Posted on 02/05/2006 7:34:22 PM PST by Pharmboy
PARIS -- Cave drawings thought to be older than those in the famed caves of Lascaux have been discovered in a grotto in western France, officials from the Charente region said Sunday.
A first analysis by officials from the office of cultural affairs suggests the drawings were made some 25,000 years ago, Henri de Marcellus, mayor of the town of Vilhonneur where the cave is located, told France-Info radio.
He said, however, that the date could only be confirmed by further investigations.
Cavers exploring a part of a grotto in the Vilhonneur forest made the discovery in December, the local newspaper Charente Libre reported Saturday.
News was withheld until a first investigation could be carried out, local officials said on French radio.
"If this first expertise is confirmed, the paintings discovered here (change) scientific findings date to Lascaux and Altamira in Spain," Michel Boutant, head of the local government, said on France-Info radio.
The famed Lascaux Cave in Montignac, in the Dordogne region of southwest France, has long been considered one of the finest examples of cave paintings. The art dates back 13,000 years, like those in Altamira, in northwest Spain.
However, the Chauvet cave, discovered in the mid-1990s in southeast France, features some 300 examples of Paleolithic animal art dating back in some cases 31,000 years.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsday.com ...
Pass the ochre please, Mungo...these were my peeps on my father's side.
it is?
ROTFL !!!!!
??Any designs of arks in these drawings??
Any new discoveries of Euro cave art this old is pretty big to those who care about this sort of stuff.
Shh...ya wanna start some more trouble? ( :-D
The French are experts at caving.
ok, but what previously held historial issues does this discovery put in doubt?
It sure is big but not a surprise. -Fred
There isn't enough information to say at this point whether it will change any ideas that are currently held, but it might. At any rate, since these things are so rare, itis a very important find.
"were made some 25,000 years ago, Henri de Marcellus, mayor of the town of Vilhonneur where the cave is located, told France-Info radio."
The mayor? Give me a freaking break. I smell tourists dollars.
..one of the drawings was purported to be Mohammed, Islamists worldwide are pissed...
Art hit the ground running. There appear to be no amateur, tenative, halting steps ~ there was no art, and then there was.
This is a result of some sort of genetic change that occurred in Europe first.
Art hit the ground running. There appear to be no amateur, tenative, halting steps ~ there was no art, and then there was.
This is a result of some sort of genetic change that occurred in Europe first.
Well at least it's reassuring to parents today that 25,000 years ago parents had problems with kids drawing on the walls. A little 409 will get those caves clean in no time.
Is it an image of Mohhamed? If so, there will be he!! to pay.
10,000 BC Many stone age cultures developed. The Chinese civilization emerged from two of these cultures, Yangshao and Longshan. By the end of the Palaeolithic 10,000 years ago, there was a shift in the environment and the plants growing wild and a shift in the social pattern of relationships. In the "fertile crescent" around the rivers Tigris and the Euphrates, there is evidence of settlements and grain storage, but only of wild grain. This wild grain flourished and peoples ceased migrating because they and the animals they hunted lived on the abundant grain food. The first sign of the domestication of animals (dogs) was found at these sites.
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