Another one to confound the creationists
Jerusalem Ram And Bovine Figurines Dated Back 9,500 Years
Two small figurines discovered near Jerusalem have been dated between 9,000 and 9,500 years ago and support the notion that religion and society played a significant role during the Stone Age.
According to a press release by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), the ram and wild bovine statuettes were found while the authority was excavating near Tel Motza prior to work on the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway, a few miles north of Jerusalem.
Archeologists are speculating that the two artifacts may have been good luck charms that were carried by hunters.
“It is known that hunting was the major activity in this period,” Hamoudi Khalaily, director of the dig, said in the IAA press release. The figurines “may have been the focus of a traditional ceremony the hunters performed before going out into the field to pursue their prey.”
The objects were found near the fieldstone and mud foundation of a round building, according to Khalaily and fellow archaeologist Anna Eirikh. The ram figurine was made with twisting horns and measured 15 cm in diameter. Cut from from limestone, its legs were made with simple incisions to distinguish them from the rest of the body. The bovine figurine resembles a large animal with prominent horns and was sculpted from smoothed dolomite.
“The sculpting is extraordinary and precisely depicts details of the animal’s image,” Khalaily said. “The head and horns protrude in front of the body and their proportions are extremely accurate.”
redOrbit (http://s.tt/1m8h4)
= new reply since forum marked as read
I wonder who the ink monitor was. 
