More on this significant find. It's been languishing in a box somewhere or other since 1980! Holy Goddess!
Prior post on December 2, 2012.
Engraved stone artifact found at the Shuidonggou Paleolithic Site, Northwest China
December 24, 2012
[You can find photographs and internal links at Phys Org's full article]
Engraved objects are usually seen as a hallmark of cognition and symbolism, which are viewed as important features of modern human behavior. In recent years, engraved ochre, bones and ostrich eggs unearthed from various Paleolithic sites in Africa, the Near East and Europe have attracted great attentions. However, such items are rarely encountered at Paleolithic sites in East Asia. According to article published in the journal of Chinese Science Bulletin (vol.57, No.26), Dr. GAO Xing, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and his team reported an engraved stone artifact in a stone tool assemblage at the Shuidonggou Paleolithic site, Ningxia, Northwest China.
The Shuidonggou Paleolithic site includes 12 localities, ranging in date from Early Late Paleolithic to Late Paleolithic. The engraved stone artifact was found at Locality 1, which is about 30000 years ago. As the first Paleolithic site discovered in China, Shuidonggou Locality 1 is distinctive in Late Paleolithic industry of north China, because of its components of elongated tool blank production and Levallois-like technology. When analyzing the materials unearthed from the site during excavations in the 1920s, French archaeologist Henry Breuil observed parallel incisions on the surface of siliceous pebbles, but he did not provide details on those incised pebbles.
This engraved stone artifact was found in a recent technological analysis of the stone tool assemblage unearthed at the Shuidonggou site in 1980. It is the first engraved non-organic artifact from the entire Paleolithic of China.
Archaeologists used a digital microscope to observe all the incisions and obtain 3D images. After excluding the possibility of natural cracking, trampling and animal-induced damage, and unintentional human by-products, they believed that the incisions were made by intentional behavior.
The straight shape of each line shows that it was incised once over a short time interval without repeated cutting, implying the possibility of counting or recording at that time. Furthermore, creation of such an engraved object may indicate the possible existence of complex communicative systems such as language.
"Comparison studies indicate that the blade technology was probably introduced from the Altai region of Russian Siberia, and the flake technology is typical of the Late Paleolithic in north China. So, who created the incisions, the migrants from the west or the aborigines in north China? At this time, we cannot provide a clear scenario. More archaeological and anthropological evidences are needed to solve the puzzle", said Dr. PENG Fei, first author of the study at the IVPP.
"This discovery provides important material for the study of symbolic and cognitive capability of humans in the Late Paleolithic of East Asia. As we know, so-called 'behavioral modernity' is often defined as changes of technology and subsistence strategies, expansion of activity areas, revolution in cognition, and other features. Most of these features have been identified at Paleolithic sites in Europe, the Near East and Africa. But in East Asia, the issue is more complex", said project lead GAO Xing, corresponding author of the study.
This work was mainly supported by the National Basic Research Program of China, the Key Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Showing posts with label stone carving. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stone carving. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Sunday, December 2, 2012
30,000 Year Old Engraved Stone Found in China
An important discovery. Take a look at this:
When I saw it, my first thought was "lunar calendar." It seems to me to be a crescent moon on the far right (enlarged image); and on the smaller image, upper left, it looks like there is at least one and possibly two smaller crescent moons carved to the far right. I'm not sure about that though, since the image isn't large enough. The deeply engraved straight lines and the "X" near the center -- not sure what those could be, but perhaps a marking off of time between certain celestial events? I'm no expert, I'm just writing about what I'm seeing when I look at this rock. Here's the article:
Engraved Stone Dating Back 30,000 Years Found in China
December 1, 2012
“This engraved stone artifact was a recent accidental discovery during our analysis of the stone tool assemblage unearthed at the Shuidonggou site in 1980,” explained Dr Fei Peng, postdoctoral research fellow at the Graduate University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and lead author of a paper reporting the discovery in the Chinese Science Bulletin.
“It is the first engraved non-organic artifact from the entire Paleolithic of China. However, it is not just a coincidence. We were aware that when analyzing the materials unearthed from the site during excavations in the 1920s, French archaeologist Henry Breuil observed parallel incisions on the surface of siliceous pebbles. Unfortunately, he did not provide details on those incised pebbles. So during our lithic analysis, we paid special attention to the possible existence of engraved objects,” Dr Peng said.
According to the archaeologists, this artifact is made of siliceous limestone and measures 2.7 x 1.4 x 0.9 inches (68 x 36 x 23 mm).
“One of the cortical faces bears 8 lines, clearly visible to naked eyes, which were engraved into the thick cortex. All the incisions are closely perpendicular to the long axis of the core. Two incisions are crossed and others are parallel lines. With the exception of the rightmost line, these incisions almost extend to the ridge which is constituted by the two cortical surfaces and two of them even extend to the other cortical surface,” the authors described.
Prof Xing Gao of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing, co-author of the paper, said: “Shuidonggou site includes 12 localities, ranging in date from Early Late to Late Paleolithic. The engraved stone artifact was found at Locality 1, which is about 30,000 years old.”
Dr Peng added: “we used a digital microscope to observe all the incisions, obtaining many 3D images. After excluding the possibility of natural cracking, trampling and animal-induced damage, and unintentional human by-products, we believe that the incisions were made by intentional behavior. Although we cannot be sure of the function of these incisions, the straight shape of each line shows that it was incised once over a short time interval without repeated cutting, implying the possibility of counting or recording at that time.”
