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Prehistoric Hand Stencils In Spanish Caves Not Randomly Placed, Say Researchers
Popular Archaeology ^ | Sunday, April 17, 2016 | editors

Posted on 04/23/2016 11:54:33 AM PDT by SunkenCiv

Prehistoric cave occupants paid attention to cave wall morphology and touch when creating hand stencils.

Human occupants of two caves in Northern Spain put some thought into where they placed their hand stencils on cave walls as much as 37,000 years ago, during Palaeolithic times. The topography and physical characteristics of the walls in the low light conditions of the caves seem to have mattered to them, suggest a team of researchers...

What they found was a pattern that indicated selection or attention to certain types of natural cave wall features for placement of the stencils. "In total 80% of observable stencils at La Garma and 74% at El Castillo have some kind of association, either with fissures or undulations on the caves' surfaces," state the researchers in the study report. "Some stencils seem to have been 'fitted' to subtle topographic features in the wall, and some were positioned on bosses in the wall in such a manner that they appear to be 'gripping' the wall in a similar way that explorers use their hands to steady themselves when navigating the caves," ...

Moreover, under the low-light conditions of the caves, the authors suggest that the stencils were created using a significant reliance on touch and close-up scrutiny of the surface, in addition to overall visual facility.

Interestingly, the few hand stencils that were created in what would have been difficult or uncomfortable positions for the artists were clearly placed in association with certain types of natural features, such as atop a stalactite, associated with a crack, or ergonomically fitted to a concave surface with the fingers 'gripping' a boss.

The researchers also determined that more than one individual was making similar decisions about the placement of the stencils, indicating common or shared choices among a group of individuals.

(Excerpt) Read more at popular-archaeology.com ...


TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: cave; caveart; cavedrawings; cavepainting; cavepaintings; godsgravesglyphs; macroetymology; marysettegast; neandertal; neandertals; neanderthal; neanderthals; palaeolithic; paleosigns; paulpettitt; platoprehistorian; spain
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hand stencils in El Castillo Cave. Gabinete de Prensa del Gobierno de Cantabria, Wikimedia Commons

hand stencils in El Castillo Cave. Gabinete de Prensa del Gobierno de Cantabria, Wikimedia Commons

1 posted on 04/23/2016 11:54:33 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
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To: 240B; 75thOVI; Adder; albertp; asgardshill; At the Window; bitt; blu; BradyLS; cajungirl; ...

2 posted on 04/23/2016 11:55:14 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Tardigrade is the temperature scale for mentally challenged planets.)
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oft-reprised sidebar:
In her Plato Prehistorian: 10,000 to 5000 B.C. Myth, Religion, Archaeology, Mary Settegast reproduces a table which shows four runic character sets; a is Upper Paleolithic (found among the cave paintings), b is Indus Valley script, c is Greek (western branch), and d is the Scandinavian runic alphabet.
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3 posted on 04/23/2016 11:57:44 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Tardigrade is the temperature scale for mentally challenged planets.)
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To: SunkenCiv

One really must hand it to them for knowing where to place their mark.


4 posted on 04/23/2016 11:58:28 AM PDT by AEMILIUS PAULUS
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To: AEMILIUS PAULUS

It’s great that someone has finally fingered out how they did it.


5 posted on 04/23/2016 12:01:04 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Tardigrade is the temperature scale for mentally challenged planets.)
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To: SunkenCiv

I think you “nailed” it. You seem to have your finger on the pulse of prehistoric times.


6 posted on 04/23/2016 12:03:13 PM PDT by AEMILIUS PAULUS
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To: SunkenCiv

Are the handprints a starmap of Orion?
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7 posted on 04/23/2016 12:04:51 PM PDT by bunkerhill7 ((("The Second Amendment has no limits on firepower"-NY State Senator Kathleen A. Marchione."))))))
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To: AEMILIUS PAULUS

You’re a prints to give me such credit.


8 posted on 04/23/2016 12:05:15 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Tardigrade is the temperature scale for mentally challenged planets.)
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To: SunkenCiv
Only 37,000 years ago. I saw that Werner Herzog movie "cave of forgotten dreams" about 5 years ago and in 3D, it was a very limited release and it's about the caves in southern France with the same thing, hand prints and drawings on the walls from that same time frame, 30k years ago, it was mind blowing. What I found fascinating was not only how well they drew the physical characteristics of the animals, but how they drew them so that they appeared to be in motion. I mean think about it, I couldn't draw a horse or lion from memory like that.


9 posted on 04/23/2016 12:05:29 PM PDT by GrandJediMasterYoda (Can we please kill the guy already who invented the saying "My bad"?)
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To: bunkerhill7

Maybe, the Irish did come from Iberia...
Rimshot!

10 posted on 04/23/2016 12:06:22 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Tardigrade is the temperature scale for mentally challenged planets.)
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To: SunkenCiv

Amazing. They had spray cans of paint 37K years ago. There really ISN’T anything new under the sun.


11 posted on 04/23/2016 12:06:24 PM PDT by Tucker39 (Welcome to America! Now speak English; and keep to the right....In driving, in Faith, and politics.)
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To: GrandJediMasterYoda

Clearly they had a light source for use back in the caverns.

It’s astounding that they survived, also, there’s the possibility that more remain to be discovered — Chauvet was only found in the mid-1990s.


12 posted on 04/23/2016 12:08:58 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Tardigrade is the temperature scale for mentally challenged planets.)
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To: SunkenCiv

We must “palm” it off on someone. We must “hand” it to you for placing your “mark” on this topic.


13 posted on 04/23/2016 12:09:44 PM PDT by AEMILIUS PAULUS
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To: AEMILIUS PAULUS

Woops! I repeated myself. I need to be “slapped” around.


14 posted on 04/23/2016 12:10:59 PM PDT by AEMILIUS PAULUS
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To: SunkenCiv

Upper Paleolithic alphabet? Dang, didn’t know they had writing that far back. Guess, it should not be a surprise though, we have lost so much knowledge.


15 posted on 04/23/2016 12:11:10 PM PDT by Rockpile (GOP legislators-----caviar eating surrender monkeys.)
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To: SunkenCiv

Now I’m thoroughly runed! (sorry, couldn’t resist!)


16 posted on 04/23/2016 12:11:54 PM PDT by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing.)
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To: GrandJediMasterYoda

Looks like we forgot realism and proportion for 30k years until the Greeks rediscovered it.


17 posted on 04/23/2016 12:18:12 PM PDT by Little Bill (o)
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To: SunkenCiv
On 1000 A.D. "Cotton map", Ireland(?) is labeled "Hiberia".
18 posted on 04/23/2016 12:20:20 PM PDT by bunkerhill7 ((("The Second Amendment has no limits on firepower"-NY State Senator Kathleen A. Marchione."))))))
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To: Tucker39

They didn’t have cans but they were air-brushing. They would hold the paint in their mouths and blow it out a straw.


19 posted on 04/23/2016 12:21:40 PM PDT by ichabod1 (Off the NWO)
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To: bunkerhill7

sorry “typo” -= “Hybernia”


20 posted on 04/23/2016 12:21:53 PM PDT by bunkerhill7 ((("The Second Amendment has no limits on firepower"-NY State Senator Kathleen A. Marchione."))))))
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