Saturday 20 December 2014

Thursday, 21 June 2012

'oldest cave art'

Labels: 'oldest cave art'

Bristol researchers removing samples for dating from Tito Bustillo Cave

The El Castillo Cave has numerous red discs on its walls. One was dated to 40,800 years ago

Red dot becomes 'oldest cave art'

A look inside the Altamira Cave in northern Spain

Red dots, hand stencils and animal figures represent the oldest examples yet found of cave art in Europe.

The symbols on the walls at 11 Spanish locations, including the World Heritage sites of Altamira, El Castillo and Tito Bustillo have long been recognised for their antiquity.
But researchers have now used refined dating techniques to get a more accurate determination of their ages.
One motif - a faint red dot - is said to be more than 40,000 years old.
"In Cantabria, [in] El Castillo, we find hand stencils that are formed by blowing paint against the hands pressed against the wall of a cave," explained Dr Alistair Pike from Bristol University, UK, and the lead author on a scholarly paper published in the journal Science.
"We find one of these to date older than 37,300 years on 'The Panel of Hands', and very nearby there is a red disc made by a very similar technique that dates to older than 40,800 years.
"This now currently is Europe's oldest dated art by at least 4,000 years," he told reporters. It is arguably also the oldest reliably dated cave art anywhere in the world.
The team arrived at the ages by examining the calcium carbonate (calcite) crusts that had formed on top of the paintings.
This material builds up in the exact same way that stalagmites and stalactites form in a cave.
In the process, the calcite incorporates small numbers of naturally occurring radioactive uranium atoms. These atoms decay into thorium at a very precise rate through the ages, and the ratio of the two different elements in any sample can therefore be used as a kind of clock to time the moment when the calcite crust first formed.
Uranium-thorium dating has been around for decades, but the technique has now been so refined that only a tiny sample is required to get a good result.
This enabled the team to take very thin films of deposits from just above the paint pigments; and because the films were on top, the dates they gave were minimum ages - that is, the paintings had to be at least as old as the calcite deposits, and very probably quite a bit older.
The oldest dates coincide with the first known immigration into Europe of modern humans (Homo sapiens). Before about 41,000 years ago, it is their evolutionary cousins, the Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis), who dominate the continent.
Dr Pike's and colleagues' work therefore raises some intriguing questions about who might have authored the markings.
If anatomically modern humans were responsible then it means they engaged in the activity almost immediately on their arrival in Europe.
If Neanderthals were the artisans, it adds another layer to our understanding of their capabilities and sophistication.

The Panel of Hands: Produced by blowing paint over a hand pressed against the wall

The great antiquity of the paintings leads co-author Joao Zilhao, a research professor at ICREA, University of Barcelona, to think the Neanderthals produced the motifs. Finding even older paintings than the red dot at El Castillo might confirm that "gut feeling", he said.
"There is a strong chance that these results imply Neanderthal authorship," Prof Zilhao explained.
"But I will not say we have proven it because we haven't, and it cannot be proven at this time.
"What we have to do now is go back, sample more and find out whether we can indeed get dates older than 42, 43, 44,000.
"There is already a sampling programme going on. We have samples from more sites in Spain, from sites in Portugal and from other caves in Western Europe and so eventually we will be able to sort it out."
Tracing the origins of abstract throught and behaviours, and the rate at which they developed, are critical to understanding the human story.
The use of symbolism - the ability to let one thing represent another in the mind - is one of those traits that set our animal species apart from all others.
It is what underpins artistic endeavour and also the use of language.

solstice

Winter solstice as seen from Stonehenge

Winter solstice at Stonehenge.

At Stonehenge in England on the northern winter solstice, people watch the sunrise and sunset. Learn more and see photos here.

Many travel each year to Stonehenge in England – perhaps the most famous of the ancient astronomical monuments found around the world – to be present on the day of the northern winter solstice. (The 2014 December solstice occurs on December 21 at 23:03 UTC). Most who travel to Stonehenge visit the site early in the morning, to watch as the sun rises above the stones. In 2013, according to the BBC, about 3,500 people visited Stonehenge on the morning of the winter solstice. That’s fewer than the BBC reported in 2012 (that year, they said, there were 5,000 visits, which is about the maximum the area can hold for winter solstice festivities, due to winter parking concerns).

Winter solstice visits to Stonehenge apparently always bring fewer visitors than at the summer solstice, when parking can be provided in fields around the site, and when 20,000 to 30,000 people typically turn up for the celebration.

EarthSky Facebook friend Buddy Puckhaber of South Carolina took this photo of Stonehenge in the early morning, while visiting. He said, “My wife and I were among the first visitors of the day.” Thank you, Buddy!

Another beautiful shot of Stonehenge from our friend Buddy Puckhaber. Thank you, Buddy.

According to stonehengetours.com:

Stonehenge is carefully aligned on a sight-line that points to the winter solstice sunset (opposed to New Grange, which points to the winter solstice sunrise, and the Goseck circle, which is aligned to both the sunset and sunrise).

It is thought that the winter solstice was actually more important to the people who constructed Stonehenge than the summer solstice. The winter solstice was a time when most cattle were slaughtered (so they would not have to be fed during the winter) and the majority of wine and beer was finally fermented.

Winter solstice sunset at Stonehenge in the mid-1980s. Image via Wikimedia Commons.

What is special about the winter solstice sunrise and sunset? For the Northern Hemisphere, the December solstice marks the sun’s most southerly point on the celestial sphere, the imaginary sphere of stars surrounding Earth. It is sun’s southernmost sunset and thus marksa turning of the year, from decreasing daylight to increasing daylight, for us at northerly latitudes.

This Stonehenge monument – built in 3,000 to 2,000 BC – shows how carefully our ancestors watched the sun. Astronomical observations such as these surely controlled human activities such as the mating of animals, the sowing of crops and the metering of winter reserves between harvests.

When Stonehenge was first opened to the public it was possible to walk among the stones – even climb on them.

The stones were roped off in 1977 as a result of serious erosion. Today, visitors to the monument are not permitted to touch the stones, but, if you go, you will be able to walk around the monument from a short distance away.

Visitors can also make special bookings to access the stones throughout the year.

Comet PANSTARRS above the Stonehenge monument in March, 2013. Image via Simon Banton

Bottom line: The Stonehenge monument in England is a popular winter (and summer) solstice sunrise gathering place. In 2014, the winter solstice happens on December 21 at 23:03 UTC).

The summer solstice as seen from Stonehenge

How do I translate Universal Time to my time?

Want more? Everything you need to know: December solstice

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