“Furthermore, creation of such an engraved object may indicate the possible existence of complex communicative systems such as language,” he said.
“In addition to the engraved stone artifact, one ostrich egg bead was unearthed from Locality 1. The lithic assemblage of this locality includes blade production and elongated tool blanks. The blade technology was probably introduced from the Altai region of Russian Siberia, according to comparison between lithic assemblages. The flake technology is typical of the Late Paleolithic in north China.”
“So, who created the ostrich beads and incisions? Were they made by the populations who migrated from the west, such as from the Altai region? Or were they the result of acculturation, such that aborigines in north China learned this kind of technology from exogenous populations? Or were they created solely by the local people because of technological renovation or cognitive advancement?”
“At this time, we cannot provide a clear scenario. We need not only more archaeological evidence, but also evidence from anthropological, genetic and other disciplines. Integrating all information from different fields of study is the means to solve the puzzle,” Dr Peng concluded.
_______
Bibliographic information: Fei Peng et al. An engraved artifact from Shuidonggou, an Early Late Paleolithic Site in Northwest China. Chinese Science Bulletin, July 2012; doi: 10.1007/s11434-012-5317-6
When I saw it, my first thought was "lunar calendar." It seems to me to be a crescent moon on the far right (enlarged image); and on the smaller image, upper left, it looks like there is at least one and possibly two smaller crescent moons carved to the far right. I'm not sure about that though, since the image isn't large enough. The deeply engraved straight lines and the "X" near the center -- not sure what those could be, but perhaps a marking off of time between certain celestial events? I'm no expert, I'm just writing about what I'm seeing when I look at this rock. Here's the article:
Engraved Stone Dating Back 30,000 Years Found in China
December 1, 2012
Chinese archaeologists have discovered a stunning 30,000-year-old engraved stone artifact in a collection of stone tools unearthed at the Paleolithic site of Shuidonggou in 1980.
“This engraved stone artifact was a recent accidental discovery during our analysis of the stone tool assemblage unearthed at the Shuidonggou site in 1980,” explained Dr Fei Peng, postdoctoral research fellow at the Graduate University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and lead author of a paper reporting the discovery in the Chinese Science Bulletin.
“It is the first engraved non-organic artifact from the entire Paleolithic of China. However, it is not just a coincidence. We were aware that when analyzing the materials unearthed from the site during excavations in the 1920s, French archaeologist Henry Breuil observed parallel incisions on the surface of siliceous pebbles. Unfortunately, he did not provide details on those incised pebbles. So during our lithic analysis, we paid special attention to the possible existence of engraved objects,” Dr Peng said.
According to the archaeologists, this artifact is made of siliceous limestone and measures 2.7 x 1.4 x 0.9 inches (68 x 36 x 23 mm).
“One of the cortical faces bears 8 lines, clearly visible to naked eyes, which were engraved into the thick cortex. All the incisions are closely perpendicular to the long axis of the core. Two incisions are crossed and others are parallel lines. With the exception of the rightmost line, these incisions almost extend to the ridge which is constituted by the two cortical surfaces and two of them even extend to the other cortical surface,” the authors described.
Prof Xing Gao of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing, co-author of the paper, said: “Shuidonggou site includes 12 localities, ranging in date from Early Late to Late Paleolithic. The engraved stone artifact was found at Locality 1, which is about 30,000 years old.”
Dr Peng added: “we used a digital microscope to observe all the incisions, obtaining many 3D images. After excluding the possibility of natural cracking, trampling and animal-induced damage, and unintentional human by-products, we believe that the incisions were made by intentional behavior. Although we cannot be sure of the function of these incisions, the straight shape of each line shows that it was incised once over a short time interval without repeated cutting, implying the possibility of counting or recording at that time.”
“Furthermore, creation of such an engraved object may indicate the possible existence of complex communicative systems such as language,” he said.
“In addition to the engraved stone artifact, one ostrich egg bead was unearthed from Locality 1. The lithic assemblage of this locality includes blade production and elongated tool blanks. The blade technology was probably introduced from the Altai region of Russian Siberia, according to comparison between lithic assemblages. The flake technology is typical of the Late Paleolithic in north China.”
“So, who created the ostrich beads and incisions? Were they made by the populations who migrated from the west, such as from the Altai region? Or were they the result of acculturation, such that aborigines in north China learned this kind of technology from exogenous populations? Or were they created solely by the local people because of technological renovation or cognitive advancement?”
“At this time, we cannot provide a clear scenario. We need not only more archaeological evidence, but also evidence from anthropological, genetic and other disciplines. Integrating all information from different fields of study is the means to solve the puzzle,” Dr Peng concluded.
_______
Bibliographic information: Fei Peng et al. An engraved artifact from Shuidonggou, an Early Late Paleolithic Site in Northwest China. Chinese Science Bulletin, July 2012; doi: 10.1007/s11434-012-5317-6
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
What Are These Symbols? Are They Symbols?
Jerusalem stone carvings baffle archaeologists
Israeli archaeologists excavating in the oldest part of the city discovered a complex of rooms with three "V" shapes carved into the floor. Yet there were no other clues as to their purpose and nothing to identity the people who made them.
