[ad_1]
May 14 (UPI) – Families crawling together in dark, wet caves apparently remain together.
Archaeologists have discovered evidence of a 14,000-year-old rampant expedition through an Italian cave. Evidence suggests that the caterpillars were members of an end-of-age stone family, a group comprising two adults and three children.
Archaeologists are aware of Bàsura's presence in the Toirano cave and traces of human and animal visits since the 1950s, but the latest study is the first to examine how early humans explored the unique surroundings.
"In our study, we wanted to see how ancient humans have explored this fascinating cave system," said Marco Romano, postdoctoral fellow at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, in a press release. "Specifically, we sought to find out how many people entered the cave, whether they explored as individuals or as a group, their age, their gender and the type of road taken once in the cave."
Romano and his colleagues determined that two adults and three children aged 11, six and three had explored the cave together. The explorers entered barefoot and lit the way with the help of long wooden sticks.
Scientists used different types of 3D modeling, computer simulations and radiocarbon dating techniques to analyze the traces inside the cave, thus revealing the group's exploration patterns.
"Together, these approaches allowed us to build a narrative of how humans came in and out of the cave and their activities once inside," Romano said.
The analysis revealed the first evidence of rampant behavior in novice humans. The group crawled on all fours in a low tunnel to access an inner part of the cave.
The analysis of the various hand prints left in the cave suggests that some movements of the members of the group were more intentional than others. Some movements were probably exploratory in nature and consisted of looking for gestures, while others reflected great precision and purpose.
"So hunter-gatherers may have been motivated by fun activities during exploration, as well as by the simple need to find food," said Romano.
The researchers shared their analysis of ancient evidence of cave exploration this week in the eLife review.
"Together, our results show how a diverse approach to studying the traces of our ancestors can provide detailed information on their behavior," said Marco Avanzini, head of the geology department at the Trento Science Museum in Italy. . "We hope our approach will be useful for painting similar images of how humans have behaved in other parts of the world and at different times."
[ad_2]
Source link