Posted on 06/15/2003 4:12:58 PM PDT by blam
Archaeologists unearth Britain's first cave pictures
Robin McKie, science editor
Sunday June 15, 2003
The Observer (UK)
Archaeologists have discovered 12,000-year-old engravings carved by ancient Britons in a cave in Creswell Crags, Derbyshire. The depiction of the animals - which include a pair of birds - is the first example of prehistoric cave art in Britain. The discovery - by Paul Bahn and Paul Pettitt, with Spanish colleague Sergio Ripoll - is set to trigger considerable scientific excitement, for it fills a major gap in the country's archeological record.
'If this is verified, it represents a wonderful discovery,' said Professor Chris Stringer, of the Natural History Museum, London. 'There are fine examples of cave art in Spain and France but none has been found here - until now.'
Modern humans appeared in Europe 45,000 years ago and quickly replaced the continent's occupants, the Neanderthals. One of the settlers' first acts was to create works of art, something no previous human species is believed to have done. The best preserved of these works are the galloping horses and charging rhinos painted on cave walls at Lascaux and Chauvet in France and at Altamira in Spain.
But none has been found in Britain, probably because our climate has destroyed them, even though the British Isles were linked to the continent around this time, and the country was inhabited. Indeed, the hunt for ancient British cave art has been littered with embarrassing false leads. In 1918, archaeologists announced that a series of red stripes painted on a coastal cave in Wales was a prehistoric painting. Only later, when the stripes started to fade, was it realised they had probably been created by a sailor cleaning his paint brush.
But now archaeologists believe they have discovered the real thing. As the team reveal in the journal Antiquity, they targeted Creswell Crags because its caves are known to have been occupied in palaeolithic times. In the nineteenth century, archaeologists discovered a 12,000-year-old bone needle in a cave called Church Hole.
And it is in this cave that Bahn and Pettitt discovered the two engravings, both of a style similar to the cave art of France and Spain.
Of the two birds carved on the wall of Church Hole, one appears to be a crane or swan, the other a bird of prey. The other engraving is probably of an ibex, an animal not thought to have existed in Britain. The engraving may represent a rare sighting of an ibex that had strayed from south-west Europe.
The team discount the possibility that the engravings are forgeries because they are caked in calcite, indicating an ancient origin. Graffiti, dating to 1948, now covers them.
As to the function of the engravings, most experts believe they played a key role in strengthening tribal bonds. On reaching adolescence, youngsters would have been brought into caves lined with paintings of animals and lit with flickering candles and oil lamps.
Accompanied by chanting and drumming from priests, the experience would have been etched in the young minds, cementing them to the life of their tribe.
During the Ice Age (12,000 years ago) Britain was connected to the continent because the oceans were 300-500 feet lower. (Btw, the Red Sea was landlocked and the Persian Gulf was completely dry..and a lot of other 'stuff'...)
Speaking of and lots of other stuff
Haven't heard anything new about the city off the west of Cuba in a long time.
By David Keys, Archaeology Correspondent
15 June 2003
A semi-pornographic royal seal, discovered in a field in East Anglia, is providing historians and archaeologists with vital clues to the life of one of the Dark Ages' most bizarre celebrities.
Queen Balthild is now thought to have been born an Anglian aristocrat, who was then sold into slavery. She married the King of the Franks, became a ruthless ruler and murderer, but was finally made a saint before she died.
With her somewhat intimidating name - Balthild means literally "Bold Battle" in Anglo-Saxon - she has long been an enigma to scholars of Dark Age history. But the discovery, by a metal-detector enthusiast, of her royal seal matrix buried in a field in East Anglia is shedding new light on her extraordinary story.
The gold seal matrix, which was originally attached to a ring, is one of the most important Dark Age artefacts ever found in Britain. On one side is a human face with her name inscribed around it in Frankish form. On the other side are two naked figures thought to portray Balthild and her husband, the Frankish (French) king, having sex. The respectable side, according to this month's BBC History magazine, was used to seal official documents, while the reverse was no doubt used to seal more private correspondence between royal husband and wife.
An analysis of her name suggests that Balthild was a member of one of the Anglian (rather than Saxon) tribes and therefore almost certainly came from an Anglian area, namely Suffolk or Norfolk.
Second, the field in which the seal matrix was found - just a few miles east of Norfolk's county town, Norwich - has been yielding further Anglo-Saxon finds, suggesting that the matrix came from a long-vanished settlement, conceivably associated with her descendants.
Reconstructing Balthild's early life has long been a challenge to scholars, but new research now suggests that she was born around 627 and that she may well have been connected in some way to the last pagan king of East Anglia, a usurper called Ricberht who was ousted by his Christian rival Sigabert, the rightful heir to the throne, with French help. The victorious Sigabert (whose name, aptly, means "Shining Victory") had invaded East Anglia after spending several years at the court of the Frankish king.
As a young girl, Balthild was sent to the same French royal court as a slave - perhaps as a relative of the defeated Ricberht.
She joined the household of the king's chief administrator, Erchinoald, whose unwanted sexual overtures she rapidly learnt to resist. Just as well - for she soon met the French king, Clovis II. The pair appear to have fallen for each other and were married in 648. They had three sons, each of whom later became a Frankish king.
In 657 Clovis died, and Balthild took over as regent until her son came of age. By all accounts she was a ruthless ruler: as part of a continuing struggle with the church, she seems to have been responsible for the murder of at least nine French bishops. When her son Clothar came of age in 664, Balthild's rule ended - and she was virtually imprisoned in a convent. There she dedicated herself to a life of unexpected piety until her death in 680.
The wedding present from Clovis - the royal seal ring - must have been one of her most treasured and intimate possessions. How it ended up in a field near Norwich is a mystery. But it is conceivable that it was returned to her East Anglian family estate after her death. An analysis of all the other finds from the field - brooches, a finger ring, a pendant, belt fittings - does indeed hint that a high-status Anglo-Saxon residence once stood on the site.
For Dr Andrew Rogerson, a leading archaeologist at Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service, which has recorded all the finds from the area, the seal is simply "the most extraordinary single object" he has ever examined
The last I read was that The National Geographic Society has been convinced to withdraw their $2 million dollar pledge (for this effort) by our State Department due to the group doing the searches having connections to the Communist Castro Government.
Should I assume those with the commie connection were the Cuban researchers and
not the Canadian researchers?
They didn't elaborate, about as vague as the statement I made above.
I guess it was 'covered-up.' They did say 'unearth'.'
They are still finding Roman ruins and that was only 2000 years ago. Not long ago they found the Mayflower the Pilgrims commissioned. It's easy to lose track of stuff when the old man passes on and the kids don't give a rip.
Really, what's the story?
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