Some experts believe the markings were made at least 2,800 years ago and may have helped hold up some kind of wooden structure. Others say an ancient people may have held ritual functions there.
The purpose of the complex is another aspect of the mystery.
There are straight lines on the walls and floors - something archaeologists see as evidence of careful engineering. The markings are also located close to the city's only natural water source - the Gihon spring - suggesting they may have had an important role.
Eli Shukron, a co-director of the project that found the markings, said they were a "little bit" mysterious. "It's something that is here on the floor in this room from the First Temple period and we don't know yet what it means," he added. The First Temple period refers to a period in the ancient city beginning in the 10th century before the Christian era.
With experts unable to come up with a theory about the markings, the archaeologists posted a photo on Facebook and asked for suggestions. Opinions ranged from the thought-provoking - "moulds into which molten metal could have been poured" - to the generic - "ancient Hebrew or Egyptian characters".
The archaeological dig is known as The City of David, a politically-sensitive project funded by the Israeli government and Jewish nationalists. Palestinians and some Israeli archaeologists have criticised the dig for what they say is an excessive focus on Jewish remains. The participants deny that charge.
Wed, 07 Dec 2011 11:53a.m.
Archaeologists have discovered mysterious stone carvings at an excavation site in Jerusalem. The carvings - which were engraved thousands of years ago - have baffled experts.
 |
| The carvings in the The City of David |
Some experts believe the markings were made at least 2,800 years ago and may have helped hold up some kind of wooden structure. Others say an ancient people may have held ritual functions there.
The purpose of the complex is another aspect of the mystery.
There are straight lines on the walls and floors - something archaeologists see as evidence of careful engineering. The markings are also located close to the city's only natural water source - the Gihon spring - suggesting they may have had an important role.
Eli Shukron, a co-director of the project that found the markings, said they were a "little bit" mysterious. "It's something that is here on the floor in this room from the First Temple period and we don't know yet what it means," he added. The First Temple period refers to a period in the ancient city beginning in the 10th century before the Christian era.
With experts unable to come up with a theory about the markings, the archaeologists posted a photo on Facebook and asked for suggestions. Opinions ranged from the thought-provoking - "moulds into which molten metal could have been poured" - to the generic - "ancient Hebrew or Egyptian characters".
The archaeological dig is known as The City of David, a politically-sensitive project funded by the Israeli government and Jewish nationalists. Palestinians and some Israeli archaeologists have criticised the dig for what they say is an excessive focus on Jewish remains. The participants deny that charge.
Monday, September 19, 2011
A Sacred Place Discovered in Northern Portugal
Archaeologists uncover prehistoric mysteries in Northern Portugal
17/9/2011
“We are talking about a flat stone, from which our investigation has identified 1,200 engraving motifs, when initially only around 10 were identified. And the stone is broken, which gives us an idea of the size it could have been in pre-history,” said Ana Bettencourt.
She estimates that the site where the stone was discovered could have been used as a sacred place from as early as 3,000 or 4,000 B.C.
“We don’t know exactly when the place became sacred or symbolic, for people. But it was used by various communities until the Iron Age,” she said.
The aim of this project is to study pre-historic remains from between 5,000 and 1,000 BC “making an inventory and studying” places with burial rock art and metal deposits.
17/9/2011
Recent archaeological investigations have
uncovered a number of prehistoric sites and artefacts, including rock art and
engravings at Laje da Churra in the Serra de Santa Luzia near Viana do Castelo
in northern Portugal.
An archaeologist working for ENARDAS, which
is coordinating the project, told Lusa News Agency that the flat stone
discovered around 40 years ago in Carreço parish, is today one of the most
important artefacts with engravings.
“We are talking about a flat stone, from which our investigation has identified 1,200 engraving motifs, when initially only around 10 were identified. And the stone is broken, which gives us an idea of the size it could have been in pre-history,” said Ana Bettencourt.
She estimates that the site where the stone was discovered could have been used as a sacred place from as early as 3,000 or 4,000 B.C.
“We don’t know exactly when the place became sacred or symbolic, for people. But it was used by various communities until the Iron Age,” she said.
Aside from the flat stone and engravings of horses, weapons and
boats have also been unearthed at the site.
Laje da Churra is one of 10 sites of interest that have been
identified since May by archaeologists working in the Serra de Santa Luzia on a
project promoted by specialists from Minho University due to last until 2013.
The aim of this project is to study pre-historic remains from between 5,000 and 1,000 BC “making an inventory and studying” places with burial rock art and metal deposits.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Ilkley Moor Stone Carvings to be Preserved in 3D
Story from BBC News
Prehistoric Ilkley Moor carvings to be preserved in 3D
Monday, 8 November 2010
Prehistoric carvings on Ilkley Moor are to be preserved with help from the latest technology so future generations will be able to enjoy and study them.
Archaeologists hope to create digital 3D models of the carvings amid fears the originals could be eroded away.
Community archaeologist Gavin Edwards said this was an important development.
He said: "We have the opportunity to create three-dimensional models so they can be studied in the future as they exist in the landscape itself."
The carvings were made in what is known as the Mesolithic - or Middle Stone Age - era which started at the end of the last ice age in about 10,000 BC.
