An international team of scientists has discovered the earliest known engravings from human ancestors on a 400,000 year-old fossilised shell from Java.

The discovery is the earliest known example of ancient humans deliberately creating pattern.

“It rewrites human history,” said Dr Stephen Munro from the School of Archaeology and Anthropology.

“This is the first time we have found evidence for Homo erectus behaving this way,” he said.

The newly discovered engravings resemble the previously oldest-known engravings, which are associated with either Neanderthals or modern humans from around 100,000 years ago.

The early date and the location of the discovery in Java discount the possibility that the engravings could have been the work of Neanderthals or modern humans.

“It puts these large bivalve shells and the tools used to engrave them, into the hands of Homo erectus, and will change the way we think about this early human species,” Dr Munro said.

It is unclear whether the pattern was intended as art or served some practical purpose.

The zig-zag pattern engravings were only recently discovered on fossilised mussel shells, which had been collected 100 years ago.

Dr Munro visited the Netherlands to study the collection, gathered by the discoverer of Homo erectus, Eugene Dubois, in Java in the late 19th Century.

However, he did not notice the markings on the fossils until he examined photographs he had taken, once back at ANU.

“It was a eureka moment. I could see immediately that they were man-made engravings. There was no other explanation,” Dr Munro said.

Full report: http://www.engineering.com/DesignerEdge/DesignerEdgeArticles/ArticleID/9129/New-Engravings-Proves-Humanoids-Used-Tools-Much-Earlier-Than-Previously-Thought.aspx

turn it up the other way it says, Dr Who.

old school desks are going to be worth a fortune

strange indecipherable sentences of a lost language and etchings of phallus and naked ladies in a spread eagle stance

the only thing left to us will be these school desks

obviously there was a hierarchy , a strange and cruel elite lording it over a barely submissive population

the word “ fuck” appears a lot on these desks , we can only surmise this was their deity or a type of greeting eg “ fuck you “

but you can read more about this in my book – the lost world of the 20th century

Bubblecar said:

An international team of scientists has discovered the earliest known engravings from human ancestors on a 400,000 year-old fossilised shell from Java.

The discovery is the earliest known example of ancient humans deliberately creating pattern.

“It rewrites human history,” said Dr Stephen Munro from the School of Archaeology and Anthropology.

“This is the first time we have found evidence for Homo erectus behaving this way,” he said.

The newly discovered engravings resemble the previously oldest-known engravings, which are associated with either Neanderthals or modern humans from around 100,000 years ago.

The early date and the location of the discovery in Java discount the possibility that the engravings could have been the work of Neanderthals or modern humans.

“It puts these large bivalve shells and the tools used to engrave them, into the hands of Homo erectus, and will change the way we think about this early human species,” Dr Munro said.

It is unclear whether the pattern was intended as art or served some practical purpose.

The zig-zag pattern engravings were only recently discovered on fossilised mussel shells, which had been collected 100 years ago.

Dr Munro visited the Netherlands to study the collection, gathered by the discoverer of Homo erectus, Eugene Dubois, in Java in the late 19th Century.

However, he did not notice the markings on the fossils until he examined photographs he had taken, once back at ANU.

“It was a eureka moment. I could see immediately that they were man-made engravings. There was no other explanation,” Dr Munro said.

This is an absolutely brilliant find. I see that this announcement has already made its way onto the wikipedia page “Prehistoric Art”, where the previous earliest known art was a mere 70,000 years old. In 2002 in Blombos cave, situated in South Africa, stones were discovered engraved with grid or cross-hatch patterns, dated to some 70,000 years ago.

On a humorous note, I see a similarity to Charlie Brown’s sweater.

> It is unclear whether the pattern was intended as art or served some practical purpose.

Thinking more on this, I would guess that the shell is being used to compare the sharpness of stone weapons. But it could have been created to fill in idle time, like a type of meditation, or could have been used for decoration.

mollwollfumble said:

> It is unclear whether the pattern was intended as art or served some practical purpose.

Thinking more on this, I would guess that the shell is being used to compare the sharpness of stone weapons. But it could have been created to fill in idle time, like a type of meditation, or could have been used for decoration.

Testing the sharpness on a shell is an interesting theory. It is possible that the toolmakers hands were so work hardened or that they really were as dim witted as those who wrote Terra Nullis, that they didn’t actually instinctively use their thumb.

Very interesting.

It looks to me like the solution to the Riemann hypothesis, but it seems to have been eroded too much to make out the answer.

It looks like HM