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Mysterious Ancient Rock Carvings Found Near Nile
Live Science ^ | May 16, 2011 | Owen Jarus

Posted on 05/16/2011 3:51:11 PM PDT by decimon

An archaeological team in the Bayuda Desert in northern Sudan has discovered dozens of new rock art drawings, some of which were etched more than 5,000 years ago and reveal scenes that scientists can't explain.

The team discovered 15 new rock art sites in an arid valley known as Wadi Abu Dom, some 18 miles (29 kilometers) from the Nile River. It’s an arid valley that flows with water only during rainy periods. Many of the drawings were carved into the rock faces — no paint was used — of small stream beds known as "khors" that flow into the valley.

Some of the sites revealed just a single drawing while others have up to 30, said lead researcher Tim Karberg, of the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster in Germany.

“We asked the local people about the rock art and they said that it would be very old, before their grandfathers,” Karberg told LiveScience.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: History
KEYWORDS: godsgravesglyphs; sudan
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To: decimon

that's right, no human would stack books like that

21 posted on 05/16/2011 4:22:13 PM PDT by InvisibleChurch (r e p e n t)
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To: decimon

Get James Spader involved!
Rock gongs?!? Seriously?!? Where I come from, we call them rocks. How do they know that the ancient Egyptians used them to make noise? They could have been target practicing with their slings.


22 posted on 05/16/2011 4:22:18 PM PDT by jimmygrace
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To: decimon
dozens of new rock art drawings, some of which were etched more than 5,000 years ago...

Odd concept of "new".

On another note, "before the time of our grandfathers" would be perfectly apt for something 5000 years old in many cultures - not everyone measures time in finite little bits.

23 posted on 05/16/2011 4:26:31 PM PDT by norton
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To: theDentist

WOW! Is that natural? :D


24 posted on 05/16/2011 4:32:05 PM PDT by tiki
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To: decimon
From the article: The team also uncovered several "rock gongs"...

So. You're telling us that before there were...
rock songs
rock bongs
rock throngs
and rock thongs
there were rock gongs -- rock-on-rock rockin'!

That rocks!

25 posted on 05/16/2011 4:34:10 PM PDT by Colofornian
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To: Colofornian

The inscription is, “Still looking for that blue jean, baby queen...”


26 posted on 05/16/2011 4:38:37 PM PDT by decimon
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To: decimon

Some of their interpretations were imaginative to say the least.


27 posted on 05/16/2011 4:40:35 PM PDT by dangerdoc (see post #6)
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To: Riley

LOL!


28 posted on 05/16/2011 4:44:30 PM PDT by lonevoice (Where the Welfare State is on the march, the Police State is not far behind)
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To: decimon

We’ll see what Tony Peratt has to say. At least two of the images have elements that look like some of the rock art from around that world that depict plasma instabilities. Too bad that of the dozens of images they put up only five!


29 posted on 05/16/2011 4:51:06 PM PDT by aruanan
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To: decimon; SunkenCiv

They can’t explain it??

You mean it isn’t etching, pecking, intaglio, basrelief, scratching/scraping, incising, etc?


30 posted on 05/16/2011 4:53:27 PM PDT by ApplegateRanch (Made in America, by proud American citizens, in 1946.)
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To: decimon
Okay, here you go. This is more like it. They said they were found in a cave. I bet it was a cave opening on the south. Again, too bad they didn't include photos of these:
The "oldest rock art we found are the spiral motifs," said Karberg, which, as their name suggests, twist up in a way that is hard to interpret. Similar drawings have been found in the Sahara Desert.

They were created at a time when Africa was a wetter place, with grasslands and savannah dominating Sudan; people were moving to a lifestyle based on animal husbandry and, in some instances, farming.

Understanding what these drawings mean is difficult. Some researchers connect the "spiral motifs to some astronomical or astrological forms," Karberg said, but he thinks it might have more to do with math. "The regularity of the spiral might be one of the earliest mathematical ideas the people developed."
A second set of geometric drawings, probably a bit younger than the spirals, is "hard to describe," Karberg said. They consist of "amorphous patterns which are not circular. ... It looks like an irregular-shaped net," Karberg said.
31 posted on 05/16/2011 4:54:43 PM PDT by aruanan
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To: aruanan
>>>>>It looks like an irregular-shaped net," Karberg said. <<<<<

Fractal antenna?

32 posted on 05/16/2011 5:06:29 PM PDT by DTA (U.S. Centcom vs. U.S. AFRICOM)
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To: moehoward

Do they sleep and do other things in those things? Are the toenails complimentary? Is there a balancing technique?

The picture looks like some doll sheep confrontation. Maybe do do birds.


33 posted on 05/16/2011 5:11:28 PM PDT by combat_boots (The Lion of Judah cometh. Hallelujah. Gloria Patri, Filio et Spiritui Sancto.)
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To: aruanan; decimon; SunkenCiv

Be patient. Pictures and an explanation of their meaning will soon be on the History Channel in a future program on Ancient Aliens.


34 posted on 05/16/2011 5:12:19 PM PDT by wildbill (You're just jealous because the Voices talk only to me.)
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To: decimon; BreezyDog; SunkenCiv
The first image of the gallery at the link at the story's link:

They say this is a "crescent moon".

Balderdash! The "moon" would have to be transparent to see the alleged star as depcited.

This is obviously an illustration for a geometry text (continued on next rock) showing the foci ("star") of a parabolic mirror ("moon").

It was probably used to teach students how the Egyptians were both harnessing the sun to cook, smelt metals, and light the interior reading rooms of Sphinx Library.

It would also have military applications that Archimedes tried to take credit for "discovering" millenia later.

And yes; I received BS degrees in archaeology, and several other fields, from Bovine-U, in Holstein. *<];-')

35 posted on 05/16/2011 5:14:21 PM PDT by ApplegateRanch (Made in America, by proud American citizens, in 1946.)
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To: moehoward

Very weird. It’s a dance fad from Mexico, and appears to be the fashion favored by the Mexican dance crews who compete in their form of hip-hop type stuff. Scroll down a bit at this link and you can watch a video of some of the crews dancing in those ridiculous boots. At least, as much as you can dance with something like that on your feet. More like shuffling, I’d say.

http://www.refinery29.com/actual-video-of-men-dancing-in-their-super-pointy-boots


36 posted on 05/16/2011 5:15:08 PM PDT by lonevoice (Where the Welfare State is on the march, the Police State is not far behind)
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To: DTA

One looked like a cattle mutilation in progress.


37 posted on 05/16/2011 5:15:52 PM PDT by Gadsden1st
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To: Riley

I was about to post the exact same refrain, with Ramesis the first instead of Tutankhamen ... the boy king probably never developed enough testosterone to have to shave. Did you ever see all those signs along Rte 66 for Berma Shave? Kept us awake driving straight through to Barstow one summer in the sixties, on our way to the canneries in Washington State.


38 posted on 05/16/2011 5:34:21 PM PDT by MHGinTN (Some, believing they can't be deceived, it's nigh impossible to convince them when they're deceived.)
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To: decimon

These artifacts are as safe as a Buddah Statue in Afghanistan....


39 posted on 05/16/2011 5:36:39 PM PDT by GraceG
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To: ApplegateRanch

It’s a paleolithic emoticon.


40 posted on 05/16/2011 5:50:32 PM PDT by 6SJ7 (atlasShruggedInd = TRUE)
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