It is thought they were made by some of the first hunter-gatherers to reach what is now Ilkley Moor - an area which now has the highest concentration of Mesolithic sites in the world.
Human interaction
Gavin Edwards explained: "What we have is a dense concentration of evidence telling us about how the very first people who moved back into this area were exploiting the landscape and how they were surviving.
"They are part of the story of how human interaction with their surroundings started to change the very appearance of the landscape."
The Prehistoric Carved Rocks project has been launched by Pennine Prospects, an organisation dedicated to the regeneration of the South Pennines.
The project's aim is to ensure that even if the original carvings erode away due to the effects of the weather they will still available for study in centuries to come.
Gavin Edwards said it was all down to the latest technology that the project could be launched.
He said: "Up until now the only way we have been able to represent them is in two dimensions.
"But a new technique has become available to us whereby we can photograph them with digital images.
"Then, then there is a very complicated piece of software which can combine the images to produce a three-dimensional model of the actual carvings."
Volunteers are now being urged to come forward to join in the Prehistoric Carved Rocks project in Ilkley.
They will be given the chance to find out more about the project and register their interest.
Training sessions
In the coming months, training sessions covering surveying, recording and photographic techniques will take place.
It it is hoped volunteers will then be able to put all these skills into action on Ilkley Moor over the next three years.
Volunteer Eddie Nash said he thought it was well worth getting involved for a number of reasons.
He explained: "It is an interest I have. I find it fascinating looking back and trying to understand how our ancestors lived and developed and gave us what we have today.
"It is the usual situation where people do not understand and use what they have on their own doorstep.
"Once you start to make them aware of things, they are very surprised about what is to be found."
Prehistoric Ilkley Moor carvings to be preserved in 3D
Monday, 8 November 2010
Prehistoric carvings on Ilkley Moor are to be preserved with help from the latest technology so future generations will be able to enjoy and study them.
 |
| An Ilkley Moor rock carving. Mancala, anyone? |
Community archaeologist Gavin Edwards said this was an important development.
He said: "We have the opportunity to create three-dimensional models so they can be studied in the future as they exist in the landscape itself."
The carvings were made in what is known as the Mesolithic - or Middle Stone Age - era which started at the end of the last ice age in about 10,000 BC.
It is thought they were made by some of the first hunter-gatherers to reach what is now Ilkley Moor - an area which now has the highest concentration of Mesolithic sites in the world.
Human interaction
Gavin Edwards explained: "What we have is a dense concentration of evidence telling us about how the very first people who moved back into this area were exploiting the landscape and how they were surviving.
"They are part of the story of how human interaction with their surroundings started to change the very appearance of the landscape."
The Prehistoric Carved Rocks project has been launched by Pennine Prospects, an organisation dedicated to the regeneration of the South Pennines.
 |
| More carvings at Ilkley Moor |
Gavin Edwards said it was all down to the latest technology that the project could be launched.
He said: "Up until now the only way we have been able to represent them is in two dimensions.
"But a new technique has become available to us whereby we can photograph them with digital images.
"Then, then there is a very complicated piece of software which can combine the images to produce a three-dimensional model of the actual carvings."
Volunteers are now being urged to come forward to join in the Prehistoric Carved Rocks project in Ilkley.
They will be given the chance to find out more about the project and register their interest.
Training sessions
In the coming months, training sessions covering surveying, recording and photographic techniques will take place.
It it is hoped volunteers will then be able to put all these skills into action on Ilkley Moor over the next three years.
Volunteer Eddie Nash said he thought it was well worth getting involved for a number of reasons.
He explained: "It is an interest I have. I find it fascinating looking back and trying to understand how our ancestors lived and developed and gave us what we have today.
"It is the usual situation where people do not understand and use what they have on their own doorstep.
"Once you start to make them aware of things, they are very surprised about what is to be found."
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Petroglyphs in the News
Australia:
Scientists document painted portals to a vanished past
Victoria Laurie From: The Australian May 12, 2010 12:00AM
LAST year, archeologist Mike Morwood and rock art specialist June Ross took the ride of their lifetime across the northwest Kimberley. They hired a helicopter and flew across largely trackless territory, their pilot landing periodically in spots where he felt he could get his helicopter down safely and where they believed a good rock art site might lie.
Their journey took them from Bigge Island, one of the Kimberley's largest offshore landmasses, east to inland pastoral stations, and north as far as the rugged Drysdale River National Park, the Kimberley's largest park that lacks an airstrip, ranger station or even a single road.
The pair's aerial reconnoitre recorded 27 locations in which they documented a total of 54 rock art sites. "It was an absolute revelation," Ross recalls. "What struck us was how many rock art sites there are, and we developed a great admiration for the artists who made them."
Across the Kimberley, hundreds of thousands of paintings lie in rock overhangs and caves, often behind curtains of tropical vines. Dappled light plays over the surface of hauntingly beautiful images that have made the region famous: Gwion Gwion or Bradshaw paintings depicting slender dancing figures in mulberry coloured ochre or younger images of Wandjina spirits, wide-eyed and startlingly white despite the passage of years.
But who were these prodigious artists, when did they come and what other traces did they leave of their presence? Such questions are among the most crucial in Australian archeology, according to Morwood and Ross. Like Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, they say, the Kimberley may hold vital clues to understanding the origins of the first Australians.
