Neanderthals engraved a deer bone more than 50,000 years ago
CNN)A tiny piece of bone that once belonged to a giant Ice Age deer is changing how we think about Neanderthals.
Found in Einhornhöhle cave in northern Germany, the decorated deer phalanx, or toe bone, features an engraved geometric pattern and has been dated, using several techniques, to at least 51,000 years old.
It refreshes the debate over to what extent Neanderthals, the heavily built Stone Age hominins that disappeared about 40,000 years ago, were capable of artistic expression and symbolic thought and whether they developed these skills themselves or through interactions with early modern humans, who first arrived in Europe around this time.
"The phalanx from Einhornhöhle with its stacked offset chevrons represents one of the most complex cultural expressions in Neanderthals known so far," according to a study that published Monday in the journal Nature.
Something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption, and the Ice Capades. Something is definitely wrong. This is not good work. If this is the best God can do, I am not impressed.
"Nothing discloses real character like the use of power. It is easy for the weak to be gentle. Most people can bear adversity. But if you wish to know what a man really is, give him power. This is the supreme test." ~ Robert G. Ingersoll
"Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer, and, without sneering, teach the rest to sneer." ~ Alexander Pope
[quote} Prehistoric cave paintings in Spain show Neanderthals were artists
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ARDALES, Spain (Reuters) -Neanderthals may have been closer to our species of prehistoric modern human than previously believed after cave paintings found in Spain proved they had a fondness for creating art, one of the authors of a new scientific report said on Sunday.
Red ochre pigment discovered on stalagmites in the Caves of Ardales, near Malaga in southern Spain, were created by Neanderthals about 65,000 years ago, making them possibly the first artists on earth, according to the study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) journal.
Modern humans were not inhabiting Europe at the time the cave images were made.
Something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption, and the Ice Capades. Something is definitely wrong. This is not good work. If this is the best God can do, I am not impressed.
Hmmm... How do you define art? Is it the same type of definition that a judge once used in defining pornography? ("I know it when I see it"...) I'm not sure that randomly spitting a colored substance on a parietal surface constitutes art... Another thing... has any modern person ever taken ground ochre, put it in their mouth & spat it on a surface to test the theory??? I can agree that handprints, both negative & positive, can be considered art. Same for other common 'symbols' found in parietal art... dots, chevrons, dashes, etc. (the article did show one pic that had horizontal dashes) But random splashes of color? Is any alteration of your environment art? I don't really think so. It seems a bit of a (hopeful) stretch to me.
"Nothing discloses real character like the use of power. It is easy for the weak to be gentle. Most people can bear adversity. But if you wish to know what a man really is, give him power. This is the supreme test." ~ Robert G. Ingersoll
"Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer, and, without sneering, teach the rest to sneer." ~ Alexander Pope
I'm not sure that randomly spitting a colored substance on a parietal surface constitutes art
Sounds like an improvement over what I've seen for "art" in Modern Art museums!
Something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption, and the Ice Capades. Something is definitely wrong. This is not good work. If this is the best God can do, I am not impressed.
I hear ya Min. I never quite 'got' Jackson Pollock, Picasso & a few of the more extreme abstract artists. However, I do like surrealist art like Dali & the later works by Van Gogh. Art is so subjective. Everybody has a different opinion of what constitutes art & what is merely drivel. I simply don't think that a random spatter of color on a surface constitutes art. I guess abstract art fans would consider me a heretic. So sue me.
"Nothing discloses real character like the use of power. It is easy for the weak to be gentle. Most people can bear adversity. But if you wish to know what a man really is, give him power. This is the supreme test." ~ Robert G. Ingersoll
"Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer, and, without sneering, teach the rest to sneer." ~ Alexander Pope
