Archeological evidence

Archeological evidence for early dance includes 9,000-year-old paintings[citation needed] in India at the Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka, and Egyptian tomb paintings depicting dancing figures, dated c. 3300 BC. It has been proposed that before the invention of written languages, dance was an important part of

the oral and performance methods of passing stories down from one generation to the next.[6] The use of dance in ecstatic trance states and healing rituals (as observed today in many contemporary “primitive” cultures, from the Brazilian rainforest to the Kalahari Desert) is thought to have been another early factor in the social development of dance.[7]

References to dance can be found in very early recorded history; Greek dance (horos) is referred to by Plato, Aristotle, Plutarch and Lucian.[8] The Bible and Talmud refer to many events related to dance, and contain over 30 different dance terms.[9] In Chinese pottery as early a

s the Neolithic period, groups of people are depicted dancing in a line holding hands,[10] and the earliest Chinese word for “dance” is found written in the oracle bones.[11] Dance is further described in the Lüshi Chunqiu.[12][13] Primitive dance in ancient China was associated with sorcery and shamanic rituals.[14]