"In fact, given the proximity of island southeast Asia and the relatively short water crossing required at times of lowered sea level, the Kimberley was a likely beach-head for the initial peopling of Australia," Morwood says.
In a bid to give substance to such speculation, Morwood, Ross and a team of multidisciplinary scientists will spend next month in the Kimberley, in the first of three expeditions to be conducted in successive years. It marks a new era in archeological exploration in the region, where previous work on only a few sites dates back nearly 20 years.
Morwood's hope is that intensive study of selected sites will build up a picture of human occupancy and the sequence of rock painting styles, which "may prove one of the longest and most complex anywhere in the world".
He says the area has a long history of human occupation, dating back 43,000 years or more. "There are caves and open sites around swamps, graves, dreaming tracks, rain forests, so who knows what rich areas there are."
Morwood has a track record for unearthing contentious finds. His previous work on excavations in rural Indonesia led to the discovery of the Flores hobbit or Homo floresiensis, the near-complete skeleton of a previously unknown species of human.
Ross is an expert in the rock art of central Australia, research that has required her to drive for hours across sand dunes to reach desert sites; she once punctured eight tyres on one stretch alone.
Both scientists say the logistics of working in the Kimberley will be as challenging as anything they've experienced. Individuals can reach the expedition area only by helicopter and they must camp in tiny tents among heat-radiating rock escarpments.
In three years, the team will excavate sites around the Lawley River, Mitchell Plateau and lower Mitchell River. This year's sites lie a short helicopter trip from the picturesque Mitchell Falls, a location known to tourists travelling the Gibb River Road in the dry season. Many of them take a detour into Mitchell River National Park to see its waterfalls and rock art sites.
The geology of the Kimberley is a factor that acts in the researchers' favour. In many parts of Australia, friable rock surfaces cause art to erode or flake from the surface and disappear, Ross explains. "But in the Kimberley, the paint remains in the rock as a stain. And the rock surfaces are dense quartzite and sandstone, which are hard, very resistant to weathering and break down very, very slowly."
While geology helps, a hostile climate acts against them. In most parts of the world, cave floors are covered with telltale debris, including layers of paint and charcoal from eons of human activity.
"But out of the 54 sites we've seen, few have any significant deposits at all," Ross says. "Think of the [ferocity of] cyclonic wet season rain, when a lot of the shelters would have been scoured out by floods. A huge amount of material is simply washed away."
To overcome this, the team will adopt a multidisciplinary approach. Kira Westaway from Macquarie University will use cutting-edge rock art dating techniques. Using pollen samples, Australian National University scientist Simon Haberle will determine the vegetation that grew near the caves and the influence of climatic changes on its growth. Geographer Murray Scown will map ancient river systems, pinpointing permanent water sources that may have led humans to make their home there.
Ross says: "We have to attack the problem with every possible tool. It's the direction that we have to go in archeology in Australia because we've got very few clues.
"We've had tantalising pieces of evidence in the last 20 years in archeological digs - from ground ochre to a smear of pigment on a rock - that indicate that the first Australians had the ability to produce art."
But the lack of accurate dating of much of the art remains an obstacle to understanding. Grahame Walsh, who died in 2007, made comprehensive surveys of rock art in the region and published books in 1994 and 2000. In them, Walsh aired contentious and speculative views that the art was created by a pre-Aboriginal civilisation, not the antecedents of today's indigenous people.
In the mid-1990s, Walsh accompanied Morwood and Ross to the northwest Kimberley to attempt the first scientific dating of rock art. At one site, they huddled around a fire waiting until it was pitch dark. "We'd then go out in the middle of the night and take samples from the rock art surface using a torch covered with a red filter," Ross says. "We were scraping a lump of mud from a wasp's nest off the wall, and taking rock grains from the bottom of it to analyse. It was all quite dramatic. The actual samples cannot be exposed to light because what we were measuring was the last time they had been exposed to light."
Luminescence dating by the University of Wollongong's Richard Roberts indicated the art was at least 17,000 years old.
This time, to avoid damaging the art, researchers will use a portable X-ray machine to measure the surfaces in situ.
Morwood and Ross will work alongside traditional owners from the Kandiwal community at Mitchell Falls. "We never forget that we are researching a living culture, albeit a changing one," Ross says.
Community members are keen to co-operate because they are concerned about the effect of growing tourist numbers and the threat of mining in the bauxite-rich Mitchell Plateau, Morwood adds. "If there is development coming, it's worth showing the art's significance now and not as an emergency response."
An $800,000 Australian Research Council grant will fund the surveys, which are also supported by the Kimberley Rock Art Foundation, a philanthropic group headed by Maria Myers, Walsh's former patron.
Room has been made for three PhD students to join the team and the positions have been advertised.
Morwood thinks their research may turn up some of the earliest evidence for human presence in Australia, dating back 50,000 years. Ross is more cautious: "I don't want to predict what we'll find . . . But I think the Kimberley will be hugely important in answering significant questions [in] Australian archeology."
China:
Blogged about this early, but worthy of a repeat
1,000 ancient rock paintings found in east-central China
16:13, May 06, 2010
...a large cambered stone which is 8 meters long and 3.7 meters wide. There are more than 500 small craters of different sizes on the surface of the stone and several relatively larger craters that are 13 to 20 centimeters in diameter and three to seven centimeters in depth. These craters are connected by various lines, forming a very large ancient diagram (as shown in the above picture).
