Human evolution: new cave art found (Introduction)

by David Turell , Friday, September 15, 2023, 01:13 (225 days ago) @ David Turell

See the photos to appreciate:

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/archaeologists-discover-more-than-100-ancient...

"Two years ago, when a team of archaeologists spotted a painting of an extinct wild bull called an auroch on the wall of a cave in Spain’s Cova Dones, located in Millares, near Valencia, they knew it was important. While Spain has the largest number of Paleolithic cave art sites, most are concentrated in the country’s northern region, while few have been documented in Eastern Iberia.

"However, they didn’t realize just how significant the newly discovered cave art was until they returned to fully document it.

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“'The cave is arguably the ‘most important’ Paleolithic rock art site ever discovered on the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula, the researchers said,” Newsweek’s Aristos Georgiou writes. The researchers believe it is the Paleolithic cave with the greatest number of motifs discovered in Europe since 2015.

"One of the most notable parts of this new discovery is the way the drawings were created. While some are etched and others shaded with white mondmilch, a type of limestone precipitate, the majority are clay-based. “Red clay found on the cave floors was the medium of choice for the Cova Dones occupants—rather than the diluted ochre or manganese typically used in other places throughout the region,” writes Matthew Ward Agius of Cosmos. “Clay-based painting is a rarely-used technique in Palaeolithic art.

"Indeed, the rare technique initially proved difficult to spot, as the red clay had been partially covered by calcite over time, reports Hyperallergic’s Elaine Velie.

“'Animals and signs were depicted simply by dragging the fingers and palms covered with clay on the walls,” Ruiz-Redondo says in a statement. “The humid environment of the cave did the rest: the ‘paintings’ dried quite slowly, preventing parts of the clay from falling down rapidly, while other parts were covered by calcite layers, which preserved them until today.'”

Comment: Very aesthetic art to me. In proper porportions.