cave paintings Archives - New Historian

Neanderthals Created 64,000 Year-Old Cave Paintings Neanderthals, and not humans, created the world’s oldest cave paintings, new research claims. The findings add to growing evidence that our closest extinct evolutionary cousins were far from their barbaric, unsophisticated representation in popular culture. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and University of Southampton show that paintings in three Spanish caves are over 64,000 years old. That’s 20,000 years before the first humans arrived in Europe. The research has been published in the journal Science. It suggests that Neanderthals thought symbolically, an attribute usually only attributed to modern humans. “Artefacts whose functional value lies not so much in their practical but rather in their symbolic use are proxies for fundamental aspects of human cognition as we know it,” said Dirk Hoffmann, from the Max Planck Institute, in a press release. Cave painting has, until now, been entirely attributed to modern humans, largely due to difficulties in dating it precisely. The international team behind the new study used the uranium-thorium method to date tiny carbonate deposits that have built up on top of the cave paintings. Traces of uranium and thorium indicate when the deposits formed. This allows a minimum age for the paintings underneath to be determined. Joint lead author Dr Chris Standish, an archaeologist at the University of Southampton, said: “This is an incredibly exciting discovery which suggests Neanderthals were much more sophisticated than is popularly believed. “Our results show that the paintings we dated are, by far, the oldest known cave art in the world, and were created at least 20,000 years before modern humans arrived in Europe from Africa – therefore they must have been painted by Neanderthals.” Infant Cranial Modification Linked to Identity in Ancient Andes A new study claims that the binding and reshaping of infants’ skulls in the Andes between 1100 and 1450 was linked to identity and inequality. Prior to the expansion of the Inca Empire into the region that is now Peru, cranial modification of infants was hugely popular. Assistant professor of anthropology at Cornell University Matthew Velasco argues that these head-shaping practices were connected to political solidarity and social inequality. The anthropologist analysed hundreds of skeletal remains from multiple tombs in the Colca Valley of highland Peru. One key finding was that modification grew in popularity over the period of investigation. Prior to 1300, cranial modification was rare, while by the end of the period it had risen to 73.7% of the population. “The increased homogeny of head shapes suggests that modification practices contributed to the creation of a new collective identity and may have exacerbated emerging social differences,” Velasco said. “Head shape would be an obvious signifier of affiliation and could have encouraged unity among elites and increased cooperation in politics.” Velasco found that women with modified heads had better access to varied food options and were less likely to encounter violence in their lives. This, he suggests, points to a connection between cranial modification and inequality. A sixteenth century Spanish colonial document Velasco examined described groups moulding skulls into the shapes of volcanoes from their origin myth. “If this is true, then cranial modification reflects a deeply religious worldview and was fundamental to a person’s being and existence, and not simply a fashion statement,” Velasco said. Velasco’s findings have been published in the journal Current Anthropology. Ninth Century Rock Art Destroyed Unique paintings on a ninth century temple in Hyderabad have been whitewashed by villagers, according to the Times of India . The cave temples, located on a hillock, are one of the oldest structures in the region. However, their artworks were not on any protected lists for archaeological sites. “They were initially Jain caves that were later converted into a Lord Shiva temple after installation of shivalingam. During the recent Shivaratri celebrations, the villagers whitewashed the paintings on the pillars and cave walls,” Aravind Arya Pakide, an archaeology expert, told the Times of India. “It is complicated to restore these paintings. In the name of beautification, they are using acrylic paints and damaging the archaeologically-significant structures.” Ceiling paintings on an ornate gateway have been particularly badly affected, with only traces of the figures depicted remaining, the Times of India article reports. Featured image: La Pasiega, Section C, Cave Wall With Paintings. The ladder shape composed of red horizontal and vertical lines (centre left) dates to older than 64,000 years and was made by Neanderthals. Image credit: © P. Saura ]]>

