Clipmarks | Prehistory Clips

The Long History of Birth Control

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 19:02:45 GMT

clipped by: dmegivern

A History of Birth Control Methods

Contemporary studies show that, out of a list of eight reasons for having sex, having a baby is the least frequent motivator for most people (Hill, 1997). This seems to have been true for all people at all times. Ever since the dawn of history, women and men have wanted to be able to decide when and whether to have a child. Contraceptives have been used in one form or another for thousands of years throughout human history and even prehistory.

Many of the earliest methods of family planning were based on sexual behavior and are still used by millions of women and men around the world.

Continuous Abstinence

Outercourse

Withdrawal

Fertility Awareness-Based Methods

Lactational Amenorrhea Method

Barrier Methods

The Condom

The earliest known illustration of a man using a condom during sexual intercourse is painted on the wall of a cave in France. It is 12,000–15,000 years old

Female Condom and Vaginal Sponge

Hormonal Methods

Emergency Contraception

Permanent Methods

Tags: family planning, contraception

Little arrow that rewrites history books

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 18:25:15 GMT

clipped by: invictus

Clip Source: www.pretorianews.co.za

Two researchers from Wits University believe that what they have discovered is a 60 000-year-old arrow that was fired from the earliest known bow. Their discovery has pushed back the origins of bow-and-arrow technology by 20 000 years.

The bow, probably made of wood and long since decayed, was used at a time when Neanderthals in Europe were using large spears in duels with woolly mammoths and other large prehistoric game.

The bone arrow, just 5cm long, was excavated by Wadley at the Sibudu cave, near the coastal town of Ballito in KwaZulu Natal, two years ago.

It's mystery who the people were who fashioned the arrow.

Also at this time, humankind was leaving an ever-increasing archaeological record of the first inklings of modern human behaviour. They were burying the dead, using coloured pigments and wearing jewellery.

"This at a time a few thousand years before they walked out of Africa, to become the ancestors of all humans," said Backwell.

Tags: archaeology, anthropology, south africa, prehistory, arrow, science

Solving the mystery of Nazca Lines

Mon, 26 May 2008 22:00:10 GMT

clipped by: invictus

Clip Source: www.dailyindia.com

Washington, May 23: Two British archaeologists are trying to solve the mystery of the Nazca Lines in Peru by locating and measuring the lines with high-precision GPS, photographing the distribution of 1,500-year old pottery, and working out the chronological sequence of overlying lines and designs.

Funded by the Anglo-Peruvian Cultural Association in Lima, their research hopes to unlock the purpose of the dazzling but confusing array of desert drawings.

Professor Ruggles and Dr Saunders agree with other experts that some lines were pathways across the desert, others had a more religious significance, while some appear associated with desert scars caused by flash-floods, and are probably linked to the veneration of water.

According to Dr Saunders, "Identifying which lines came first, whether they were spiritual or functional, and exactly how they were used during a thousand years of prehistory is a great challenge."

Tags: archaeology, south america, peru, nazca, mystery

85,000-year-old finery recovered in Moroccan cave

Sun, 11 May 2008 21:09:31 GMT

clipped by: invictus

Clip Source: www.dailystar.com.lb

Archaeologists have uncovered shells used for finery by prehistoric communities 85,000 years ago in a cave in eastern Morocco, the country's heritage institute said Tuesday.

A research team, led by archaeology and heritage institute (INSAP) member Abdel-Jalil Bouzouggar and Oxford University's Nick Barton, found the 20 perforated shells in a cave near Taforalt between March and April this year.

According to a statement from the Moroccan Ministry for Culture, the shells are the type prehistoric people would have worn.

"This discovery shows that the making and use of objects of finery is very anchored in the traditions of Morocco's prehistoric people," said Bouzouggar, in whose opinion the country is the original center of artistic and symbolic creation.

Objects of finery discovered in Morocco are "now considered to be even more ancient than those discovered in Algeria, South Africa and in Palestine," said the Culture Ministry.

Tags: archaeology, prehistory, morocco

Ancient Seaweed Tells of Earliest Americans

Thu, 08 May 2008 23:12:52 GMT

clipped by: invictus

Clip Source: dsc.discovery.com

May 8, 2008 -- Remains of meals that included seaweed are helping confirm the date of a settlement in southern Chile that may offer the earliest evidence of humans in the Americas.

Researchers date the seaweed found at Monte Verde to more than 14,000 years ago, 1,000 years earlier than the well-studied Clovis culture.

