list, draw what you got to sell this year, the purchaser will look at the list and leave a hand print indicating "on my way to buy this one already”, transaction closed. If you arrive late, look for the ones without the hand prints, they might still be available, do not unnecessarily travel to far distances where there is nothing left to sell this year. Two different looking hand prints could be a contract of balance to be settled later. The missing finger hand could be that of an elder or more like a treasurer keeping track of balances and peace between tribes by making sure, ledgers are not corrupted, accounting and concluding perpetually = Wroth based Ledger. What do you think? Is it worth a PHD or at least view the evidence with a new outlook of economics?

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I SIGN UP FOR THE PHD

THIS IS JUST ABSURD

ART is expression proto survival

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Answer 1

I think the strongest version of this idea is worth taking seriously, but I would narrow the claim.

I would be cautious about saying the cave markings were literally marketplaces, contracts, or ledgers in the modern sense. That may be too specific for the evidence. But the broader idea is important: some of these markings may have preserved survival-relevant information, not merely “art” or “proto-language.”

Animal signs, dots, lines, handprints, and repeated symbols could plausibly have helped store or transmit information about herds, seasons, routes, group presence, access, obligation, or shared memory. In that sense, they may belong near the origin of economics: not money, not prices, and not formal markets, but durable records of productive knowledge.

That is where I think the idea becomes interesting. Before humans had written language or accounting, they still had to manage food, risk, memory, cooperation, and future need. If a cave marking helped preserve information that increased a group’s ability to survive or coordinate, then it was already economic in a deep sense.

So I would not jump straight to “prehistoric Craigslist.” But I do think it is worth asking whether some cave markings were early records of productive capacity, resource knowledge, or intergroup coordination. That could be a serious research question if framed carefully.