Hey I’m not sure if this is late or not… The Week 2 page says January 26, so I’m a little confused.
I think that humans probably first created representational images out of play or boredom, the way that a child left with a sandpit might draw designs it it. Once some techniques were developed though, I’d imagine they would immediately fill numerous roles in ancient people’s lives. Immediately I think of how useful images would be for storytelling, fleshing out a recount of experiences and preserving them for the future. Another probable use would be to create idols of different aspects of the world and nature like the cave representations of animals. A human could interact with these idols in lieu of the actual thing which might be dangerous or want to run away. I can imagine any number of spiritual rituals and practices that could revolve around these idols, something which continues today!