And the report comes just a month after other scientists announced they had found coprolites â€“ fossilized human feces -- dating to about 14,000 years ago in a cave in Oregon.

Taken together, the finds move back evidence of people in the Americas by a millennium or more, with settlements in northern and southern coastal areas.

Tags: archaeology, chile, america, prehistory, science

Turkish site a Neolithic 'supernova'

Fri, 02 May 2008 17:50:55 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: The archaeological discoveries in Gobeklitepe - Turkey, continues to stun the archaeology world. The site is dated to 9,500 BCE.

Clip Source: www.stonepages.com

Klaus Schmidt, a member of the German Archaeological Institute, has found in Turkey a temple complex almost twice as old as anything comparable. "This place is a supernova," said Mr. Schmidt. "Within a minute of first seeing it, I knew I had two choices: go away and tell nobody, or spend the rest of my life working here."

The stone circles of Gobekli Tepe are his workplace since 1994.

Dated at about 9500 BCE, these stones are 5,500 years older than the first cities of Mesopotamia and 7,000 years older than Stonehenge.

"Everybody used to think only complex, hierarchical civilizations could build such monumental sites and that they only came about with the invention of agriculture," said Ian Hodder, a Stanford University anthropology professor who has directed digs at Catalhoyuk,

"Gobekli changes everything. It's elaborate, it's complex, and it is pre-agricultural. That fact alone makes the site one of the most important archaeological finds in a very long time."

Tags: archaeology, prehistory, neolithic, turkey, klaus schmidt, science

Humans nearly wiped out 70,000 years ago, study says

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 00:22:18 GMT

clipped by: rmowery
clipper's remarks: At the rate we are going, perhaps it will happen again?

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

Humans nearly wiped out 70,000 years ago, study says

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Human beings may have had a brush with extinction 70,000 years ago, an extensive genetic study suggests.

The human population at that time was reduced to small isolated groups in Africa, apparently because of drought, according to an analysis released Thursday.

The report notes that a separate study by researchers at Stanford University estimated that the number of early humans may have shrunk as low as 2,000 before numbers began to expand again in the early Stone Age.

"This study illustrates the extraordinary power of genetics to reveal insights into some of the key events in our species' history," said Spencer Wells, National Geographic Society explorer in residence.

"Tiny bands of early humans, forced apart by harsh environmental conditions, coming back from the brink to reunite and populate the world. Truly an epic drama, written in our DNA."

Tags: prehistory, humans, dna, survival

Peacekeepers 'deface ancient art'

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 13:34:50 GMT

clipped by: Robbert

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

UN peacekeepers in the disputed African territory of Western Sahara have vandalised ancient rock paintings, a UN official has told a UK newspaper.

The Times has published pictures of the paintings, some 6,000 years old, showing them defaced with spray paint.

Graffiti, including the spray-painting of UN personnel's names, can been seen at Lajuad, an important archaeological site, Mr Harston said.

"I was appalled. You'd think some of them would know better. These are officers, not squaddies," Mr Harston said.

"It is a tragedy that UN personnel tasked with resolving one of the world's longest running military and political conflicts are engaging in the wilful destruction of important archaeological sites that have much to teach us about the prehistory of a part of the world that is virtually unknown to the international research community," he writes on his Sand and Dust blog.

New "Sea Monster" Species Identified

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 10:01:50 GMT

clipped by: Elfrida

Clip Source: news.nationalgeographic.com

The remarkably well-preserved fossil of a dinosaur-era sea creature found in a Canadian mine is turning out to be a gold mine for paleontologists.

The Cretaceous-period reptile, dubbed Nichollsia borealis, is not only a new species—it represents a whole new genus

It's also one of the oldest and most complete plesiosaur fossils ever unearthed in North America.

carnivorous reptiles that roamed the seas between about 205 million to 65 million years ago

The scans and other analyses of the reptile have provided more detail than for any other plesiosaur ever found, they said.

The newfound reptile also gave them a window into an ancient seaway that once cut through North America and teemed with marine life.

"It represents the oldest known forerunner of this amazing period in North American prehistory."

Out of Africa, Not Once But Twice

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 23:36:14 GMT

clipped by: invictus

Clip Source: dsc.discovery.com

Modern humans are known to have left Africa in a wave of migration around 50,000 years ago, but another, smaller group -- possibly a different subspecies -- left the continent 50,000 years earlier, suggests a new study.

