Posted on 02/16/2019 5:29:24 PM PST by SunkenCiv
...the origin of these artworks is shrouded in mystery. Nobody is quite sure what the artists used for paint or binder, how the pigmentation has been preserved for so long, and -- most controversial of all -- exactly when the images were made... Today we get a unique insight into this question thanks to the work of Clodoaldo Roldán at the University of Valencia in Spain and colleagues... One way to date ancient artifacts is with carbon dating. But this works only with pigments that have a biological origin, and with the exception of black, most of them do not. That's one reason there is widespread disagreement over dates. Roldán and co take an entirely different approach. They used a sterile scalpel to take tiny scrapings from the surface of the art. These samples include some pigment, its binding material, and any bacteria on the surface. They also took scrapings from blank rock that had been recently exposed because of rock fall... The sequencing techniques also revealed a wide range of proteins in the pigment, including bovine albumin and casein. That's an important result. One theory for the way these rock paintings were made is that ancient painters mixed the pigment into cow butter and then smeared it over the rock walls... If the images were created with cow butter, that could only have been possible in communities that had domesticated cows. In other words, the paintings must have been produced in Mesolithic communities that had begun to farm, and not in Neolithic communities based on hunting and gathering... if the art contains biological materials, radiocarbon dating should be possible. So the new work opens the possibility that this technique should work, provided a big enough sample can be obtained.
(Excerpt) Read more at technologyreview.com ...
I got a book from Amazon about ancient cave paintings.
It the most boring thing I’ve ever read.
LOL My wife and I are brokers. I’m old so I pick pockets slowly nowadays. Best wishes.
Come on Unicorn! 5 legs means more meat! Good for Og!
Oh my.
Now I’ve unintentionally insulted you.
When there’s so many people I need to intentionally insult.
I didn’t mean brokers like you and your wife.
I meant those other brokers.
The bad brokers.
You know, the ones at that other office.
The ones you’d like to whap with a House For Sale sign.
Those brokers.
Not you.
I’m sorry.
I understand that some artists don’t try to paint things so it looks like a photograph.
That is, I believe, called “Artistic License”.
I think they should revoke Og’s license and throw him in the drunk tank.
#13. Blueunicorn6. Next time you play basketball, WEAR YOUR GLASSES. It really helps when shooting.
That wouldn’t have helped.
Both baskets look about the same.
Basketball can be really tricky.
In hockey, you look for the goal with a guy in front of it with a different shirt.
The good news was, that even with just two points for them, I was like their third highest scorer.
With casein, I’d suspect milk paint.
You can’t get that stuff off, ever.
That’s ok, This is my retirement career. My wife and I adopted the motto, service and ethics above commission. We are retired peace officers.
Half the agents I run into are incompetent or unethical. Some don’t realize what they do IS unethical because their brokers set the tone.
The other half never cease to amaze. The hirer end the market (we’re on the coast in soCal and also work inland), the more competent the agents. High prices and big money don’t have time for incompetent agents.
Maybe instead of getting the milk from domestic animals, they only made paintings after the successful hunt of a lactating cow elk or aurochs or whatever. I imagine a mammoth teat would hold at least a gallon or so!
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