A series of parallel lines engraved in an animal bone between 1.4 and 1.2 million years ago may be the earliest example of human symbolic behaviour.
University of Bordeaux experts say no practical process, such as butchering a carcass, can explain the markings.
But many researchers believe the capacity for true symbolic thinking arose much later with the emergence of modern humans, Homo sapiens.
Northern sea baffles archaeologists
Remains of an ancient civilization discovered in the depths of the Northern sea
While some scientists spend all their time and efforts in search of Atlantis, others have already discovered remains of an ancient civilization that had existed on the same territory as present-day Northern sea. With the help of modern technology, archaeologists were able to get a better glimpse of the ancient world.
Approximately 10 000 years ago the entire bottom of the Northern sea had been a blossoming valley, inhabited by ancestors of modern-day Europeans. Scientists from the Birmingham University were able to reach such conclusion after reconstructing local landscape by means of computers. Archaeologists analyzed data of earth's crust's fluctuations and using a specially designed program managed to come up with a 3D image of the area. The region connects today's British Isles with continental Europe.
Alligator-shaped rock a headscratcher
NASHVILLE, March 11 (UPI) -- Scientific interest is growing in a Tennessee family's discovery of a 4-foot-long rock that strongly resembles an alligator, the Nashville Tennessean says.
Tony Hackett's children discovered the rock on the family property east of Nashville last weekend, and were so excited, they sent off pictures of the gator-stone to state and university scientists to inquire if it was a fossil, or a carving.
Hackett's convinced nature didn't shape the stone, though, as it appears to have an open mouth.
Our intrepid cadre of field correspondents are, as we type, scouring the virtual universe for an actual picture of this amazing rock.