"It is quite incredible that a large stone goat carries 'Hetu and Luoshu' (map of the Yellow River and the book of the Luo River) on its back," Ma said.
The neck and back of the stone goat are carved with many craters. This is the first time that a Juci Mountain-style rock painting has been found on a stone animal, which is extremely rare and valuable.
Greenville, South Carolina, USA
Effort to preserve Pickens petroglyphs gets help from Natural Resources
Agency will help chisel away at fundraising goal for center
By Terry Cregar • Staff Writer • May 15, 2010
PICKENS — The state Department of Natural Resources is hoping to raise around $300,000 to build a structure designed to help preserve 1,000-year-old rock carvings near Pickens.
The agency is expected to announce the fundraising effort next week, with the money used to build the South Carolina Rock Art Center on the grounds of Hagood Mill Historic Site and Folklife Center.
The center is located off U.S. 178 north of Pickens.
Last fall, the Pickens County Cultural Commission launched a capital campaign toward raising money for the rock art center called “Preserving a Place of Ancient Voices.” So far that effort has brought in around $90,000, according to Allen Coleman, executive director of the Pickens County Museum and the Pickens County Cultural Commission.
A successful DNR campaign, which is part of that local effort, would give the center the money needed to complete the project, Coleman said.
The more than 40 carvings, including 17 rare human figures, were discovered in 2003 in a large rock outcropping toward the rear of the Hagood Mill property. According to DNR, petroglyphs carved by prehistoric American Indians are found at more that 300 sites in the state, most of them located in Pickens, Greenville and Oconee counties. Many are at high elevations and difficult to reach for the general public.
Some of the high-elevation petroglyphs are on the Jim Timmerman Natural Resources Area at Jocassee Gorges in northern Pickens County.
Coleman said the commission is revising the original plan for the rock art center to make the structure “blend” with the rest of the buildings at the Hagood Mill property. “We want to make it look more like the site, make it less slick-looking,” he said.
The structure's design will remain unchanged, he said.
India:
Also a repeat of an earlier blog entry
Engraved menhir found in India
Mon, 10 May 2010 17:41:24 GMT
A freelance Indian archeologist has discovered an engraved megalith menhir on an open field about 100 kilometers from the southeastern city of Guntur.
K. Venkateshwara Rao found the menhir on the left bank of Nagaleuru, a tributary of the Krishna at Karampudi, The Hindu reported.
The Menhir, which dates back to the time between 1,000 and 300 BCE, stands alone facing the north-east and bears rock engravings at 8 to 9 feet off the ground.
Menhirs are remnants of the prehistoric megalithic civilization, when people used signs to communicate. Archaeological evidence also shows that they were used as places of worship.
Scientists document painted portals to a vanished past
Victoria Laurie From: The Australian May 12, 2010 12:00AM
LAST year, archeologist Mike Morwood and rock art specialist June Ross took the ride of their lifetime across the northwest Kimberley. They hired a helicopter and flew across largely trackless territory, their pilot landing periodically in spots where he felt he could get his helicopter down safely and where they believed a good rock art site might lie.
Their journey took them from Bigge Island, one of the Kimberley's largest offshore landmasses, east to inland pastoral stations, and north as far as the rugged Drysdale River National Park, the Kimberley's largest park that lacks an airstrip, ranger station or even a single road.
The pair's aerial reconnoitre recorded 27 locations in which they documented a total of 54 rock art sites. "It was an absolute revelation," Ross recalls. "What struck us was how many rock art sites there are, and we developed a great admiration for the artists who made them."
Across the Kimberley, hundreds of thousands of paintings lie in rock overhangs and caves, often behind curtains of tropical vines. Dappled light plays over the surface of hauntingly beautiful images that have made the region famous: Gwion Gwion or Bradshaw paintings depicting slender dancing figures in mulberry coloured ochre or younger images of Wandjina spirits, wide-eyed and startlingly white despite the passage of years.
But who were these prodigious artists, when did they come and what other traces did they leave of their presence? Such questions are among the most crucial in Australian archeology, according to Morwood and Ross. Like Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, they say, the Kimberley may hold vital clues to understanding the origins of the first Australians.
"In fact, given the proximity of island southeast Asia and the relatively short water crossing required at times of lowered sea level, the Kimberley was a likely beach-head for the initial peopling of Australia," Morwood says.
In a bid to give substance to such speculation, Morwood, Ross and a team of multidisciplinary scientists will spend next month in the Kimberley, in the first of three expeditions to be conducted in successive years. It marks a new era in archeological exploration in the region, where previous work on only a few sites dates back nearly 20 years.
Morwood's hope is that intensive study of selected sites will build up a picture of human occupancy and the sequence of rock painting styles, which "may prove one of the longest and most complex anywhere in the world".
He says the area has a long history of human occupation, dating back 43,000 years or more. "There are caves and open sites around swamps, graves, dreaming tracks, rain forests, so who knows what rich areas there are."
Morwood has a track record for unearthing contentious finds. His previous work on excavations in rural Indonesia led to the discovery of the Flores hobbit or Homo floresiensis, the near-complete skeleton of a previously unknown species of human.
