#000000: From the Permanent Collection
ShortStory 2,030 words Recommended by 2 award/anthology sources
"Black Quadrangle, Mesolithic era Unknown Charcoal on sandstone This work, created c. 15,000 BC (17,000 AS), precedes earliest surviving written texts. It was rediscovered alongside human remains and burnt carbon deposits, suggesting a role in a burial, sacrificial, or remembrance ritual."
Quasar links out; the story lives on Strange Horizons, where the author gets the click.