For years archaeologists have clung to the idea that only truly modern humans were artists, and that our Neanderthal cousins spent their entire evolutionary lifetime as boorish philistines. But fresh analysis of a prized set of human bones has dealt a body blow to this cherished theory.
The first sparks of artistic creativity are seen in carved figurines found at various sites throughout Europe. The oldest examples are between 30,000 and 40,000 years old, which means they were created about the time that modern humans are thought to have blazed a trail across the continent, displacing Neanderthals as they went.
Many experts argue that this cannot be simple coincidence. Art arrived in Europe with modern humans, they say. As proof, they point to the Vogelherd caves near Ulm, Germany, where a dozen figurines of this vintage, as well as stone tools, were unearthed alongside Homo sapiens remains in 1931.
However, no one had proved that the Vogelherd bones and artwork were the same age, says Nicholas Conard of the University of Tübingen, Germany, who led the new study. "Speculation is cheap," he says. "It sounds plausible, but you need evidence."
We haven't found this in an easily accessible free news outlet, but will post it when we do. Upshot: The figurines were dated tomuch younger than the supposedly associated skeletons.
This beautifully illustrates a basic point regarding dating and one which we've brought up before. Applying radiocarbon or other "absolute" dating techniques involves much more than just shipping a sample off to the lab and waiting for the results. The archaeological context of the dated materials and that which you wish to date must be tightly associated archaeologically. That is, the two events that you wish to date -- in this case the age of the death of the material the figurines were made of and the burials of the humans -- must be reasonably argued to coincide. This is especially important when deciding on "the earliest" instance of anything, whether it be the first art-making hominids or the first people in the Americas.
More on the mummy unwrapping Seeing Into the Mummy
Cutting-edge computer technology and state-of-the-art medical scanning techniques have turned a 2,800-year-old mummy into a fully interactive 3-D experience, London's British Museum has announced.
Resting in a decorated cartonnage, Nesperennub, a priest buried in Thebes in about 800 B.C., was moved from its display at the museum to undergo a CT-scan at a London hospital and a 3-D laser-scan in Scotland.
The resulting 1,500 flat scans were pieced together and turned into 3-D lifelike pictures by software developed by Silicon Graphics Inc. of Mountain View, Calif.
Note the new picture of the full torso and head. Not as creepy as the one we posted below, but interesting nonetheless. Note especially the bowl on top of his head (clear in the photos) and the other objects within the wrappings.
Cyprus An archaeological treasure of 26 bronze items dated on the 13 century BC was discovered near the occupied Galinoporni village
Turkish Cypriot daily HALKIN SESI newspaper (06.07.04) reports that 26 bronze items were found buried in an earthenware jar in a rocky hill near the occupied Galinoporni village, in the Karpass Peninsula.
According to the paper, the items are 3200 years old, and are dated in the late Bronze Age. The excavations were conducted by the so-called Famagusta branch of the Department of the Antiquities and Museum of the pseudostate. Among the 26 items which were found, were two well preserved censers, one shovel for coals, of which only a few pieces are known to exist in Cyprus and the Middle East, a closed jug with a handle, five pieces of hook and three large bronze kettles. The paper writes that similar items were found in 1970 near the occupied Sinta Village. These items are now in the Saint Varnavas Museum.
That's it, don't click.
Europeans in China Ancient European remains found in Qinghai
Archeologists confirmed that the human skeletons discovered this May in northwest China's Qinghai Province belonged to three Europeans who lived in China over 1,900 years ago.
"The physical characteristics of the bones showed it is a typical European race," said Wang Minghui, an expert with the archeological institute under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
The skeletons were spotted at Zhongchuan Town of the province's eastern most Minhe Hui and Tu Autonomous County.
Since 2002, archeologists have unearthed nine tombs of Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD) at a construction site of a brickfield in the town, but it was not until this May that they felt the skeletons in two tombs "very special", said Ren Xiaoyan, deputy director if the provincial archeological institute, who added they invited Wang, who specializes in human bone identification, to take part in the study on the findings.
These are apparently more recent than those discovered earlier in China, the so-called Takla Makan Mummies. Transcript from a Nova broadcast on these mummies here. A review of a book on them is here.
Paleoanthropology update Scientists Find Ancient Skull in Kenya
Scientists working in Kenya have found skull fragments from what they say was an early, tool-making human that lived more than 900,000 years ago, perhaps filling an important gap in the fossil record.
Scientists from the United States, Britain and Kenya found part of a skull of a small adult with some characteristics of Homo erectus, in Olorgesalie, 100 miles southeast of the capital, Nairobi, said Richard Potts, the lead researcher.
The skull fragments were found between July and August 2003, and the scientists' analysis was published in Friday's edition of Science magazine.
Another win for the good guys A Truck seized in Oman loaded with Yemeni antiquities
The Security Authorities in Sultanate of Oman seized last Wednesday at Al-Mazyouta Custom Exist Point, a large truck loaded with antiques. The antiques consist of parts of historic pillars and antiques the size of a piece exceeds one meter, belonging and dating back to Sheba civilization era. The Authorities held the Yemeni driver and his assistant trying to get through the exist point in their way to United Arab Emirate.
The smugglers hid the antiques inside the trailer of the truck usually used for loading fuel. The Oman Authority is still interrogating the two detainees, while the Public Antiquities Authority in Yemen is preparing a file on the stolen pieces, which proves them to be Yemeni properties.
It is note mentioning that smuggling of antiques has become a flourishing trade in the present time, as we regularly, weekly, hear some quantities of antiques are seized at Yemeni either Airports, border entry/exit points or seaports of the Republic.
That's the whole thing. Good show.
And another one! Treasure hunter caught with Filipino relics
Manila's national museum has filed a complaint against an American treasure hunter for smuggling out Philippine artefacts salvaged from shipwrecks off the country's coast, says the justice secretary.
Merceditas Gutierrez said criminal cases of unlawful export of Philippine cultural property would also be brought against a former museum official and employees of a local freight company.
She said on Wednesday all of them worked with treasure hunter Philip Greco to export more than 10,000 artefacts, including massive Ming Dynasty statues. The relics lay in Philippine territorial waters.
Not near Atlanta Georgian archeologists discover basilica of middle ages
Georgian archeologists have discovered a monastery complex of the middle ages in the south-west of the village Bakuriani, at the 1700 m of the Black Sea altitude.
The archeologists were working on the 185 km of the Baku-Tbilisi-Geyhan pipeline traffic. Givi Ghambashidze, chief of the Tsikhijvari archeological expedition, said that they have found a massive stone wall, in the interior of which they discovered basilica cells, important ceramic utensils, remains of the building.
The scientists have studied a third of the monastery. The archeological research center at the Georgian Academy of Sciences is holding negotiations with the British company BP on the preservation of the important archeological discovery, and for the thorough study of the complex, shifting of the pipeline construction traffic.
That's the whole thing, too.
And still more Georgians not from Atlanta! Israel to Fix Vandalized Georgian Fresco
Israeli officials say experts can repair vandalism to a priceless 13th Georgian fresco in a Jerusalem monastery, but probably not before the July 28 visit of Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili.
The fresco, in the Monastery of the Holy Cross, is the only known portrait of famed Georgian poet Shota Rustaveli.
Georgian Ambassador Revaz Gachechiladze said the damage to the fresco was discovered Saturday when his wife was conducting a tour of the 11th century Greek Orthodox monastery in Jerusalem's Valley of the Cross.