Posted on 02/08/2012 10:36:42 AM PST by blam
'The Oldest (Neanderthal) Work Of Art Ever': 42,000-Year-Old Paintings Of Seals Found In Spanish Cave
* Six paintings were found in the Nerja Caves, 35miles east of Malaga
* They are the only known artistic images created by Neanderthal man
By Tom Worden
Last updated at 9:27 PM on 7th February 2012
Comments (38) Share The world's oldest works of art have been found in a cave on Spain's Costa del Sol, scientists believe. Six paintings of seals are at least 42,000 years old and are the only known artistic images created by Neanderthal man, experts claim.
Professor Jose Luis Sanchidrian, from the University of Cordoba, described the discovery as 'an academic bombshell', as all previous art work has been attributed to Homo sapiens.
Important find: These six paintings of seals were discovered in the Nerja Caves near Malaga, Spain. They are at least 42,000 years old and are the only known artistic images created by Neanderthal man
The paintings were found in the Nerja Caves, 35 miles east of Malaga in the southern region of Andalusia. Spanish scientists sent organic residue found next to the paintings to Miami, where they were dated at being between 43,500 and 42,300 years old.
They hope to establish the exact age by testing parts of the paintings themselves, but their investigation has been hampered by a lack of cash.
Antonio Garrido, in charge of preserving the caves, said the paintings could revolutionise our view of Neanderthal man, who is often portrayed as being monkey-like.
The Nerja Caves, an impressive series of enormous caverns, were discovered
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Tourist attraction: The caves are home to the world's largest stalagmite, standing 105ft tall
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Location: The paintings were found in the Nerja Caves on Spain's south coast
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(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Well, obviously, if the basement of the Lincoln Memorial looks like a cave that has been dated to 3.8 billion trillion years old, the Lincoln Memorial must be that old as well...
Careful, if the dept of interior makes the connection,
chicken fried steaks will be on the endangered species list.
Good thinking, but not necessarily so. Caves go through dry and wet periods, and when dry, there is no active accretion of speleothems. You are right that evaporating water deposits the Calcium Carbonate (or calcium sulphate, in some cases) which forms the stalagmites, stalactites, columns and other formations within the cave, but without water movement, there is no deposition.
I have been in dry caves, wet ones, and some which were dry in one part and wet in other places. So it is possible that the drawings could survive for a long period of time, just as signatures or markings on the wall of a cave do.
The 'soda straw' developing on the end of the one stalactite indicates a new period of growth and possibly previous breakage, and I have seen such (about that size) in archways of limestone buildings about 100 years old in Virginia. While it would make one suspicious, it doesn't mean that the new growth isn't a recent development.
It could be genuine, it might be a publicity stunt.
Are these stalagmites and stalagtite not active anymore seems funny to me they would be found on one of those instead of a wall.
You will get several different reminders, G = ground = down.
But I find few forget that the top half of the human body does not contain the "mit", it does the other word choice equivalent.
You can see that pigment from the drawings has been displaced downward, which suggests that the drawings have been there a long time.
Reminded me of this:
For seven years I dwelt in the loose palace of exile
Playing strange games with the girls of the island
Now I have come again to the land of the fair
And the strong and the wise
Brothers and sisters of the pale forest
Children of night
Who among you will run with the hunt?
Now night arrives with her purple legion
Retire now to your tents and to your dreams
Tomorrow we enter the town of my birth
I want to be ready.
J. Morrison
Would you amplify this comment please. (I didn't even know that the Lincoln Memorial had a basement!)
ML/NJ
There are stalactites forming from rain water flowing over the monument, and some are about 10” long.
I think PeeWee Herman’s bicycle is down there.
I find the seals to be derivative, the pallet to be uninspired and the whole genre to be passe. Where’s the wit? Where’s the contradiction?
Yeah but I did mine without drugs. LOL
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