Fiona Govan, Telegraph (London), August 6, 2009
A stone tablet found in a cave in Abauntz in the Navarra region of northern Spain is believed to contain the earliest known representation of a landscape.
Engravings on the stone, which measures less than seven inches by five inches, and is less than an inch thick, appear to depict mountains, meandering rivers and areas of good foraging and hunting.
A team from the University of Zaragoza spent 15 years deciphering the etched lines and squiggles after unearthing the artifact during excavation of the cave in 1993.
“We can say with certainty that it is a sketch, a map of the surrounding area,” said Pilar Utrilla, who led the research team.
“Whoever made it sought to capture in stone the flow of the watercourses, the mountains outside the cave and the animals found in the area.”
“The landscape depicted corresponds exactly to the surrounding geography,” she said. “Complete with herds of ibex marked on one of the mountains visible from the cave itself.”
The research, which is published in the latest edition of the Journal of Human Evolution, furthers understanding of early modern human capacities of spatial awareness, planning and organised hunting.
“We can’t be sure what was intended in the making of the tablet but it was clearly important to those who populated the cave 13,660 years ago,” said Ms Utrilla. “Maybe it was to record areas rich in mushrooms, birds’ eggs, or flint used for making tools.”
The researchers believe it may also have been used as a storytelling device or to plan a hunting expedition.
“Nothing like this has been discovered elsewhere in western Europe,” she said.
Original article
(Posted on August 11, 2009)
Comments
Yes, yes…very good…the whites made maps firsts etc etc.
But 15 YEARS??!??
Sounds like welfare for archaeologists.
To build a civilization you must be able to plan for the future. You must understand the world around you. You must be able to observe, learn and draw conclusions. You must be able to work with and around the cyclical rhythms of nature. European people do this better than anyone ever has in all history. Black Africans are the least capable of this.
“The research, which is published in the latest edition of the Journal of Human Evolution, furthers understanding of early modern human capacities of spatial awareness, planning and organised hunting.”
Oh… but thank God (because the Left has told us so) - it has nothing to do with genes. (Or even the gene pool of a local population)
It’s all down to an overall generic human capacity, so evident in the world as seen on your lovely PC newscreen.
What were the ancestors of the Mayans and the Africans doing 14,000 years ago?
I’m no historian, but I think this is the earliest example of Europeans stealing map-making secrets from remarkably advanced Afican societies. Remarkable.
Feller wrote: “What were the ancestors of the Mayans and Africans doing 14,000 years ago?”
Same thing their descendants are doing in the 21st century: nothing.
“You must be able to observe, learn and draw conclusions. You must be able to work with and around the cyclical rhythms of nature. European people do this better than anyone ever has in all history.”
A quick look at American history, and now the UK too, might change your mind about the great European ability to observe, learn, and draw conclusions.
It’s a silly idea to boast about yourself while actively pursing a path guaranteed to make you end up a laughing stock?
You must be able to work with and around the cyclical rhythms of nature. European people do this better than anyone ever has in all history. Black Africans are the least capable of this.
Indeed, Ryan. It seems that we’re finding earlier and earlier evidence of Europeans stealing African technology. And, amazingly enough, we also manage to destroy all traces of this technology in the African homelands.
It seems like European people have historically been incredibly good at this. Could it be genetic?
Who says these folks were “Whites” anyway? The people living in Europe even at 11,000 YBP looked like Arabs, and their DNA looks like the DNA of modern day Arabs. And you all say that “Arabs are not Whites.” So until you all decide that Arabs are White folks, just hang up this “White made the first maps” false pride.
“Yes, yes…very good…the whites made maps firsts etc etc.
But 15 YEARS??!??
Sounds like welfare for archaeologists.”
Am I the only one who is sick and tired of right wing types insulting scientists and implying that what they do is not valubale? Science is hard. Too hard for 99% of people(including 99% of white people) to do. It takes time to solve a hard problem. If you don’t like science, stop using computers. Maybe there should be welfare for scientists. What they do is of infinately greater value than what any lawyer does.
Mr Lindsay let me start by saying that I greatly respect your academic credentials and opinions.
And we should not have any false White pride until we reached the point we officially became White?
I’m curious do you go around telling kids that there’s no Santa Claus and/or the tooth fairy too?
Can we at least gloat a little for encompassing all other races, while all other races do not encompass us?
So maybe we can sing “we are the World.”
Robert Lindsay wrote at 12:29 AM on August 12: Who says these folks were “Whites” anyway? The people living in Europe even at 11,000 YBP looked like Arabs, and their DNA looks like the DNA of modern day Arabs.
For what it’s worth, According to Wikipedia’s entry on the Navarre region:
During the time of the Roman Empire, the territory of the province was inhabited by the Vascones, a pre-Roman tribe who populated the southern slopes of the Pyrenees. The Vascones managed to maintain their separate Basque language and traditions even under the Roman rule. The area was never fully subjugated either by the Visigoths or by the Arabs.
I remember having seen a similar map some 30 years ago in a book on the paleolithic age in Europe, but I don’t find it at the moment. This map was engraved on a vertical rock surface in northern Italy, on the southern slope of the alps. It showed mountains and some symbols of something which were probably natural wells or fountains. I dont’t remember its age estimation, but Ms. Utrilla is saying too much that there is nothing comparable to her map in Western Europe.
10 — Robert Lindsay wrote at 12:29 AM on August 12:
How do you know? The White mummies they found in western China cerca 9,000 years ago had red hair and blue eyes. Naturally red hair, not caused by some after death process.
The National Geographic and History channel will do a story on this claiming that Africans sailed up from Nigeria in their advanced boats and made the map.
Robert, from what I’ve read I think it’s safe to say that the population of Europe would indeed have been white by this time. In any case, they wouldn’t have been Arabs! It’s not about skin colour: darker-skinned ancestors of today’s whites would still not be part of the Semitic racial group, even if the earliest Europeans had the same skin colour as Arabs. In any case, according to Stephen Oppenheimer (Oxford University) European genetic markers are virtually the same today as they were in the Mesolithic era.
The people living in Europe even at 11,000 YBP looked like Arabs, and their DNA looks like the DNA of modern day Arabs.
How would he (or anyone) know what people living in Europe 11,000 years ago “looked like”? To my knowledge, no human portraits have been found in those caves … as of yet!
And incidentally, not ALL of the people here say that Arabs are not white. Some do. I never have.
“The people living in Europe even at 11,000 YBP looked like Arabs, and their DNA looks like the DNA of modern day Arabs. And you all say that “Arabs are not Whites.” So until you all decide that Arabs are White folks, just hang up this “White made the first maps” false pride.”
That’s an interesting debate. One not lost on the Arab countries, also, I’m sure. Just how white are fellow whites who are for all practical purposes are 99% white or something. How white are Mestizos inside the border? It’s a more relevant question places like Scandinavia, where race replacement seems on schedule to proceed at a blistering pace. Interesting that the very places most in danger of being transformed are the very places where there’s the greatest taboo against even broaching the subject.
