Graphite, used in the core of the modern pencil, is not the first example of an element hewn from the ground and used as a mark making tool. This process dates back to the very first examples of human art seen in the prehistoric cave paintings created using charcoal and chalk in the era between 40,000 and 10,000 BC. These substances were ground and mixed into a paste with either saliva or animal fats and smeared onto the porous cave walls.

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