World's Oldest Art Identified in Half-Million-Year-Old Zigzag

[jakeXT]

A zigzag engraving on a mussel's shell may transform scientific understanding of what has long been considered a defining human capacity: artistic creativity.

Until now, the earliest evidence of geometric art was dated from 70,000 to 100,000 years ago. Scratched into rocks found in South African caves, those engravings signified behavioral modernity: Homo sapiens' unique cognitive journey into a sophisticated world of abstraction and symbol.

But new analysis of an engraving excavated from a riverbank in Indonesia suggests that it's at least 430,000 years old-and that it wasn't made by humans, scientists announced Wednesday. At least it wasn't made by humans as most people think of them, meaning Homo sapiens.

Rather, the earliest artist appears to have been one of our ancestors, Homo erectus. Hairy and beetle-browed, H. erectus was never before thought to have such talents.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/12/141203-mussel-shell-oldest-art/

[shenmue]

1. Bob wuz here

[AlbertCat]

4. "My granddaughter could do that!"

The most annoying response to abstract art ever.

(to which the best replies are: "Yeah...but she doesn't" or "Well, sure, now that she's been shown how." The 1st comes from Jackson Pollack when someone said "A monkey could do what you do." to which he replied "Yeah, but a monkey doesn't.&quot

[Kalidurga]

2. they look like

tally marks. Maybe it's a calendar?

eta: or what shenmue said.

[arcane1]

3. Neat!

[AlbertCat]

5. What if he/she was just dulling something sharp?

[Warpy]

6. Or trying to open the damned thing and having the rock knife slip?

Hungry cave people would probably just have set it on a rock and bashed it with another one, picking the shells out (or not) to get at the clam. The person (maybe) who produced this could have been the first perfectionist.

[LiberalEsto]

7. Ballpoint wasn't working.

[marble falls]

11. "The urge to destroy is a creative urge."

"The urge to destroy is a creative urge."-Mikhail Bakunin

[longship]

8. "Hey! Zug! Oyster not opening. How do one work oyster knife?"

R&K

[eppur_se_muova]

9. It's been deciphered ...

"Put money in bag. I have sharp stick."

[littlemissmartypants]

10. Ancient precursor to

basal body temperature birth control device.

[Curmudgeoness]

12. I know nothing about how the determine the age of scratches,

and the article says that they used painstaking techniques to age these markings, but I am not sure how they can tell the age. I know how they determine the age of the shell, but is it possible that the marks are much more recent? I would be interested to find out how they can be so sure.

To me, it looks like it is "something4HM"....the earliest PIN number?

[tclambert]

15. They might be able to date the rock it was buried in.

[Curmudgeoness]

16. That would make sense.

The only problem I had with that is that this was found in a river bed, and I was not sure if that meant that it was buried in that bed or not. River beds are notorious for having rocks of all different ages because of floods, etc. And how deep was it buried in the river bed? It would work if it was all sedimentary rock laid down without turmoil.

The other problem is that this shell was collected over 100 years ago, so did they still have all the rock it was found in? I just have lots of questions. Not that they haven't got it figured out, just wonder how.

[tclambert]

18. Okay, you made me look up the Nature article.

It says they used Argon radiometric analysis to date sediments trapped inside the shell.

http://www.nature.com/articles/nature13962.epdf?referrer_access_token=jezic3Rrfc0hGuLFo0HruNRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0NZ_Yo9l-926JIuxwZv-JQ4S2lRDyIk3uBdg1WdQ62WzsOwTLalVHvBl-o1enLpW17mD7a861RFcLLu-PxBJqAl

[Curmudgeoness]

19. Okay. I am convinced.

I only read the abstract and first two pages, but that was enough. It explains that the shell was buried under the river sediment from the time that the etchings were made in the shell. I am not sure if I am more impressed with the doodles on the shell, or the ability to open the shells by drilling holes at just the right spot to get the shell to open.

I thank you for the effort you took.

[packman]

13. I think it says

"Only eat with months with 'R' in them."

[edgineered]

17. once upon a time not everyone knew that - lol

[OilemFirchen]

14. Dunno.

I think the wrapper's cover art is more sophisticated:

[Johnny Rash]

20. Definite Proof of the first "Bookkeeping" technology being used by our Hominid Ancestors!

Here is a link to some good reading on the subject:

http://news.discovery.com/human/evolution/oldest-art-was-carved-onto-shell-540000-years-ago-141203.htm

The "Wavy" pattern on the surface of a Seashell can only mean that our early Hominid Fishermen understood the importance of keeping records of daily activities.

The individual symbols could easily represent the Good Fishing Seasons Cycles.

[Blue Owl]

21. Zorro erectus?

n/t

[wzw90334]

22. Very interested in

Very interested in