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Oldest rock art in Egypt discovered
Yale News ^ | 11/10/2011 | Dorie Baker

Posted on 11/17/2011 4:49:02 PM PST by Renfield

Using a new technology known as optically stimulated luminescence (OSL), a team of Belgian scientists and Professor John Coleman Darnell of Yale have determined that Egyptian petroglyphs found at the east bank of the Nile are about 15,000 years old, making them the oldest rock art in Egypt and possibly the earliest known graphic record in North Africa.

The dating results will be published in the December issue of Antiquity (Vol. 85 Issue 330, pp. 1184–1193).

The site of the rock art panels is near the modern village of Qurta, about 40km south of the Upper-Egyptian town of Edfu. First seen by Canadian archaeologists in the early 1960s, they were subsequently forgotten and relocated by the Belgian mission in 2005. The rediscovery was announced in the Project Gallery of Antiquity in 2007.

The rock art at Qurta is characterized by hammered and incised naturalistic-style images of aurochs and other wild animals. On the basis of their intrinsic characteristics (subject matter, technique, and style), their patina and degree of weathering, as well as the archaeological and geomorphological context, these petroglyphs have been attributed to the late Pleistocene era, specifically to the late Palaeolithic period (roughly 23,000 to 11,000 ago). This makes them more or less contemporary with European art from the last Ice Age — such as the wall-paintings of Lascaux and Altamira caves.

“The palaeolithic rock art at Qurta reveals that the well-known cave art of the late Pleistocene in Europe was not an isolated phenomenon. Qurta puts North Africa firmly in the world of the earliest surviving artistic tradition, and shows that tradition to have been geographically more wide-spread than heretofore imagined,” commented Darnell, professor of Egyptology.

The authors of the study note that while archaeologists generally did not dispute the estimated age of the images, proof in the form of indirect or direct science-based dating had hitherto been lacking.

In 2008, an interdisciplinary team of scientists directed by Dirk Huyge of the Royal Museums of Art and History in Brussels (Belgium) discovered partly buried rock art panels at one of the Qurta sites. The deposits covering the rock art, in part composed of wind-blown sediments, were dated at the Laboratory of Mineralogy and Petrology (Luminescence Research Group) of Ghent University (Belgium) using OSL dating. This technology can determine the time that has elapsed since the buried sediment grains were last exposed to sunlight and offers a direct means for establishing the time of sediment deposition and accumulation. Based on analysis provided through this method, it was determined that the petroglyphs at Qurta are at least 15,000 years old. This is the first solid evidence that the rock art dates from the Pleistocene age, making it the oldest graphic activity ever recorded in Egypt and the whole of North Africa.

The fieldwork for this study was funded by the William K. and Marilyn M. Simpson Endowment for Egyptology of the Yale Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations. The laboratory analyses were supported by the Fund for Scientific Research – Flanders. In addition, the Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo and Vodafone Egypt offered administrative and logistical support.


TOPICS: Arts/Photography; History; Science
KEYWORDS: archaeology; art; egypt; godsgravesglyphs; petroglyphs
Lots of good pics at the web site....
1 posted on 11/17/2011 4:49:03 PM PST by Renfield
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To: SunkenCiv

Ancient Egypt ping.


2 posted on 11/17/2011 4:49:28 PM PST by Renfield (Turning apples into venison since 1999!)
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To: SunkenCiv

ping


3 posted on 11/17/2011 4:49:43 PM PST by Jet Jaguar
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Day 48 Of The FReepathon
Do You Know Why?

There are loyal posters that donate every FReepathon. Some donate several times during every 'thon. But others never donate. Why?

1 My enemies haven't been zotted.
2 The owner doesn't support my candidate.
3 FR won't "upgrade" to "Like" buttons and blinky crap.
4 Someone else will donate.
5 My friend was zotted.
6 I lost my job and have no income.

Only one of those is a legitimate reason.

Support It Or Lose It


4 posted on 11/17/2011 4:54:08 PM PST by DJ MacWoW (America! The wolves are here! What will you do?)
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To: Renfield
Here it is:


5 posted on 11/17/2011 5:00:53 PM PST by Revolting cat! (Let us prey!)
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To: Renfield

Ancient Egypt was on the leading edge of civilization for many thousands of years. I hope they can recover to the Paleolithic level soon.


6 posted on 11/17/2011 5:49:01 PM PST by Pollster1 (Natural born citizen of the USA, with the birth certificate to prove it)
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To: Revolting cat!

Some of me best bloody work down there
7 posted on 11/17/2011 5:58:34 PM PST by Tainan (Cogito, ergo conservatus sum)
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To: Tainan
Sue Egypt!
8 posted on 11/17/2011 6:14:00 PM PST by Revolting cat! (Let us prey!)
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Freepers!

Where is the GREEN!

Come on! Day 48 of the Freepathon and only 44 days until the start of the next. What will you do and where will you post if it goes?

Click here or mail checks to:

Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794



9 posted on 11/17/2011 6:28:22 PM PST by RedMDer (Forward With Confidence!)
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To: Renfield; Jet Jaguar; StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; decimon; 1010RD; 21twelve; 24Karet; ..

 GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach
Thanks Renfield and Jet Jaguar.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.


10 posted on 11/17/2011 9:33:30 PM PST by SunkenCiv (It's never a bad time to FReep this link -- https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: SunkenCiv

Let me guess-—it’s a picture of a naked girl with stockings, garters, and high heels?


11 posted on 11/17/2011 11:48:20 PM PST by gman992 ("I'm a conservative. I'm just a happy conservative.")
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To: Renfield; SunkenCiv; All

A 15,000 ya age would put this before the big chill of the Younger Dryas and presumable Firestone’s comet/asteroid(s), and the probable decline in incipient civilization.


12 posted on 11/18/2011 12:08:21 AM PST by gleeaikin
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To: Renfield
Photobucket
13 posted on 11/18/2011 5:46:54 AM PST by Tallguy (You can safely ignore anything that precedes the word "But"...)
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To: SunkenCiv
"...OSL dating. This technology can determine the time that has elapsed since the buried sediment grains were last exposed to sunlight and offers a direct means for establishing the time of sediment deposition and accumulation."

Cool. I've never dated an OSL myself </silly>, but if it's accurate, it's a wonderful new archeological tool.

14 posted on 11/18/2011 6:07:11 AM PST by TheOldLady (FReepmail me to get ON or OFF the ZOT LIGHTNING ping list)
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To: SunkenCiv

Have you seen this one?

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/11/08/lost-civilization-discovered-in-sahara-desert/?intcmp=obnetwork

I know I should have posted as a new thread, but am rushed at the moment. Pretty cool stuff. Thanks for your pings, always interesting.


15 posted on 11/18/2011 6:28:32 AM PST by SueRae (I can see November 2012 from my HOUSE!!!!!!!!)
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To: SueRae

Thanks! I think that’s been posted as well, around here somewhere.


16 posted on 11/18/2011 7:59:32 PM PST by SunkenCiv (It's never a bad time to FReep this link -- https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: SueRae

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/2805292/posts


17 posted on 11/19/2011 3:08:16 AM PST by SunkenCiv (It's never a bad time to FReep this link -- https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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18 posted on 11/21/2017 4:17:43 PM PST by SunkenCiv (www.tapatalk.com/groups/godsgravesglyphs/, forum.darwincentral.org, www.gopbriefingroom.com)
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