Human Figure Detected on 14,000-year-old Burial Slab in Israel

Haaretz ^ | April 19, 2020 | Ruth Schuster

[SunkenCiv]

The slab lay over the remains of several individuals dating from 14,000 to 12,000 years ago, based on radiocarbon analysis of several of the skeletons. However, the remarkable image on the slab was only noticed some years after its discovery, while the stone was being carefully studied in the laboratories of the Zinman Institute of Archaeology at the University of Haifa, Haaretz has learned.

The image on the slab is an extremely rare example of an identifiable human figure made by Natufians, the researchers say.

The Natufian culture existed from about 15,000 to about 11,700 years ago, and spanned from Sinai in the south to northern Syria, and east into the Jordanian desert, according to professors Danny Rosenberg, György Lengyel and Dani Nadel, and research fellow Rivka Chasan, in their new paper in the Oxford Journal of Archaeology...

At some sites, archaeologists tend to agree that the Natufians actually settled year-round in hamlets. As they settled and began to farm (and had dogs), the Natufians established what may be the earliest distinct cemeteries, where communities buried at least some of their dead. At least some others who were dearly departed were relegated to beneath the floor of the home or laid to rest nearby.

But it seems that when they did bury their dead, Natufian mortuary practices were elaborate. Their funerals may have featured gathering and feasting, and - going by the newly found crude depiction - dancing. The figure on the slab could plausibly be a shaman with an exposed penis or be dressed up as an animal, in which case the protuberance could be a tail.

[aimhigh]

I’m amazed how the ‘experts’ can conjure up so much based on scratches in a rock. It was probably made by some bored kid.

[Mastador1]

Looking at the image I’m not going to say it was aliens..........but it was aliens!

[SunkenCiv]

Is it even possible? Yes, it is.

[SunkenCiv]

LOL!

[SunkenCiv]

It’s an ideal word for polite company, or so I’d imagine, mostly I’m not allowed to hang with polite company...

[SunkenCiv]

In that case, it’s probably a leprechaun. Or, if money changed hands, then a leprepro. Hey, I’ve been under some bad influence ever since I set foot back in this topic.

[SunkenCiv]

Even a couple grand older than GT.

[SunkenCiv]

Who let the dogs out?

[SunkenCiv]

https://www.google.com/search?q=vanishing+leprechaun

[SunkenCiv]

It's interesting to contemplate that the alphabet style writing system used in much of the world today has been around about 3000 years (different languages and cultures, obviously) but the earlier cuneiform system was in use for about 3500 years (invented by Sumerians, but used to express many different languages and by many cultures; was the international diplomatic writing system for a long, long time).

• Code hidden in Stone Age art may be the root of human writing
• Cave Paintings of the Altamira Cave and Lascaux Cave, to Hurrian Hymns
• 9 Things You May Not Know About the Ancient Sumerians

[BenLurkin]

[wildbill]

How about My Pillow Man?

[SunkenCiv]

:^) Or maybe...

• Kokopelli

[SunkenCiv]

I think the My Pillow Man would have given them the slip.

[ApplegateRanch]

mostly I’m not allowed to hang with polite company...

Polite company doesn't hang; they're beheaded. Hanging is for the hoi polloi.

[SunkenCiv]

[gulp]