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Post by UKarchaeology on Jan 29, 2016 20:06:37 GMT
 A 13,000 year old engraving discovered in a rockshelter in Spain could depict a hunter-gatherer campsite, making it the oldest known depiction of a human social group ever found.The engraving on a schist slab excavated from the Magdalenian layer of the Moli del Salt site in Northeastern Spain is described in a study by Marcos García-Diez from University of the Basque Country, Spain, and Manuel Vaquero from Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution – IPHES, Spain. Their paper is published in the online journal PLOS ONE. Paleolithic art largely focuses on animal iconography, and to a lesser extent, human. Revealing the importance of the animal world to early hunter-gatherer communities, the deeper meanings behind the images are a source of debate among anthropologists. Some interpret them as allegorical symbols, tied in with the formation of early religious beliefs. Others claim the images were rooted firmly in the real world, social motifs linked to everyday life. Whatever the interpretation of the animal figures, it seems that early hunter-gatherers were not interested in depicting the natural landscape, let alone the human landscape (huts, campsites etc). Although artefacts have been found which are claimed to contain depictions of huts, the images are formally undefined and open to alternative interpretations. Garcia-Diez and Vaquero argue that the series of dome like motifs on the schist slab can be seen as depictions of huts. “We suggest that this engraving may be regarded as a naturalistic depiction of a hunter-gatherer campsite.” They write in the study. The slab is currently housed in the Institut de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES), in Tarragona, Spain. It was excavated in 2013 from a stratigraphic layer at the Moli de Salt site believed to contain artefacts from the Late Upper Paleolithic. A bone fragment excavated 82 cm from the slab was dated to 14,062–13,498 cal BP at 95.4% probability. Full story: www.newhistorian.com/oldest-image-of-hunter-gatherer-campsite-discovered/5529/ |
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Post by UKarchaeology on Jan 29, 2016 20:08:33 GMT
Another article on the matter; Engraved schist slab may depict paleolithic campsitesA 13,000 year-old engraving uncovered in Spain may depict a hunter-gatherer campsite, according to a study* published December 2, 2015 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Marcos García-Diez from the University of the Basque Country, Spain, and Manuel Vaquero from the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution - IPHES, Spain. Manuel Vaquero suggests that this "paleolithic engraving from northeastern Spain brings us the first representation of a human social group." Landscapes and features of the everyday world are scarcely represented in Paleolithic art. The authors of this study analyzed the morphology, or shape, of an engraved schist slab recently found in the Molí del Salt site in Spain, dated to the end of the Upper Paleolithic, ca. 13,800 years ago. The schist slab has seven engraved semicircular motifs with internal lines arranged in two rows. Because of its shape and proportions, the authors have interpreted these motifs as huts. Microscopic and comparative analysis indicate that the seven motifs were engraved using a similar technique and instrument in a very short time. Full story: popular-archaeology.com/issue/june-2013/article/engraved-schist-slab-may-depict-paleolithic-campsites |
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Post by UKarchaeology on Apr 3, 2016 19:29:50 GMT
Another article on the discovery; First Example of Prehistoric Realism Art has been discovered – Fort Collins Tech WeekNo Gods, No Fanstastic, Just Simple Realism- of a campsite may have been unearthed outside a cave in Spain. Newfound etchings, discovered near the Molí del Salt rock shelter in northeastern Spain, show primitive huts drawn by hunter-gatherers about 13,800 years ago. The findings suggest that the ancient people may have lived in dwellings similar to those of modern-day hunter-gatherers, and could shed light on the lifestyle of these elusive people. In Drawing No Gods, No Fanstastic, Just Simple RealismLandscapes and features of the everyday world are scarcely represented in Paleolithic art. The authors of this study analyzed the morphology, or shape, of an engraved schist slab recently found in the Molí del Salt site in Spain, dated to the end of the Upper Paleolithic, ca. 13,800 years ago. The schist slab has seven engraved semicircular motifs with internal lines arranged in two rows. Because of its shape and proportions, the authors have interpreted these motifs as huts. Microscopic and comparative analysis indicate that the seven motifs were engraved using a similar technique and instrument in a very short time. The schist slab, which was discovered by researchers in the Molí del Salt site in Spain, has been dated to the end of the Upper Paleolithic, ca. 13,800 years ago and packs seven engraved semicircular motifs with internal lines arranged in two rows. “Our goal in this study is to present an engraving on a schist slab from a Magdalenian layer of the Molí del Salt site, which shows a series of dome-shaped motifs that can be interpreted as huts. We suggest that this engraving may be regarded as a naturalistic depiction of a hunter-gatherer campsite”, the researchers note in their study. While landscapes and features of the everyday world are scarcely represented in Paleolithic art, the engravings on the slab is said to represent huts. Scientists claim the engravings as being representative of a human social group because of its shape and proportions. Full story: www.albanydailystar.com/science/first-example-of-prehistoric-realism-art-has-been-discovered-fort-collins-tech-week-12563.html |
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