In Perspective, Planet: Earliest human expression?

[Asher Kelman]

​

An etched bone fragment from the Middle Paleolithic period found in central Israel.

​ ​ ​ ​ A bone fragment, marked with symbols, has been found in the Ramie region of Israel. At approximately 120,000 years old, it is possibly the earliest evidence of human use of symbols ever found. As such, it is an important clue to how symbolic expression developed. Read the rest of this article here!

 

[Asher Kelman]

Are they symbolic or typical “butchering” marks?

 

[Jerome Marot]

120000 years is a lot of time. That makes this twice as old as the next oldest example of Paleolithic drawings.

 

[Asher Kelman]

120000 years is a lot of time. That makes this twice as old as the next oldest example of Paleolithic drawings.

Pretty amazing! They have found a flint knapping “school” used over thousands of years in various strata.

What started as Biblical Archaeology, thinking it would prove the historicity of Jesus or Moses, turned, (after utter failure), to some of the most important findings of early hominids and man!

Asher

 

[Maggie Terlecki]

You will hate me for this, but I thought they were reproducing what bread looks like. Silly me! Maggie

 

[Jerome Marot]

I came across the following article that presents the hypothesis that the sudden apparition of cave art about 42000 years ago is linked to a geophysical event:

Ancient relic points to a turning point in Earth's history 42,000 years ago

The temporary breakdown of Earth's magnetic field 42,000 years ago sparked major climate shifts that led to global environmental change and mass extinctions, a new international study co-led by UNSW Sydney and the South Australian Museum shows.

phys.org

In a nutshell: earth magnetic field inverted at that time and the magnetic protection it gives us against cosmic rays diminished, making caves suddenly valuable as shelters. Previous drawings may have been present, but painted on outside surfaces they would have disappeared with time.

 

[Asher Kelman]

I came across the following article that presents the hypothesis that the sudden apparition of cave art about 42000 years ago is linked to a geophysical event:

Ancient relic points to a turning point in Earth's history 42,000 years ago

The temporary breakdown of Earth's magnetic field 42,000 years ago sparked major climate shifts that led to global environmental change and mass extinctions, a new international study co-led by UNSW Sydney and the South Australian Museum shows.

phys.org

In a nutshell: earth magnetic field inverted at that time and the magnetic protection it gives us against cosmic rays diminished, making caves suddenly valuable as shelters. Previous drawings may have been present, but painted on outside surfaces they would have disappeared with time.

....and likely contributed to wipe out of megafauna in Australia and Neanderthals everywhere. The use of ochre and other plant dyes may have been developed as sunscreen against intense UV radiation.

Asher