Engravings at the French rock shelter site of Abri Castanet have been dated to 37,000 years ago, making them at least as old as the paintings of the Grotte Chauvet. The Abri Castanet engravings were carved in the limestone ceiling of the shelter, which was probably used by reindeer hunters. “But unlike the Chauvet paintings and engravings, which are deep underground and away from living areas, the engravings and paintings at Castanet are directly associated with everyday life, given their proximity to tools, fireplaces, bone and antler tool production, and ornament workshops,” explained Randall White of New York University.

Anthropologist Pat Shipman of Pen State University thinks that modern humans may have had an advantage over Neanderthals in Europe through the assistance of domesticated dogs. A 27,000-year-old dog burial has been unearthed in the Czech Republic, along with dog teeth that may have been worn as jewelry. Also, dogs are rarely depicted in cave art, suggesting that Paleolithic people viewed them as fellow hunters, rather than game animals. It has been shown that modern humans and dogs are able to communicate with eye contact. Shipman suggests that people may have evolved expressive eyes with highly visible sclera for silent communication while hunting in groups with dogs. “No genetic study has yet confirmed the prevalence or absence of white sclera in Paleolithic modern humans or in Neanderthals. But if the white sclera mutation occurred more often among the former – perhaps by chance – this feature could have enhanced human-dog communication and promoted domestication,” she said.

Using a new dating technique, Alasdair Whittle of Cardiff University and Alex Bayliss of English Heritage are building an accurate chronology of the rise of farming culture in Britain 6,000 years ago. Neolithic farmers brought a social and political revolution marked by feasting on cattle and large hilltop earthworks. “We thought these processes took hundreds of years. In fact, they took about a tenth of that,” said Bayliss.

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear the appeal of Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc. of Tampa, Florida. A federal judge in Tampa, and the 11^th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, ordered the salvage company to hand over $500 million in silver and gold coins recovered from international waters to Spain. The courts ruled that the coins came from a Spanish warship that sank in 1804, and have remained the property of Spain.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Tuesday, May 15, 2012. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

Comments posted here do not represent the views or policies of the Archaeological Institute of America.