Faeces Reveals Parasites Described by Hippocrates The first archaeological evidence of parasitic worms described in the works of Hippocrates has been discovered on the Greek island of Kea. Archaeologists made the discovery by examining faeces from prehistoric burials on the island. Evilena Anastasiou and Piers Mitchell, two researchers from the University of Cambridge, used microscopy to study soil formed from decomposed faeces recovered from the pelvic bones of skeletons buried in the fourth millennium BCE, second millennium BCE, and the Roman period between 146 BCE and 330CE. Athens based experts in Ancient Greek archaeology and anthropology Anastasia Papathanasiou and Lynn Schepartz worked with the Cambridge team on the project. The team found eggs from two species of parasitic worm (helmiths) were present: whipworm (Trichuris trichiura) and roundworm (Ascaris lumbricoides). Alive in the fifth and fourth centuries BCE, Hippocrates is regarded as a crucial pioneer in medical history. He developed the ground-breaking humoural theory to explain why people became ill. This theory, which stated that a healthy body had a balance of four humours, was the accepted model for explaining disease in Europe up until the seventeenth century. Hippocratic texts referred to intestinal worms known as Helmins strongyle, Ascaris and Helmins plateia. Until now, historians have had to rely on ancient written descriptions of these worms to try and determine exactly which parasites were afflicting the Ancient Greeks. The authors of this latest study, which has been published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, say that the new evidence identifies beyond doubt some of the parasites that infected people in the region. “The Helmins strongyle worm in the ancient Greek texts is likely to have referred to roundworm, as found at Kea. The Ascaris worm described in the ancient medical texts may well have referred to two parasites, pinworm and whipworm, with the latter being found at Kea,” said study leader Piers Mitchell, from Cambridge’s Department of Archaeology. “Until now we only had estimates from historians as to what kinds of parasites were described in the ancient Greek medical texts. Our research confirms some aspects of what the historians thought, but also adds new information that the historians did not expect, such as that whipworm was present”. Anastasiou explained the significance of the discovery. “Finding the eggs of intestinal parasites as early as the Neolithic period in Greece is a key advance in our field. This provides the earliest evidence for parasitic worms in ancient Greece.” Societies Evolve Along Similar Paths A major new study claims that human societies, from the Incas to modern Britain and China, have evolved along similar paths. The authors argue that despite the myriad differences between societies they tend to become more complex in “highly predictable ways”. To reach their conclusions, the international research team created a database of historical and archaeological information on 414 societies spread across a 10,000-year period. According to the researchers, this database is larger and more systematic than any that has been created before. “Societies evolve along a bumpy path – sometimes breaking apart – but the trend is towards larger, more complex arrangements,” said corresponding author Dr Thomas Currie, of the Human Behaviour and Cultural Evolution Group at the University of Exeter’s Penryn Campus in Cornwall, in a press release. “Researchers have long debated whether social complexity can be meaningfully compared across different parts of the world. Our research suggests that, despite surface differences, there are fundamental similarities in the way societies evolve. “Although societies in places as distant as Mississippi and China evolved independently and followed their own trajectories, the structure of social organisation is broadly shared across all continents and historical eras.” The team’s study has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Indonesian Island Contains a Treasure Trove of Cave Paintings A tiny Indonesian island has been found to be unusually rich in cave paintings, according to researchers from the Australian National University (ANU). 28 rock art sites dating from at least 2,500 years ago have been uncovered on the island of Kisar, which measures just 81 square kilometres and lies north of Timor-Leste. According to Sue O’Connor, a professor from ANU’s School of Culture, History and Language, and the lead archaeologist on the recent excavations, these paintings give insight into the region’s history of trade and culture. “Archeologically, no one has ever explored this small island before,” Professor O’Connor said. “These Indonesian islands were the heart of the spice trade going back for thousands of years. The paintings we found depict boats, dogs, horses and people often holding what look like shields. Other scenes show people playing drums perhaps performing ceremonies.” The paintings suggest a stronger shared history between Kisar and nearby Timor than previously thought. “The Kisar paintings include images which are remarkably similar to those in the east end of Timor-Leste,” O’Connor said. “A distinctive feature of the art in both islands is the exceptionally small size of the human and animal figures, most being less than 10 centimetres. Despite their size, however, they are remarkably dynamic.” Professor O’Connor believes that the relationship between the two islands extends back 3,500 years ago to the Neolithic period, which saw an influx of Austronesian settlers who introduced domestic animals and possibly cereal crops. Similarities between some of the painted figures and images cast on metal drums that started to be produced in northern Vietnam and southwest China about 2,500 years ago and traded through the region, suggest some of the paintings were more recent. “These paintings perhaps herald the introduction of a new symbolic system established about two thousand years ago, following on the exchange of prestige goods and the beginning of hierarchical societies,” O’Connor said. Featured image: This is the excavation of the site of Ayia Irini on the island of Kea, where the samples used in the study were found. Credit: Department of Classics, University of Cincinnati ]]>

Cave Art May Have Been Inspired By Auditory Illusions