Acheulean “modernity” at Gesher Benot Ya‘aqov 800,000 years ago!

[E.P. Grondine]

Hi Paul -
Okay, but let's hold on for a second, before getting carried away with enthusiasm.  Didn't some geologists hold that the Straits of Gibraltar were closed at that time, and that they later opened and the Mediterranean flooded? Isn't this the usual explanation provided for the pygmy elephants remains found on Crete and Cyprus?

Hi E.P.

Thanks for the information. I've tried to find scientific papers on the sea level in the Mediterraneum during the lower and midle Palaeolithic period. I have found many article attesting a middle palaeolithic hominid occupation of Sardinia but I wasn't successful on sea level articles search... I get contradictory "stories" some saying that Sardinia was connected to the Italian Peninsula during prehistoric times (without precise dates) other saying Sardinia was never connected to the continent.

Do you have references that give serious estimations about the sea level in the Mediterraneum during the lower and midle Palaeolithic period? At least about Sardinia being connected to the continent?

Thanks

Paul

Sorry Paul - I have absolutely nothing - and absolutely no way of getting anything, seriously.

At the AIA annual conference in Chicago I ran into a Greek marine geologist who had a nice impact crater on the floor of the Mediterranean, and he was looking for contact info for the impact community, but I have not heard back from him. If he ever writes, then I'll ask him if he knows any good materials.

In general, sea levels world wide rose about 300 feet (or say 100 meters)  when the ice melted after the impacts at 10,900 BCE. There are the cave paintings in south France (Cours? - spelling?) but I do not know the depth of the entrance to the cave. I suppose one could take a map of floor depth and work out a first approximation, but without a good understanding of  tectonic activity from data  that would give you only a very rough guess.

It's strange. We now have advanced homonids around the Mediterranean at fairly early dates, and absolutely very little idea about the landscape they were moving into. Without that understanding, finding sites is by chance. And without sites, the impact record can not be pulled out.

[trehinp]

Sorry Paul - I have absolutely nothing - and absolutely no way of getting anything, seriously.

At the AIA annual conference in Chicago I ran into a Greek marine geologist who had a nice impact crater on the floor of the Mediterranean, and he was looking for contact info for the impact community, but I have not heard back from him. If he ever writes, then I'll ask him if he knows any good materials.

In general, sea levels world wide rose about 300 feet (or say 100 meters)  when the ice melted after the impacts at 10,900 BCE. There are the cave paintings in south France (Cours? - spelling?) but I do not know the depth of the entrance to the cave. I suppose one could take a map of floor depth and work out a first approximation, but without a good understanding of  tectonic activity from data  that would give you only a very rough guess.

It's strange. We now have advanced homonids around the Mediterranean at fairly early dates, and absolutely very little idea about the landscape they were moving into. Without that understanding, finding sites is by chance. And without sites, the impact record can not be pulled out.

I understand the frustration... There is some information available about sea level, in particular during the Upper Palaeolithic period and on until now. However, I have not been able to find precise information about the sea level during the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic periods, which are in the cirsumstances, the crucial information we are looking for. The question was trying to assess whether the hominids who occupied Sardinia circa 300 k years ago could have walked to their camps or did they have to use some kind of rafts to cross water?

Concerning the decorated cave you mentionned, I assume you are talking about Cosquer Cave. The paintings were done in two periods 27K BP and 19 K BP. The entrance is now about 100 feet under sea level.  Click here for the French ministry of culture website on Cosquer

Googling with Cosquer will give you more links than you can have the time to read :-)

Yours sincerely.

Paul

[AWSX]

Paul,
Since you brought up Cosquer, I am curious what the archeological opinion is regarding the hand prints. Many show missing fingers. Did the artists actually have missing digits or was this some form of hand signal that we have yet to understand?

Allan Shumaker

[trehinp]

Alan

We had touched upon that subject earlier on in a thread on "Hand Prints" (Parietal & Mobiliary Art. section)

Note that I didn't remember either :-)

I had started to answer, giving the same explanations (which is reassuring)... Just doing a routine check on the subject I found out that we had already discusssed that subject...

Click here for more


Yours sincerely.

Paul