Not, alas, interrobangs
February 1, 2017 8:19 AM   Subscribe

"38,000-year-old carving includes enigmatic 'punctuation' pattern" We know little about the early Homo sapiens who migrated to Europe from Africa and the Middle East more than 70,000 years ago, but we've just found a new piece of the puzzle. A group of archaeologists has just described the discovery of a distinctive rock carving of an aurochs, a kind of extinct ox, its thick body peppered with dozens of carefully created, shallow holes called "punctuations." What's truly fascinating is that the markings on this limestone slab, carbon dated to 38,000 years old, strongly resemble other rock carvings from the same era scattered across France and Germany.
posted by Celsius1414 (20 comments total) 18 users marked this as a favorite
 
Well the good news (?) is that science is trying to Bring back the aurocks
posted by Postroad at 8:57 AM on February 1, 2017 [1 favorite]


.
posted by Kabanos at 8:59 AM on February 1, 2017 [1 favorite]


Scholars think that prior to this the Cro-Magnons were entirely uncivilized, based on abundant examples of fossilized poop emojis.
posted by Quindar Beep at 9:01 AM on February 1, 2017 [3 favorites]


Dots mean Leopard Clan was here.
posted by bigbigdog at 9:11 AM on February 1, 2017


Similarly.
posted by koavf at 9:39 AM on February 1, 2017 [1 favorite]


1. How did they determine that all of the "punctuations" were made in a single sitting, and the order in which the various design elements were done? They just kinda gloss over that.

2. It seems a bit of a reach to describe these as "symbols" - i.e., marks with a specific meaning. It sounds like this design was a meme of sorts, being found among different areas and even different hominid species - but that doesn't make it a symbol. Polka dots aren't a symbol. Pinstripes and zig-zags aren't symbols. They're just...designs. Certainly, the existence of a shared design language is a form of culture, and that's interesting...but maybe dots are just dots?
posted by escape from the potato planet at 9:59 AM on February 1, 2017 [1 favorite]


Of course, as soon as prehistoric humans got to Europe they discovered apostrophes and ellipses. All the African prehistoric symbolic carvings just rambled on and on breathlessly
posted by iotic at 10:43 AM on February 1, 2017


Imagine how big the punchcard reader on Stonehenge was.
posted by w0mbat at 10:53 AM on February 1, 2017 [3 favorites]


People always search for meaning in everything. Dots are there, in a rock, to track the moon!? Wow, that's a stretch.

I always remind myself of Occam's Razor. Maybe the animal had spots, as many animals do, and the dots to represent the spotted pattern. Or, it could be a way to track the moon, sure, but...
posted by Patapsco Mike at 11:14 AM on February 1, 2017


Except we know that ancient peoples were obsessed with tracking celestial objects. Agrarian people's usually tracked the sun, nomadic peoples usually tracked the moon. Assuming that these dots are for tracking a significant celestial object actually is the most parsimonious explanation based on what we already know about what ancient peoples were interested in.
posted by tobascodagama at 11:54 AM on February 1, 2017 [2 favorites]


Are we all noting that this research suggests that they weren't used for lunar tracking?
posted by howfar at 12:17 PM on February 1, 2017 [1 favorite]


Everything in ancient times was about tracking the heavens. Right up until about six thousand years ago, humans were nocturnal and didn't venture into sunlight at all, not even to dance or pee.
posted by bigbigdog at 12:20 PM on February 1, 2017 [3 favorites]


Right up until about six thousand years ago, humans were nocturnal and didn't venture into sunlight at all, not even to dance or pee.

What?
posted by deadwax at 12:42 PM on February 1, 2017 [1 favorite]


Are we all noting that this research suggests that they weren't used for lunar tracking?

Yeah. But I still think it was a reasonable a-priori assumption to take into the initial analysis.
posted by tobascodagama at 1:09 PM on February 1, 2017 [1 favorite]


The lines look a little like the sort of beard that cattle breeds from colder climates sometimes have, but it's odd that they were apparently made first. Then again, when I drew houses as a kid, the first thing I'd draw was the curve of a tied back curtain in what was to be a top window.

My first though was the dots were like kill count stickers on the side of a plane too, which obviously falls apart if it was all done in one go.
posted by lucidium at 2:32 PM on February 1, 2017


The big line in the middle was carved first, along with the big hole, then the "punctuation" dots, and the aurochs was carved last. It doesn't say exactly how the scientists determined this, but apparently you can see that some of the dots were integrated into the aurochs, which might explain the order of those two elements at least.

I wonder if the three elements were carved by different people at different times, maybe seperated by centuries. (With the slab hanging around all that time because it was too heavy and awkward to throw out of the cave.) The original hole and line may have been intended to split the limestone slab into smaller pieces, for toolmaking or whatever. But the slab was a bit thicker or tougher than they realized, so the original carver gave up. Then someone else came along and decided to mark it with a pattern of dots, for reasons of their own. Then later still someone else came along, squinted at the dots and thought "That looks a bit like an aurochs. I'm gonna put an aurochs there." And they did.
posted by Kevin Street at 3:48 PM on February 1, 2017 [1 favorite]


Right up until about six thousand years ago, humans were nocturnal and didn't venture into sunlight at all, not even to dance or pee.

Ah yes, the brilliant, almost certainly wrong theory put forth in The Origin of Consciousness in the Finally Getting off the Fucking Couch and Going to the Laundromat
posted by condour75 at 5:04 PM on February 1, 2017 [5 favorites]


In ancient times, my people tracked the apostrophe. Now, through the miracle of industrialization, apostrophe's are too cheap to meter.
posted by sneebler at 7:06 AM on February 2, 2017


Maybe it's the remains of early attempts at sympathetic magic?
posted by I-baLL at 7:49 AM on February 2, 2017


Casual reminder that the Ars Technica piece is journalism about the research, not a complete summary of the research. I just checked my library's access to Quaternary International, but I can't yet view articles published in 2017. I suspect some of the questions and assumptions shared in the comments might be addressed in the paper. Perhaps someone here has access and can read the paper?
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 2:10 PM on February 2, 2017 [1 favorite]


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