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Some of the oldest rock paintings in the world have revealed how ancient peoples have relatively advanced knowledge of astronomy.
The works of art, on European sites, are not simply representations of wild animals, as previously thought. Instead, animal symbols represent constellations of stars in the night sky and are used to represent dates and mark events such as comet strikes, suggests badysis.
Reproduction of a paleolithic rock painting of bison from the Altamira cave, Cantabria, Spain (replica), painted c. 20,000 years ago (Solutrean). (Thomas Quine / CC BY SA 2.0)
Keeping Track of Time
They reveal that, perhaps 40,000 years ago, humans kept track of time using knowledge of the weather. slow evolution of the position of stars over thousands of years.
The results suggest that ancient peoples understood an effect caused by the gradual shift of the earth's axis of rotation. The discovery of this phenomenon, called the precession of the equinoxes, was previously attributed to ancient Greeks.
According to the study, roughly at the time of the disappearance of Neanderthals and perhaps before humanity settled in Western Europe, people could define dates.
Reconstruction of a Neanderthal at the Neanderthal Museum. ( Public Domain )
Perspectives on Ancient Advanced Astronomy
The results indicate that the astronomical knowledge of ancient peoples was far greater than previously believed. Their knowledge may have facilitated navigation on the high seas, with implications for our understanding of prehistoric human migration.
Researchers at the Universities of Edinburgh and Kent studied the details of Paleolithic and Neolithic art featuring animal symbols on sites in Turkey, Spain, and France. and in Germany.
They discovered that all sites used the same method of dating based on sophisticated astronomy, even though this art was separated in time by tens of thousands of years.
Evidence from the main prehistoric sites
The researchers clarified the results of an earlier study on the stonecutting of one of these sites – Gobekli Tepe in modern Turkey – interpreted as a memorial of a devastating comet strike of about 11,000 people. BEFORE CHRIST. It was thought that this strike had initiated a mini ice age known as the Younger Dryas Period.
The "Vulture Stone" in Gȍbekli Tepe. Credit: Alistair Coombs
They also decoded what is probably the most well-known work of ancient art – the scene of the Lascaux well 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.
Lascaux 4, Montignac, Dordogne, France. Photos takes in the part called workshop. (Public Domain)
The team has confirmed its findings by comparing the age of many examples of rock art – known from the chemical dating of the paintings used – with the position of the stars in ancient times, predicted by sophisticated software.
The oldest sculpture in the world, that of the lion-man of the Hohlenstein-Stadel cave, dating back to 38,000 BC, also proved to be in keeping with this ancient timekeeping system .
The lion-man of the Hohlenstein-Stadel cave. (Dagmar Hollmann / CC BY SA 4.0)
This study was published in Athens Journal of History .
Dr. Martin Sweatman, of the School of Engineering at the University of Edinburgh, who led the study, said:
"Early rock art shows that people had advanced knowledge of the sky During the last Ice Age, they were not intellectually different today, and these results support a theory of the multiple impacts of comets during human development and are likely to revolutionize the way people live. prehistoric images are seen. "
Image at the top: Some of the world's oldest rock paintings have revealed that people have ancient but advanced astronomy. Animal symbols represent constellations of stars in the night sky and are used to mark dates and events such as comet strikes, according to an badysis of the University of Edinburgh . Source: Alistair Coombs
The article, originally titled "Prehistoric Rock Art, Suggests an Ancient Use of Complex Astronomy," was originally published in ScienceDaily.
University of Edinburgh. "The prehistoric rock art suggests the ancient use of a complex astronomy." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, November 27, 2018.
References
Martin B. Sweatman, Alistair Coombs. & # 39; Decoding of European Paleolithic Art: Extremely Ancient Knowledge of Precession of the Equinoxes . & # 39; Journal of the History of Athens 2018. Available at: https://arxiv.org/abs/1806,000. 19659036]! Function (f, b, e, v, n, t, s)
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