The Evolution of Creativity

The first question to ask is whether it actually is an evolutionary trait. This seems likely since creativity is found so universally amongst mankind. Different cultures at different times have expressed this creativity in different ways, however the fundamental creative spirit appears to have been all humanity for millenia.

How long exactly? Well, it's difficult to pinpoint these things exactly, however archaeologists tend to put the first clear evidence of creativity at around 50,000 years ago (give or take a few thousand). This appears to have spread rapidly and led to massive evidence of creativity in the period some 30,000 to 40,000 years ago.

It's interesting to note that Homo Sapiens as such arrived on the scene some 200,000 years ago - so creativity isn't inherently part of mankind but evolved later as an "added extra" that apparently quickly proved its worth in the survival stakes.

So why was creativity a survival asset? It's unlikely that early man would have gained much from writing sonnets!

More likely is that creativity provided new ways of solving problems. It would have allowed for the invention of new tools, new ways of hunting and communication. Perhaps more importantly it would have made early man more adaptable to changing circumstances. Creativity might have allowed some Homo Sapiens to survive changes that would otherwise have wiped them out.

It seems possible that the evolution of creativity was in fact an early example of the law of requisite variety in action. Human creativity might have given our species the flexibility to survive when without it we might have perished.

It's also interesting to note that that the development of creativity in an individual - from piling up bricks through daubing colours and on to advanced creation and personal artistic development - could mirror the development of creativity in mankind as a whole. This is reminiscent of the old (now largely rejected) "biogenetic law" (1) that ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny.