Prehistoric cave etchings 'created by three-year-olds'

Prehistoric etchings found in a cave in France are the work of children as young as three, according to research.

The so-called finger flutings were discovered at the Cave of a Hundred Mammoths in Rouffignac, alongside cave art dating back some 13,000 years.

Cambridge University researchers recently developed a method identifying the gender and age of the artists.

It is thought the most prolific was a girl aged five. The artists ran their hands down the cave's soft surfaces.

"Flutings made by children appear in every chamber throughout the caves," said archaeologist Jess Cooney, who has pioneered the research in conjunction with Dr Leslie Van Gelder of Walden University in the US.

"We have found marks by children aged between three and seven years old - and we have been able to identify four individual children by matching up their marks.

"The most prolific of the children who made flutings was aged around five - and we are almost certain the child in question was a girl."

'Special space'

Each year thousands of people visit the caves in the Dordogne region of western France to admire drawings of mammoths, rhinoceros and horses found within the 8km cave system, which were discovered in the 16th Century.

It was not until 1956 that experts realised that some of the most dramatic were prehistoric.

Archaeologists first determined children had produced some of the finger flutings in 2006. Unlike the sketchings that appear elsewhere in the caves, the markings are made without the application of a colour pigment.

"One cavern is so rich in flutings made by children that it suggests it was a special space for them, but whether for play or ritual is impossible to tell."

Finger fluting also appears in caves in Spain, New Guinea and Australia.

"We don't know why people made them," said Ms Cooney, adding that they may have been part of "initiation rituals" or "simply something to do on a rainy day".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-15109188

Prehistoric first humans in North America were NOT wiped out by a comet

By Niall Firth
Last updated at 5:10 PM on 1st October 2010

The very first humans to live north America were not wiped out by a comet, according to new research.

It had long been believed that that the Clovis people, the prehistoric hunter gatherers who were the first to occupy the continent, had been wiped out by a crash that saw dozens of species made extinct.

The impact triggered a 1,300-year ice age that stretched around the world and the Clovis culture vanished almost overnight in the aftermath, it had been claimed.

But new research challenges the controversial theory by claiming that there is nothing in the archaeological record to suggest an abrupt collapse of Clovis populations.

Writing in the October issue of Current Anthropology, two U.S archaeologists Vance Holliday and David Meltzer say: ‘Whether or not the proposed extraterrestrial impact occurred is a matter for empirical testing in the geological record.

‘Insofar as concerns the archaeological record, an extraterrestrial impact is an unnecessary solution for an archaeological problem that does not exist.’

The comet theory first emerged in 2007 when a team of scientists announced evidence of a large extraterrestrial impact that occurred about 12,900 years ago.

The impact was said to have caused a sudden cooling of the North American climate, killing off mammoths and other megafauna.

It could also explain the apparent disappearance of the Clovis people, whose characteristic spear points vanish from the archaeological record shortly after the supposed impact.

As evidence for the rapid Clovis depopulation, comet theorists point out that very few Clovis archaeological sites show evidence of human occupation after the Clovis.

At the few sites that do, Clovis and post-Clovis artifacts are separated by archaeologically sterile layers of sediments, indicating a time gap between the civilizations.

They believe that is a ‘dead zone’ in the human archaeological record in North America beginning with the comet impact and lasting about 500 years.

But Holliday and Meltzer argue that a lack of later human occupation at Clovis sites is no reason to assume a population collapse.

Holliday said: Single-occupation Paleoindian sites—Clovis or post-Clovis—are the norm.

‘That's because many Paleoindian sites are hunting kill sites, and it would be highly unlikely for kills to be made repeatedly in the exact same spot.

‘So there is nothing surprising about a Clovis occupation with no other Paleoindian zone above it, and it is no reason to infer a disaster.’

In addition, Holliday and Meltzer compiled radiocarbon dates of 44 archaeological sites from across the U.S. and found no evidence of a post-comet gap.

‘Chronological gaps appear in the sequence only if one ignores standard deviations (a statistically inappropriate procedure), and doing so creates gaps not just around [12,900 years ago] but also at many later points in time,’ they write.

Sterile layers separating occupation zones at some sites are easily explained by shifting settlement patterns and local geological processes, the researchers say.

The separation should not be taken as evidence of an actual time gap between Clovis and post-Clovis cultures.

The researcher believe that the disappearance of Clovis spear points is more likely the result of a cultural choice rather than a population collapse.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1316834/Prehistoric-humans-North-America-NOT-wiped-comet.html#ixzz11n6k76U0

Prehistoric first humans in North America were NOT wiped out by a comet

By Niall Firth
Last updated at 5:10 PM on 1st October 2010

The very first humans to live north America were not wiped out by a comet, according to new research.

