Rock engravings made by Homo Naledi ~300k years ago

#1

Post by tdaltonc » Thu, Jun 15, 2023, 6:09 PM UTC

Rock engravings made by Homo Naledi ~300k years ago
biorxiv.org

Re: Rock engravings made by Homo Naledi ~300k years ago

#2

Post by iskander » Thu, Jun 15, 2023, 6:48 PM UTC

Lots of cross-hatch patterns!

Re: Rock engravings made by Homo Naledi ~300k years ago

#3

Post by MilStdJunkie » Thu, Jun 15, 2023, 7:13 PM UTC

Lee Berger's announcement video on the find - it's long-ish, but it's very very interesting if you're into this stuff.

https://youtu.be/fFbgQhY4Yxw

Something very evocative is the resemblance to Neanderthal cave engravings (@16:45 in the video) - that same theme of cross hatching, with multiple length verticals. As Lee points out, ascribing meaning to these things is going to be pretty much impossible, but it's very evocative. Could it be a family portrait? A warning? The 300k BC version of a Biohazard sigil? A Homo Sapiens band, hunting them into the depths of the earth? Who knows.

Re: Rock engravings made by Homo Naledi ~300k years ago

#4

Post by sys32768 » Thu, Jun 15, 2023, 7:29 PM UTC

Maybe that's how they got edges on their tools?

Re: Rock engravings made by Homo Naledi ~300k years ago

#5

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Jun 15, 2023, 7:31 PM UTC

MilStdJunkie wrote: post #3

Lee Berger's announcement video on the find - it's long-ish, but it's very very interesting if you're into this stuff. https://youtu.be/fFbgQhY4Yxw Something very evocative is the resemblance to Neanderthal cave engravings (@16:45 in the video) - that same theme of cross hatching, with multiple length verticals. As Lee points out, ascribing meaning to these things is going to be pretty much impossible, but it's very…

[deleted]

Re: Rock engravings made by Homo Naledi ~300k years ago

#6

Post by amanaplanacanal » Thu, Jun 15, 2023, 7:39 PM UTC

Are we only calling Homo Sapiens human? Some how I got the idea that all of Homo was human.

Re: Rock engravings made by Homo Naledi ~300k years ago

#7

Post by wsgeorge » Thu, Jun 15, 2023, 7:48 PM UTC

amanaplanacanal wrote: post #6

Are we only calling Homo Sapiens human? Some how I got the idea that all of Homo was human.

I had the opposite idea: colloquially, "human" is us, homo sapiens, and hominid would be our ancestors and closest relations.

Re: Rock engravings made by Homo Naledi ~300k years ago

#8

Post by womitt » Thu, Jun 15, 2023, 7:54 PM UTC

Could be some kind of map

Re: Rock engravings made by Homo Naledi ~300k years ago

#9

Post by polishdude20 » Thu, Jun 15, 2023, 8:02 PM UTC

Can they just be doodles? Sometimes I just draw crosshatch lines and stuff especially when I was in college.

Re: Rock engravings made by Homo Naledi ~300k years ago

#10

Post by greatpostman » Thu, Jun 15, 2023, 8:04 PM UTC

The big secret:

“Homo sapiens” are hybrid combinations of different species that have long disappeared. “Non human hominids” are frequently groups that mixed with Homo sapiens. Large variances in human populations come from different hybrid compositions