Final answer:
The location of the earliest known artistic expression is linked to the Upper Paleolithic Aurignacian culture, with a female figure from the Hohle Fels cave dating back to 35,000 BCE. Diverse global contributions to art are acknowledged, including Middle Stone Age Africa's abstract designs and the Middle Paleolithic symmetric artifacts. The origin of art is a complex and debated topic, with significant findings from both Africa and Europe.
Step-by-step explanation:
The earliest known example of human artistic expression is found in the Upper Paleolithic artifacts from the Aurignacian culture. A 2.4-inch tall female figure carved from mammoth ivory discovered in the Hohle Fels cave near Schelklingen, southern Germany, dates back to 35,000 BCE.
Apart from these European findings, significant contributions to early art also come from the Middle Stone Age in Africa, where modern humans created abstract designs 73,000 years ago, found at Blombos Cave, South Africa, and the Apollo 11 Cave Stones, showing evidence of modern symbolic thought.
Nevertheless, the notion of what constitutes the 'first' art is subject to scholarly debate, especially when considering older, more abstract forms of expression and the geographical origins of these artifacts. While cave paintings like those in Lascaux, France, were once considered among the earliest artistic expressions, discoveries such as the 44,000-year-old cave painting in Indonesia suggest that the phenomenon of art is a global one with deep and widespread roots across diverse ancient cultures.