-Caveat Lector- : 'Lump of rock' turns out to be world's first sculpture : By David Keys, Archaeology Correspondent : 24 September 2000 : A stone dismissed by experts as no more than a lump of rock has been : identified as the world's first sculpture and the oldest piece of : figurative art ever seen. : New scientific data suggests that early humans were producing : representations of life 220,000 years ago, 170,000 years earlier than : previously thought. It is a discovery which could revolutionise our : understanding of human development. : Italian and American archaeologists used powerful microscopes to prove : that a figurine-like piece of volcanic stone from the Golan Heights on : Israel's border with Syria is in fact a primitive sculpture, : deliberately chiselled and shaped by human hands. : The data from their examination suggests that the prehistoric object : was intended to portray a human being, probably a woman. Yet, since : its discovery 15 years ago, the rock has been disregarded by most : academics. : The researchers; Francesco d'Errico of the French National Centre for : Scientific Research, and April Nowall of the University of Victoria in : Canada, found that the early human sculptor had used some sort of : flint chisel to chip away at a point around 25 per cent down from the : top of the lump of rock to produce a neck. : The archaeologists' examination also demonstrated that a stone tool : had been used to produce roughly symmetrical grooves on either side of : the object to produce arms, and that other areas had been deliberately : abraded to make what may have been intended as breasts. The base had : also been flattened so that the sculpture could stand upright. : It is the first time that the object, which probably took between 15 : and 30 minutes to make, has been subjected to detailed scientific : examination. But although the findings confound the majority of : academics who had dismissed the object as purely natural, the research : vindicates the Israeli archaeologist Professor Nama Goren of Hebrew : University of Jerusalem, who discovered the stone and who first : suggested that it was a primitive sculpture of a woman. : The sculpture, which has been widely ignored since its discovery in : 1986, is now likely to be acknowledged by most scholars as the world's : oldest work of figurative art. : Significantly, this recognition comes at a time when indirect evidence : of other equally ancient artistic activity is coming to light in : Zambia, Kenya and Europe. : At two sites in Africa, archaeologists have unearthed evidence of : pigment production – deliberately grated pieces of red ochre and : manganese. And recently analysed scraps of bone and elephant ivory : from eastern Germany bear apparently abstract fan-shaped man-made : engraved patterns dating back 350,000 years. In the light of the new : scientific research on the sculpture, it is likely that these, too, : will have to be studied further, as the implications of the German : objects for the evolution of the human mind have also been widely : ignored by the academic world. : Such discoveries may have a profound impact on our understanding of : the evolution of human thought. Archaeologists have always considered : symbolic thought, as represented by art, to be the exclusive preserve : of homo sapiens, our species. Although symbolic thought only really : blossomed 100,000 years after the final emergence of homo sapiens some : 150,000 years ago, the new research suggests it may have existed in a : simple form much, much earlier – between 200,000 and 350,000 years : ago. : Depending on what further discoveries are unearthed, archaeologists : may have to start rewriting the origins of human thought, with homo : sapiens in the role of developer rather than originator. "We hope that : our research will help change currently accepted views on the : evolution of the human mind," said Dr d'Errico. : <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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