While all humans today are related to the second "out of Africa" group, it's likely that some populations native to Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia retain genetic vestiges of the earlier migrants, according to the paper's author, Michael Schillaci.

Schillaci, an assistant professor in the Department of Social Sciences at the University of Toronto, also found the earlier group of emigrants had some genetic similarity to Neanderthals, a hominid that left Africa much earlier, settling in Europe and parts of western and central Asia.

Tags: anthropology, humans, migration, africa, neanderthal, prehistory, science

Dinosaurs roamed Washington DC

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 21:36:45 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: Not now, just 100 million years ago... Or they're still there, er, in a kinda 'disguise'?

Clip Source: dsc.discovery.com

Feb. 26, 2008 -- Until recently, evidence for dinosaurs in the northeastern United States was sparse, but over 900 theropod, sauropod, ankylosaur and ornithopod fossilized footprints have now been found just a short drive from the nation's capital, according to new studies.

The finds, which also include tracks for pterosaurs, a dino-era mammal and other vertebrates, suggest that Maryland was a hotbed for dinosaurs during the Cretaceous from around 98 to 121 million years ago.

Tags: dinosaurs, palaeontology, washington, maryland, prehistory, united states

How Writing Changed the World

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 11:48:52 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.livescience.com

Humans had been speaking for a couple hundred thousand years before they got the inspiration or nerve to mark their ideas down for posterity.

But when a Mesopotamian people called the Sumerians finally did scratch out a few bookkeeping symbols on clay tablets 5,000 years ago, they unknowingly started a whole new era in history we call, well ... history.

The presence of written sources denotes the technical dividing line between what scholars classify as prehistory versus what they call history, which starts at different times depending on what part of the world you're studying.

In most places, writing started about the same time ancient civilizations emerged from hunter-gatherer communities, probably as a way to keep track of the new concept of "property," such as animals, grain supplies or land.

The system developed quickly to incorporate signs that represented sounds, and soon all of Mesopotamia was taking notes, making to-do lists and (presumably) writing love letters.

Tags: writing, history, civilization

"The most ancient star map ever found"

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 22:32:41 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: Pleiades depiction from prehistoric Italy.

Clip Source: www.stonepages.com

Two groups of man-made cup markings carved on a pair of boulders found in the Italian Alps may represent the Pleiades star cluster, according to the archaeo-astronomer Guido Cossard. The carvings have been found near the Plan des Sorcières - literally 'The witches' plateau' - at Lillianes, in Val d'Aosta (Italy). According to Mr Cossard, who made the discovery, the series of cup markings have the same shape as the famous star cluster, and it may represent 'the most ancient star map ever found'. "Even the archaeo-astronomical orientation of the site is a confirmation, because it's clearly aligned to the rising point of the Pleiades," added Cossard.

Although the Pleiades are popularly termed the Seven Sisters, only six stars are easily visible to the naked eye, and a considerable mythology has grown up to account for the 'missing' Pleiad, since the times of Eratosthenes (276 BCE - 194 BCE). Additional details of the discovery will be presented in Lillianes City Council on January 17th

Tags: archaeology, archaeoastronomy, pleiades, star charts, prehistory, science

Timeline Of Art History

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:05:22 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad
clipper's remarks: Here ya go, a little treat to start off the New Year in good taste.

Clip Source: www.metmuseum.org

Ancient Near Eastern Art

14,000 year-old tool kit of an ancient man

Thu, 13 Dec 2007 17:11:49 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: He did not have screwdrivers, knives, pinchers or drills in his bag of course but the contents of the bag shows he was well equipped for many things in prehistoric life. Interesting discovery.

Clip Source: dsc.discovery.com

Before the end of the last ice age, a hunter-gatherer left a bag of tools near the wall of a roundhouse residence, where archaeologists have now found the collection 14,000 years later.

The tool set -- one of the most complete and well preserved of its kind -- provides an intriguing glimpse of the daily life of a prehistoric hunter-gatherer.

The contents, as described to Discovery News by Phillip Edwards, a senior lecturer in the Archaeology Program at Melbourne's La Trobe University, show the owner of the bag was well equipped for obtaining meat and edible plants in the wild.

"There was a sickle for harvesting wild wheat or barley, a cluster of flint spearheads, a flint core for making more spearheads, some smooth stones (maybe slingshots), a large stone (maybe for striking flint pieces off the flint core), a cluster of gazelle toe bones which were used to make beads, and part of a second bone tool," he said.

Tags: archaeology, prehistory, science