Page 34 - Upper Paleolithic News Today

Ancient Cave Artists May Have Knowingly Deprived Themselves of Oxygen to Paint 9 APRIL 2021 Some of the oldest human art in Europe is entirely hidden from sight, tucked away in the narrow crawl spaces of deep, dark, and winding caves. To even see the walls, let alone decorate them, stone age artists would have needed to crawl around with several torches, and archaeologists now suspect all that smoke induced an altered state of consciousness.    Hallucinatory plants have been connected to th...

Ancient cave artists starved themselves of oxygen while painting Ancient cave decorations can be breathtaking to behold, but new research claims the artists may have been starved of oxygen when they were painting. Analyzing cave paintings from the Upper Paleolithic period, from around 40,000 to 14,000 years ago, researchers from Tel Aviv University found that many were located in halls or narrow passages deep inside cave systems navigable only with artificial light. The study focuses on decorat...

Ancient cave painters may have been stoned, study says Salon 4 days ago Caveman and cave painting Photo illustration by Salon/Getty Images When it comes to an art gallery, a cave is a strange choice of venue. Many ancient cave paintings, which mark the first known examples of artwork by hominids, are so deep under the ground that it would have taken extraordinary effort to view them. So, if youre an ancient artist, what might inspire you to paint scenes of life �...

Çatalhüyük, major Neolithic site in the Middle East, located near Konya in south-central Turkey. Excavations (1961–65) by the British archaeologist James Mellaart have shown that Anatolia in Neolithic times was the centre of an advanced culture. The earliest building period at Çatalhüyük is

5 Art Accounts to Follow on Instagram Now Our critic goes on a decluttering spree of her Instagram feed and finds some delightful surprises. The stars of flamenco and Spanish dance performing at the Prado Museum last September to celebrate World Tourism Day.Credit...Museo Nacional del Prado By Martha Schwendener March 3, 2021 I am on a campaign to unfollow. In the same way waistlines expanded during the pandemic from overindulging on comfort foods, my Instagram account became bloated. Some of t...

The Fairy Flag is made from silk that originated in the far east, denoting its luxury status on the remote Isle of Skye. Being very old, it is now quite torn and tattered, and covered with tiny red “elf spots.” Shrouded in mystery, this strange relic has attained legendary status and is said to have magical properties and plenty of healing powers . Its origins are somewhat enigmatic, and the legends state that the MacLeod chiefs were presented with the flag by fairy folk . However, scholars...

Here are some of the most interesting research papers to have appeared in top science journals last week.

Neanderthals hadn't been thought capable of fashioning clever 'Nubian Levallois' tools. Now a tooth found with such tools in a West Bank cave has been identified as Neanderthal

A large conch shell that had been languishing in a museum for decades has been revealed as the oldest known seashell instrument after archaeologists examined it more closely and realized belatedly what they’d been looking at.

The sound of Palaeolithic music February 12, 2021CNRS Although large conch-shaped shells still serve as musical instruments in various regions of the Pacific and Caribbean, their use in the Palaeolithic had never been established. For the first time, scientists have produced a sound from the oldest conch horn ever found in Europe. The object, which dates back 18,000 years, was discovered in the painted cave of Marsoulas in the French Pyrenees mountain range. Lying unnoticed for years in the col...