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Oldest Human Engraved Shell Discovered

December 4, 2014 By Andreas Petersen

Scientists found a mysterious engraving on an ancient shell. The marking on the shell altered the understanding of ancient human creativity.

Researchers consider it as the oldest form of human geometric engraving on a shell. They discovered nearly 160 shells from a museum of Indonesia. In 19th century, a Dutch anatomist named Dr. Eugene Dubois collected them in order to study the fundamental idea of human evolution.

Every shell has a different mark on the surface. However, one shell has a zigzagged pattern which is probably engraved through a shark’s tooth. The pattern which is similar to the letter M is present along with a few slashes on the shell. The engraving on this shell suggests that it is around 430,000 years old. This engraving is certainly surprising for scientists since majority of the art such as cave painting; rock painting is not that old.

Therefore, experts closely analyzed all the patterns of the shell. Afterwards, they concluded that the “Upright Man” was involved in artistic activities earlier than the expectations of scientists.

Modern humans were not lived at that particular time era. Hence, researchers believe that Homo erectus probably craved this shell. Homo erectus is an extinct species of Hominine

Everyone knows that Homo erectus use stone tools in their daily life. However, no one was aware that they utilize utensils made up of shells.

Josephine Joordens, the lead author of the report stated that the new discovery will definitely mix up the perceptions of humanity and its ancestors.

The discovery is explained in detail in latest edition of Journal Nature.

Indonesia’s Cave Paintings Rival Europe’s

October 9, 2014 By Cliff Jenkins Scott

In a surprising discovery, cave paintings found in Indonesia have been determined to be as old as their counterparts in Europe.

The estimated 40,000 year old stencils of hands and other art depicting animals were found in limestone caves on the island of Sulawesi. They’re about the same age as cave art discovered in Spain and southern France says the study published Wednesday in the journal Nature.

Lead author of the study, Adam Brumm points out that now we have 40,000 year old cave art in both Spain and Sulawesi. Brumm is a research fellow at Griffith University in Queensland, Australia. He also expects other cave art to be discovered and to be of similar age ranges, perhaps even earlier. It was in the 1950s that Dutch archaeologists first reported the cave art but the art had remained undated until recently. Previous researchers had assumed the art was produced during the pre-Neolithic period that took place around 10,000 years ago.

There were no preconceived ideas regarding the true age of the cave art when the researchers first started their project around three years go but using today’s dating technology they have been able to determine a more accurate age. They used a technological technique called U-series dating.

In order to determine the age of the paintings they searched the art that was covered by small cauliflower-like growths on them. When they found suitable samples of the “cave popcorn” as their called, they used the small traces of uranium in them which decays to a substance called thorium. This decay has a known rate of decay. Using this data they look at the ratio between the elements as it behaves as sort of a geological clock that dates the formation of the calcium carbonate deposits.

Using a diamond drill they bored into the cave popcorn and took small samples that also included pigment from the cave art. This layer of pigment should be as old as the first layer of mineral deposit that lay on top of it.

This allowed the researchers to determine the age of the cave art as around 40,000 years old.

The combination of cave art data give scientists an idea of when art arose amongst humans. Did humans discover art independently at different locations? Had humans developed art from even earlier cultures?

These and other questions are before the scientists now that they have the comparative data.

Approximately Half of the World’s Animals Vanished Since 1970

September 30, 2014 By Cliff Jenkins Scott

The recent reports of WWF (World Wide Fund) revealed that almost half of the world’s animals vanished since 1970. The population of fish, birds, mammals, amphibians and reptiles drop down by 52% within 1970 to 2010.

Alternatively, the report of conservation group’s Living Planet, published every 2 years, stated that, the demands of human kinds are increased by 50%, which seems more than that the nature bears, trees felled, ground water pumped, CO2 emissions increased more than the Earth can bear (Reuters).

Ken Norris (Director of Science at the Zoological Society of London) stated, “This huge damage is not foreseeable, though the outcome of the way we choose to live.”

Moreover, the report stated that we can still tackle the situation if politicians and businesses took the right actions to save nature.

“It’s quite vital that we grab the opportunity in order to develop a sustainable future where people could live and thrive in harmony with nature. We can’t preserve the nature by only protecting wild places, though it’s also about conservation of the humanity’s future, indeed, our only way to survive,” International Director of WWF, General Marco Lambertini stated.

As per the reports finding of the populations of vertebrate wildlife, the major declines were in tropical regions, especially Latin America. WWF, which believes to be a “Living Planet Index”, is relying on the trends in 10,380 populations of 3,038 mammal, bird, reptile, and amphibian and fish species.

World Wide Fund told, the average 52% decline is much larger than the previously published reports, partially because these studies has based on more readily accessible information from Europe & North-America. According to the same report published 2 years back, stated the decline of 28% within 1970 to 2008.

Certainly, the worst decline was believed to be amongst the population of fresh water species, which equals to 76% till 2010. On the other hand, marine and terrestrial decline equals to 39%. The major reason for the decline in populations happened due to the loss of natural habitats, exploitation due to hunting and fishing and most importantly due to climate change.

To measure the variation between the statistics of various countries experimental impact, the report gauged that how large an ‘ecological footprint’ each one had and how much productive land and water area, or “bio-capacity”, each country reliable for.

Furthermore, the report revealed that Kuwaitis followed by Qatar and UAE had seems to be the largest ecological footprint so far, as they are consuming and wasting more resources as compared to any other nation. In addition, poorer countries such as India, Indonesia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo also had ecological footprint that seems fine with the planet’s ability to absorb their demands.

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