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12,000-year-old realistic human statue was unearthed

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Re: 12,000-year-old realistic human statue was unearthed

#111

Post by pests »

defrost wrote: post #89
facialwipe wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t trust any dating technique that requires the combustion of material.

Well, this dating relates to when quartz and|or feldspar crystal were last in strong sunlight .. it's not "combustion" as such. The changes wrought in the material by sun exposure and subsequent changes over time in the dark are strongly repeatable. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luminescence_dating

> Most luminescence dating methods rely on the assumption that the mineral grains were sufficiently "bleached" at the time of the event being dated. For example, in quartz a short daylight exposure in the range of 1–100 seconds before burial is sufficient to effectively “reset” the OSL dating clock

Very interesting

Re: 12,000-year-old realistic human statue was unearthed

#113

Post by arp242 »

p-e-w wrote: post #107
bluehorizon2 wrote: post #102

It feels like the significance of this is lost on many people. My understanding is that complex things like statues were not supposed to be possible 12,000 years ago. I think it’s supposed to be more like 6000 years ago. The fact that it has been carbon dated to 12,000 tears should means that we have to rewrite the theories on the start of human civilization. These statues needed to be carved out of tools and the edu…

> My understanding is that complex things like statues were not supposed to be possible 12,000 years ago. Huh? The Venus of Willendorf[1] is twice as old, and to my eye displays a higher degree of artistry than the statue shown in the article. Several such Venus figurines have been found in central Europe. Compared to the intricacy of the Venus' limestone carving, the statue from the article looks downright crude. Th…

Venus of Willendorf is quite small, and not especially life-like, but similar large statues have been found in the area before, from around the same time (12kya ago). It's not even a unique find, and fits reasonably well(ish) in established chronology and progression (insofar that's possible for pre-history). Pretty much everything the previous poster said is wrong.

Re: 12,000-year-old realistic human statue was unearthed

#114

Post by otabdeveloper4 »

andrewstuart wrote: post #22

It makes me happy that it's possible that future humans might live again on an earth 12,000 years in the future which has cooled again after our civilisation has boiled the planet.

Pretty sure we haven't yet mastered planetary engineering, bro. "Boiling" a planet is many orders of magnitude bigger than our entire energy budget.

Re: 12,000-year-old realistic human statue was unearthed

#115

Post by mcmoor »

cjohnson318 wrote: post #82

I wonder how long ago our ancestors forgot about this settlement and it was lost, and how many times it was rediscovered through the ages. I bet Homer knew of or had heard of some ancient sites that were either never memorialized in a poem, or poems never survived to modern times.

Xenophon already writes about sites that are already old and forgotten by his time https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anabasis_(Xenophon)

Re: 12,000-year-old realistic human statue was unearthed

#116

Post by rokkitmensch »

an-allen wrote: post #55

I think whomever this statue represents, would get a cosmic kick out of people, 12000 years into the future, appreciating the majesty of his phallus.

Hopefully he'd also find it amusing that the press release absolutely refuses to mention what he's grinning about wiggling at the future.

Re: 12,000-year-old realistic human statue was unearthed

#117

Post by tanepiper »

gumby wrote: post #71
verbify wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How many of these universals are shared with other mammals (especially apes)?

I don't think any other species has the set of facial muscles humans do. Cats seem inscrutable because they have very few; dogs seem more understandable because they can move their eyebrows. I think the non-human animal with the most facial expressions is the chimpanzee, but even then it is much less expressive than a human in this regard. Various mammals have (non-facial) macroexpression somewhat similar to humans,…

As someone who spends a lot of time closely with dogs, and recently raised a little of 6 spaniels - dogs "talk" via their facial expressions and can make sounds beyond just barks.

My pet theory is that women bonded with dogs first through an ability to have a mutual understanding with non-verbal communication, and we most likely observed them and could "talk" to them in their own ways - something that has been lost as we turned dogs from inter-species partners to enslaved commodities.

We're slowly starting to rediscover it.

Re: 12,000-year-old realistic human statue was unearthed

#118

Post by tanepiper »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #81
an-allen wrote: post #55

I think whomever this statue represents, would get a cosmic kick out of people, 12000 years into the future, appreciating the majesty of his phallus.

It looks like it’s saying that Death is a wanker. I wonder if it was deliberately humorous, which would add another dimension. I know that the Incas had statues that were basically hardcore pr0n. I’m not sure the reason. Probably fertility stuff.

Archaeologist: "This amazing find represents us understanding early humans and their ties to the seasons and fertility"

[8000 years earlier]

"Man": "Yea, so Gary over there cut down my favourite Olive tree so I commissioned this huge statute of a dick to let him know how much I hate him"

Re: 12,000-year-old realistic human statue was unearthed

#119

Post by ido »

tanepiper wrote: post #117
gumby wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think any other species has the set of facial muscles humans do. Cats seem inscrutable because they have very few; dogs seem more understandable because they can move their eyebrows. I think the non-human animal with the most facial expressions is the chimpanzee, but even then it is much less expressive than a human in this regard. Various mammals have (non-facial) macroexpression somewhat similar to humans,…

As someone who spends a lot of time closely with dogs, and recently raised a little of 6 spaniels - dogs "talk" via their facial expressions and can make sounds beyond just barks. My pet theory is that women bonded with dogs first through an ability to have a mutual understanding with non-verbal communication, and we most likely observed them and could "talk" to them in their own ways - something that has been lost a…

Why women specifically? Or did you mean humans?

Re: 12,000-year-old realistic human statue was unearthed

#120

Post by cjohnson318 »

mcmoor wrote: post #115
cjohnson318 wrote: post #82

I wonder how long ago our ancestors forgot about this settlement and it was lost, and how many times it was rediscovered through the ages. I bet Homer knew of or had heard of some ancient sites that were either never memorialized in a poem, or poems never survived to modern times.

Xenophon already writes about sites that are already old and forgotten by his time https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anabasis_(Xenophon)

That's very interesting! I imagine a bunch of bored Victorians have already dug everything up and thoroughly wrecked the provenance of everything.
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