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Some of the earliest cave paintings in the world, discovered on European sites, reveal that man's ancestors may have advanced knowledge of astronomy 40,000 years ago, reveals a study. According to researchers from the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom, animal symbols of the work illustrate constellations of stars in the night sky and are used to represent dates and mark dates. events such as comet strikes. They reveal that, perhaps 40,000 years ago, humans were following the evolution of time using knowledge about how the position of stars evolved slowly over thousands of years.
The study published in the Athens Journal of History suggests that the old people understood an effect caused by the gradual shift of the axis of rotation of the Earth. The discovery of this phenomenon, called the precession of the equinoxes, was previously attributed to ancient Greeks. Around the time Neanderthals disappeared, and perhaps before humanity settled in Western Europe, people could set dates less than 250 years ago. The results indicate that the astronomical knowledge of the ancient peoples was much greater than previously thought. According to their researchers, their knowledge may have facilitated navigation on the high seas, which has had an impact on our understanding of prehistoric human migration.
They discovered that all sites used the same method of dating based on sophisticated astronomy, even if the art was separated in time by tens of thousands of years. The researchers clarified the results of a study on the stonecutting of one of these sites – Gobekli Tepe in today's Turkey – interpreted as a memorial to a devastating comet strike around 11,000 BC This strike was thought to have triggered a mini ice age known as the Younger Dryas Period (19659006). They had also decoded what is probably the most well-known work of ancient art – the scene of the Lascaux barrel in France. The researchers suggest that the work, which depicts a dying man and several animals, could commemorate another comet strike around 15,200 BC. The team confirmed the results by comparing the age of many examples of rock art, known by the chemical dating of the paintings used, with the position of stars in ancient times, as predicted sophisticated software.
The oldest sculpture in the world, the Lion-Man The Hohlenstein-Stadel Cave, dating back to 38,000 BC. "Early rock art shows that people had advanced knowledge of the night sky during the last ice age. Intellectually, they hardly differed from us today, "said Martin Sweatman, of the University of Edinburgh, who led the study.
" These results corroborate a theory the multiple impacts of comets during human development, and revolutionize the way prehistoric populations are viewed, "said Sweatman.
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