Ross is an expert in the rock art of central Australia, research that has required her to drive for hours across sand dunes to reach desert sites; she once punctured eight tyres on one stretch alone.
Both scientists say the logistics of working in the Kimberley will be as challenging as anything they've experienced. Individuals can reach the expedition area only by helicopter and they must camp in tiny tents among heat-radiating rock escarpments.
In three years, the team will excavate sites around the Lawley River, Mitchell Plateau and lower Mitchell River. This year's sites lie a short helicopter trip from the picturesque Mitchell Falls, a location known to tourists travelling the Gibb River Road in the dry season. Many of them take a detour into Mitchell River National Park to see its waterfalls and rock art sites.
The geology of the Kimberley is a factor that acts in the researchers' favour. In many parts of Australia, friable rock surfaces cause art to erode or flake from the surface and disappear, Ross explains. "But in the Kimberley, the paint remains in the rock as a stain. And the rock surfaces are dense quartzite and sandstone, which are hard, very resistant to weathering and break down very, very slowly."
While geology helps, a hostile climate acts against them. In most parts of the world, cave floors are covered with telltale debris, including layers of paint and charcoal from eons of human activity.
"But out of the 54 sites we've seen, few have any significant deposits at all," Ross says. "Think of the [ferocity of] cyclonic wet season rain, when a lot of the shelters would have been scoured out by floods. A huge amount of material is simply washed away."
To overcome this, the team will adopt a multidisciplinary approach. Kira Westaway from Macquarie University will use cutting-edge rock art dating techniques. Using pollen samples, Australian National University scientist Simon Haberle will determine the vegetation that grew near the caves and the influence of climatic changes on its growth. Geographer Murray Scown will map ancient river systems, pinpointing permanent water sources that may have led humans to make their home there.
Ross says: "We have to attack the problem with every possible tool. It's the direction that we have to go in archeology in Australia because we've got very few clues.
"We've had tantalising pieces of evidence in the last 20 years in archeological digs - from ground ochre to a smear of pigment on a rock - that indicate that the first Australians had the ability to produce art."
But the lack of accurate dating of much of the art remains an obstacle to understanding. Grahame Walsh, who died in 2007, made comprehensive surveys of rock art in the region and published books in 1994 and 2000. In them, Walsh aired contentious and speculative views that the art was created by a pre-Aboriginal civilisation, not the antecedents of today's indigenous people.
In the mid-1990s, Walsh accompanied Morwood and Ross to the northwest Kimberley to attempt the first scientific dating of rock art. At one site, they huddled around a fire waiting until it was pitch dark. "We'd then go out in the middle of the night and take samples from the rock art surface using a torch covered with a red filter," Ross says. "We were scraping a lump of mud from a wasp's nest off the wall, and taking rock grains from the bottom of it to analyse. It was all quite dramatic. The actual samples cannot be exposed to light because what we were measuring was the last time they had been exposed to light."
Luminescence dating by the University of Wollongong's Richard Roberts indicated the art was at least 17,000 years old.
This time, to avoid damaging the art, researchers will use a portable X-ray machine to measure the surfaces in situ.
Morwood and Ross will work alongside traditional owners from the Kandiwal community at Mitchell Falls. "We never forget that we are researching a living culture, albeit a changing one," Ross says.
Community members are keen to co-operate because they are concerned about the effect of growing tourist numbers and the threat of mining in the bauxite-rich Mitchell Plateau, Morwood adds. "If there is development coming, it's worth showing the art's significance now and not as an emergency response."
An $800,000 Australian Research Council grant will fund the surveys, which are also supported by the Kimberley Rock Art Foundation, a philanthropic group headed by Maria Myers, Walsh's former patron.
Room has been made for three PhD students to join the team and the positions have been advertised.
Morwood thinks their research may turn up some of the earliest evidence for human presence in Australia, dating back 50,000 years. Ross is more cautious: "I don't want to predict what we'll find . . . But I think the Kimberley will be hugely important in answering significant questions [in] Australian archeology."
China:
1,000 ancient rock paintings found in east-central China
16:13, May 06, 2010
...a large cambered stone which is 8 meters long and 3.7 meters wide. There are more than 500 small craters of different sizes on the surface of the stone and several relatively larger craters that are 13 to 20 centimeters in diameter and three to seven centimeters in depth. These craters are connected by various lines, forming a very large ancient diagram (as shown in the above picture).
"It is quite incredible that a large stone goat carries 'Hetu and Luoshu' (map of the Yellow River and the book of the Luo River) on its back," Ma said.
The neck and back of the stone goat are carved with many craters. This is the first time that a Juci Mountain-style rock painting has been found on a stone animal, which is extremely rare and valuable.
Greenville, South Carolina, USA
Effort to preserve Pickens petroglyphs gets help from Natural Resources
Agency will help chisel away at fundraising goal for center
By Terry Cregar • Staff Writer • May 15, 2010
The agency is expected to announce the fundraising effort next week, with the money used to build the South Carolina Rock Art Center on the grounds of Hagood Mill Historic Site and Folklife Center.
The center is located off U.S. 178 north of Pickens.
Last fall, the Pickens County Cultural Commission launched a capital campaign toward raising money for the rock art center called “Preserving a Place of Ancient Voices.” So far that effort has brought in around $90,000, according to Allen Coleman, executive director of the Pickens County Museum and the Pickens County Cultural Commission.
