Image of ancient mammoth or mastodon found on bone (Florida 13,000bc)

AP ^ | June 23, 2011 | RANDOLPH E. SCHMID

[Islander7]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Some of the earliest Americans turn out to have been artists. A bone fragment at least 13,000 years old, with the carved image of a mammoth or mastodon, has been discovered in Florida, a new study reports.

While prehistoric art depicting animals with trunks has been found in Europe, this may be the first in the Western Hemisphere, researchers report Wednesday in the Journal of Archaeological Science.

[Islander7]

It was heavily mineralized, which prevented standard dating, Stanford explained. But mammoths and mastodons had died out in the Americas by 13,000 years ago, so it has to be older than that. "It could be quite early," he added.

[Islander7]

Ping to old bones

[ClearCase_guy]

How do we date the mineral? We see if it is associated with animal fossils from a certain time period.
How do we date the animal fossils? We see if it is associated with minerals from a certain time period.

Circular. They do it all the time.

[LostInBayport]

"They found Sparky? I let him out of the cave one day and he never came home! Oh the fun we had, playing fetch with the bone I used to tie my hair!"

[GrandJediMasterYoda]

Pretty cool. On the same subject, I saw that Werner Herzog movie last week “Cave of forgotten dreams” in 3D last week and it was pretty mind blowing. Cave drawings from people or a person who lived 32,000 years ago. Yes, that’s 32,000 years! Almost, but not quite as old as Helen Thomas. This cave had it’s entrance blocked by a cave in and it was perfectly preserved all that time, to the point where you can see the black ashes on the ground from the burnt stick the guy used to draw on the cave wall. What got me was how good the drawing were! They knew how the muscles laid on the animal, even the facial muscles.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1664894/

[martin_fierro]

40 lashes with a wet noodle for you.

[LostInBayport]

Ha...you often shock me with the photos you post, so I claim a small victory! ;)

Plus, you had to expect the possibility of a photo of something mummified and disturbing in a thread like this.

[VeniVidiVici]

So much for cavemen vegans.

[hawgwalker]

Global warming kilt them dead

[singletrack]

I saw Cave of Forgotten Dreams too. Amazing the use of perspective the early people had and the way they used the shape of the walls to layer images in 3d. Butterflies (or bats) painted onto stalactites to give the illusion of flight. Not primitive scribblings at all.

[jongaltsr]

Hate articles like this.

They leave facts unquestioned and unanswered.

Yes. It was most definitely a carving of a Mastodon.

The question I have and would be relative to the story is this - What “Kind” of bone fragment was this carved on?

Was it from the rump of a water buffalo or from a bone of a REAL Mastodon?

Seems a relative obvious fact that they seemed to overlook or maybe they thought it was sooo... obvious that they didn’t have to report that fact.

Typical for reporters today.

[Beowulf9]

Interesting how good this drawing is. Puts up a plausable opposing argument regarding the credibility of theories of evolution or reincarnation, (obviously the artist learned to draw without evolving or having been once before DaVinci or somebody) but will be ignored from that perspective.

[Rocky]

Wow. Elephants in Florida. Well, sort of.

Very interesting.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Islander7.

Scientists reveal a first in Ice Age art
PhysOrg.com | 06-21-2011 | Provided by Smithsonian
Posted on 06/21/2011 11:16:04 AM PDT by Red Badger
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2737841/posts

[SunkenCiv]

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[Islander7]

The skill to make these images did not suddenly appear. The reports attempt of pin a date certain, but that is only part of the story. Surely they were learned long before, perfected over time and past down father to son.

Knowing the type of bone would be interesting. Perhaps it has not been identified as yet, but that should have been addressed in the article.

@JediMaster - I’ve seen still images of the cave you mention. The guy was talented.

[GrandJediMasterYoda]

Yes I totally agree, this wasn’t a sudden burst of creativity. Humans I believe started appearing about 200,000 years ago, and if you ever look at kids, they naturally start drawing once you put any kind of a writing device in the their hand, even a stick they will draw in the sand. It’s the imagination that forces it. So that’s 170,000 years of drawing before these cave drawings were ever made. Just a mind blowing amount of time to be passing on artistic skills and tricks. Can you imagine Neanderthals were still around when those cave drawings were made? The Geico cavemen!