What does the world's oldest art say about us? The oldest art are the cave paintings found in France and Spain. These are humanity's "first impressions".

Judith Thurman writes a fascinating article about the possible meanings behind these cave paintings. At one point she is describing how Homo sapiens coexisted with the Neanderthals for about eight thousand years. The low-browed Neanderthals were awed by the art they saw in the caves and tried to copy it. And here she gives us a sharply original definition of fashion;

"The pathos of their workmanship-the attempt to copy something novel and marvelous by the dimming light of their existence--nearly makes you weep. And here, perhaps, the cruel notion that we call fashion, a coded expression of rivalry and desire, was born."