A successful DNR campaign, which is part of that local effort, would give the center the money needed to complete the project, Coleman said.
The more than 40 carvings, including 17 rare human figures, were discovered in 2003 in a large rock outcropping toward the rear of the Hagood Mill property. According to DNR, petroglyphs carved by prehistoric American Indians are found at more that 300 sites in the state, most of them located in Pickens, Greenville and Oconee counties. Many are at high elevations and difficult to reach for the general public.
Some of the high-elevation petroglyphs are on the Jim Timmerman Natural Resources Area at Jocassee Gorges in northern Pickens County.
Coleman said the commission is revising the original plan for the rock art center to make the structure “blend” with the rest of the buildings at the Hagood Mill property. “We want to make it look more like the site, make it less slick-looking,” he said.
The structure's design will remain unchanged, he said.
India:
Engraved menhir found in India
Mon, 10 May 2010 17:41:24 GMT
A freelance Indian archeologist has discovered an engraved megalith menhir on an open field about 100 kilometers from the southeastern city of Guntur.
K. Venkateshwara Rao found the menhir on the left bank of Nagaleuru, a tributary of the Krishna at Karampudi, The Hindu reported.
The Menhir, which dates back to the time between 1,000 and 300 BCE, stands alone facing the north-east and bears rock engravings at 8 to 9 feet off the ground.
Menhirs are remnants of the prehistoric megalithic civilization, when people used signs to communicate. Archaeological evidence also shows that they were used as places of worship.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Is This a 10,000 Year Old Map in Stone?
From Newscientist.com
Found: A pocket guide to prehistoric Spain
05 August 2009 by Charles Choi and Catherine Brahic
Magazine issue 2720.
MODERN humans have got it easy. Anyone with a computer can look up just about any location and within seconds bring up a map complete with step-by-step directions from A to B.
The internet and centuries of map-making mean getting to, say, the prehistoric painted caves of France and Spain is child's play. "But imagine a group of hunter-gatherers, returning to an area they had not been to for a long time. How do you find a particular cave, especially if the vegetation has changed and its entrance may be masked?" asks independent archaeologist Paul Bahn.
The answer may be that hunter-gatherers had their own maps. A team of archaeologists have matched etchings made 14,000 years ago on a polished chunk of sandstone in northern Spain to the landscape in which it was found. They claim to have the earliest known map of a region in western Europe - a prehistoric hunting map.
The rock, roughly hand-sized and 14,000 years old, bears a mess of overlapping etchings. It was found in a cave in Navarre on the southern side of the Pyrenees and it took Pilar Utrilla of the University of Zaragoza, Spain, and colleagues the better part of 10 years to disentangle the lines and make sense of them (Journal of Human Evolution, DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2009.05.005).
Rest of article.
Examples of old maps from the article:
The oldest map found in Europe, discovered in Pavlov in the Czech Republic, is about 25,000 years old. It depicts a mountain, river, valleys and routes around the region.
A schematic 6200-year-old drawing of Çatalhöyük in Turkey may be the oldest known city map.
The oldest known map of the world dates to 600 BC. It is inscribed on a clay tablet discovered in the city of Sippar in southern Iraq, is centred around Babylon and shows the world as a circle surrounded by "bitter water": the salty sea.
The oldest complete star atlas, measuring 2 metres across, was discovered in China in 1907. It dates from the 7th century AD and marks the position of 1339 stars, including clearly recognisable groups such as Orion and the big dipper.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Ancient Carved Stone Discovered in Denmark
This is a really interesting discovery.
Sensational Stone Age discovery
October 20, 2008
An ancient stone with a phallic motif provides new information on Stone Age art and symbols.
A young couple walking along Horsens Fjord in August this year made a sensational discovery – a 5-7,000 year old stone with a scratched motif. The 13x10x4 cm. limestone shows a man with an erect phallus and two fish.
Archaeologists at Horsens museum were taken aback, and immediately passed the stone on the National Museum to determine whether the motif was indeed from the Stone Age or simply a later work of art using an ancient style.
Ertebølle Culture
“But now we’re sure. We believe the stone to be from the Ertebølle Culture between 5,400 and 3,900 BC. It’s the sort of discovery that is only made once a decade,” says Horsens Museum Archaeologist Per Borup.
Apart from its phallic representation, the man in the motif seems to have some form of head dress with animal ears – possibly in the tradition of an Indian shaman.
Edited by Julian Isherwood
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Neolithic Lovers
Ahhhhh, I'm such a sap for romance!Here's a lovely little stone carving dating back to c. 3200 BCE from Malta, the island where the Goddess rules strong.
The Times of Malta reported on February 12, 2008 that Heritage Malta is to mark Valentine's Day by exhibiting a 5,000 old terracotta figurine depicting an embracing couple. The minute figurine has some fine incisions representing long hair on both figures.
The figurine, dating back to 3200 B.C is the only Maltese prehistoric presentation of an embracing couple, the agency said. It is being exhibited at the lobby of the National Museum of Archeology in Republic Street Valletta. Admission is free of charge.
Some examples of necklaces and axe pendants which were also unearthed from Malta’s Megalithic Temples and hypogea are also being exhibited alongside.
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