In search of the world's oldest cave etching
"I'M DRIVING across South Australia's featureless but iconic Nullarbor Plain when suddenly the red earth falls away into a black abyss. "Dramatic really is the word for it," says Keryn Walshe.
Fifty metres wide and 25 metres deep, the sinkhole is a gateway to the mysterious Koonalda caves.Walshe, an archaeologist from the South Australian Museum, is leading a group of researchers and members of the Mirning people, the traditional Aboriginal owners of the land, into the caves. It has taken us 6 hours to drive here, after flying in from Adelaide, the nearest city, 900 kilometres away.
We have come to see strange wall markings that may have been a tactile code left by flint miners during the last ice age. The mine might be among the oldest in the world, as may the markings. The flint has clearly been cut away in numerous places and worked into tools, and ash deposits from fires show people have been coming here for tens of thousands of years...."
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21628954.700-in-search-of-the-worlds-oldest-cave-etching.html
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Was the Spotted Horse an Imaginary Creature?
"About 25,000 years ago, humans began painting a curious creature on the walls of European caves. Among the rhinos, wild cattle, and other animals, they sketched a white horse with black spots. Although such horses are popular breeds today, scientists didn't think they existed before humans domesticated the species about 5000 years ago. Now, a new study of prehistoric horse DNA concludes that spotted horses did indeed roam ancient Europe, suggesting that early artists may have been reproducing what they saw rather than creating imaginary creatures......"
http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2011/11/was-the-spotted-horse-an-imagina.html?ref=hp
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Bear DNA is clue to age of Chauvet cave art
"EXPLORING a gorge in south-east France in 1994 for prehistoric artefacts, Jean-Marie Chauvet hit the jackpot. After squeezing through a narrow passage, he found himself in a hidden cavern, the walls of which were covered with paintings of animals.
But dating the beautiful images - which featured in Werner Herzog's recent documentary film Cave of Forgotten Dreams - has led to an ugly spat between archaeologists. Could the bones of cave bears settle the debate?"
More:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21028093.900-bear-dna-is-clue-to-age-of-chauvet-cave-art.html
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