It had long been believed that that the Clovis people, the prehistoric hunter gatherers who were the first to occupy the continent, had been wiped out by a crash that saw dozens of species made extinct.

The impact triggered a 1,300-year ice age that stretched around the world and the Clovis culture vanished almost overnight in the aftermath, it had been claimed.

But new research challenges the controversial theory by claiming that there is nothing in the archaeological record to suggest an abrupt collapse of Clovis populations.

Writing in the October issue of Current Anthropology, two U.S archaeologists Vance Holliday and David Meltzer say: ‘Whether or not the proposed extraterrestrial impact occurred is a matter for empirical testing in the geological record.

‘Insofar as concerns the archaeological record, an extraterrestrial impact is an unnecessary solution for an archaeological problem that does not exist.’

The comet theory first emerged in 2007 when a team of scientists announced evidence of a large extraterrestrial impact that occurred about 12,900 years ago.

The impact was said to have caused a sudden cooling of the North American climate, killing off mammoths and other megafauna.

It could also explain the apparent disappearance of the Clovis people, whose characteristic spear points vanish from the archaeological record shortly after the supposed impact.

As evidence for the rapid Clovis depopulation, comet theorists point out that very few Clovis archaeological sites show evidence of human occupation after the Clovis.

At the few sites that do, Clovis and post-Clovis artifacts are separated by archaeologically sterile layers of sediments, indicating a time gap between the civilizations.

They believe that is a ‘dead zone’ in the human archaeological record in North America beginning with the comet impact and lasting about 500 years.

But Holliday and Meltzer argue that a lack of later human occupation at Clovis sites is no reason to assume a population collapse.

Holliday said: Single-occupation Paleoindian sites—Clovis or post-Clovis—are the norm.

‘That's because many Paleoindian sites are hunting kill sites, and it would be highly unlikely for kills to be made repeatedly in the exact same spot.

‘So there is nothing surprising about a Clovis occupation with no other Paleoindian zone above it, and it is no reason to infer a disaster.’

In addition, Holliday and Meltzer compiled radiocarbon dates of 44 archaeological sites from across the U.S. and found no evidence of a post-comet gap.

‘Chronological gaps appear in the sequence only if one ignores standard deviations (a statistically inappropriate procedure), and doing so creates gaps not just around [12,900 years ago] but also at many later points in time,’ they write.

Sterile layers separating occupation zones at some sites are easily explained by shifting settlement patterns and local geological processes, the researchers say.

The separation should not be taken as evidence of an actual time gap between Clovis and post-Clovis cultures.

The researcher believe that the disappearance of Clovis spear points is more likely the result of a cultural choice rather than a population collapse.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1316834/Prehistoric-humans-North-America-NOT-wiped-comet.html#ixzz11n6k76U0

Popeye's big arms found on neanderthals

http://e-edition.metro.co.uk/2010/07/07/ - p23.

Prehistoric rock engravings were primitive cinema (Via Terry Colvin)

Austrian and British researchers, who are working to understand ancient rock engravings from the Copper Age found in many hidden locations throughout Europe, said the displays may have been prehistoric man's primitive version of cinema. The visual displays indicate the artwork was more than simple images, the researchers from Cambridge University and Sankt Poelten's university of applied sciences (FH) in Austria believe.

"The cliff engravings... in our opinion are not just pictures but are part of an audiovisual performance," Frederick Baker of Cambridge University's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology said in a statement on Tuesday. "There was still no moving image but (the pictures) created sequences like in animation... this was not just a treat for the eyes but also for the ears, as these rock engravings are especially found in locations with particular echoes," he said. Baker explained that the engravings are "not just static images but pictures that created a story in the mind of the viewer."

Cambridge University and FH Sankt Poelten are now working with Weimar's Bauhaus university in Germany to launch a 'Prehistoric Picture Project.' The goal is to use computer technology to establish the sequence of images and animate them like a cartoon. The "movies," dating back to 4000 to 1000 BCE, often depict fights, dances or hunts, but interestingly never show death and rarely portray women, the project's coordinators said.

As many as 100,000 pictures could be found in the engravings scattered throughout Europe, with the highest concentration found in Valcamonica, in Italy's northern Lombardy region - where the project is being conducted.

Sources: AFP, Yahoo! News, Discovery News (29 June 2010), RedOrbit (30 June 2010