Articles
- The Dogs of Saudi Arabia first images of domesticated dogshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAGprHaKAZo&feature=youtu.be A rock art panel from Saudi Arabia may well be the oldest record of domesticated dogs. Maria Guagnin has been working on engravings in the Shuwaymis Hills of northwestern Saudi Arabia. She has cataloged over 1400 images from the region including what may be dogs on a leash. This article in Science lays out her work. Rock art is notoriously hard to date, but if her dates are accurate these engravings are likely 8,000 - 9,000 years old. That edges out Iranian depictions of mans best friend by 1,000 years.Read more
- Deep Time ExplainedTime is one of the hardest concepts to wrap your head around. People have been on the earth for about 300,000 years. For almost all of that time, we've been hunter-gatherers. But how long has the Earth been here? NPR's Skunk Bear does a great job of helping us visualize Earth's history and our place in it. The video is below and the original post is here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8V_glRW1hA&feature=youtu.beRead more
- Limited Edition Chauvet Portfolio to support the Ancient Art ArchiveI have selected 12 images from Chauvet Pont d'Arc Cave for a portfolio of prints to help support the Ancient Art Archive. Each image is limited to 12 prints each. Once they are sold there will be no more. The images are approximately 21" x 33" on 2 x 4-foot paper. Go here to see all the images and purchase. I'll be showing six of these prints in Oxford next month as part of a lecture at the Saïd Oxford Business School on September 13. The talk is free but registration is required. Go here for details. -Stephen AlvarezRead more
- Ancient Pueblo Rock Art Eclipse on Live ScienceLive Science has an excellent discussion of a solar eclipse depicted as rock art in Chaco Canyon. The image was discovered by McKim Malville in Chaco Canyon during a field trip in 1992. The image may describe the eclipse of July 11, 1097. Read the whole article here.Read more
- September 12 talk in LondonCountless tales are hidden in our ancestors' oldest caves. National Geographic Explorer & Photographer Stephen Alvarez is hosting a one-day talk and photo exhibit and would like you to join him on a journey back in time to our ancestor’s prehistoric lives.Read more
- Ancient Art in the Game of ThronesIn a scene that could almost have come out of an Ancient Art Archive presentation, Jon and Daenerys view ancient art in a cave. "They were right here, standing where we are standing..." The art bit starts around 2:40. Now to my eye, those engravings look a little too fresh to be ancient, and Jon Snow's motives might not make him the most objective observer. If I were Daenerys I wouldn't assume that they were genuinely old until the Uranium / Thorium or Carbon 14 dates came back and were peer reviewed.Read more
- DNA is reshaping our view of ourselvesThe story of human migration from Africa into the rest of the world is the original story of exploration. Those first people who walked out of Africa and into the vast unpopulated world told their story of exploration on rock and cave walls as they went. The timeline for that tale has been refined by looking at the DNA our ancestors left behind (more on that in another post). But that same DNA is also showing that the human migration is not as straightforward as we once believed. Prevailing evidence is that modern humans expanded out from Africa between 70,000 and 50,000 BP. Our ancestors encountered and replaced dwindling Neanderthal populations in Europe. However, some Neanderthal lives on in us. With the exception of native Africans, most people have up to 2% Neanderthal DNA. That story got a bit more muddled this month. A study published in Nature Communications -summarized nicely...Read more
- Ancient Art Archive on Instagram!The Ancient Art Archive launched and Instagram account! Humanity's newest social media platform seemed like the perfect place to Explore the Humanity's oldest stories. In the feed, we post images and videos from the Archive and also pictures from the field. Sometimes ice age art is breathtakingly simple and mysterious. 15,000 years ago someone drew a series of Reindeer inside Las Chimeneas cave, Spain. All of them are rendered in this minimalist style. So delicate and evocative. None of the figures has a mouth... #spain #paleolithic A post shared by Ancient Art Archive (@ancientartarchive) on Jul 5, 2017 at 3:12pm PDT It is a great addition to our Facebook page. The stories we are recording on rock and cave walls around the planet are Humanity's first social media. These new platforms bring our first stories to a new audience. (more…)Read more
- Atlanta Fundraiser NewsThe Horse Panel of Chauvet Cave, France This week we had a very successful fundraiser hosted by Arts Atlanta (see their article on the archive here). During the event board member, Jan Simek and I gave an overview of how making art became a vital part of the human survival strategy, what the sites look like and how we are using the newest imaging technologies to preserve the world's oldest images. "A Generous Donor will match* any contributions to the Archive given in the next week" We also revealed exciting new discoveries that we have made working on the Unnamed Caves Initiative. The new finds are spectacular, subscribe to our newsletter to keep up to date with what we are doing. Thank you to all who attended. Particular thanks to those who contributed to support our efforts to explore and preserve humanity's oldest stories! A very generous donor has agreed to...Read more
- Subscribe to the Ancient Art ArchiveMagdalenan age paintings in Tito Bustillo Cave, Spain Please subscribe to the Ancient Art Archive for a periodic summary of our work and offerings. (more…)Read more
- Bears Ears ImagesPetroglyphs in Comb Wash Utah's Bears Ears National Monument is a national treasure. Besides the area's fantastic natural beauty the Monument contains over 100,000 archeological sites. Many of you generously supported a scouting trip to the Bears Ears this spring. The images are now online here. (more…)Read more
- Paisley Cave, the oldest site in North AmericaThe road to 5 Mile Point and the Paisley Caves, Lake County Oregon.NRHP Reference #14000708 It is as true in the Northern Great Basin as it is with anywhere else on the planet. Art marks our progress across the world. As we expanded out of Africa more than 55,000 years ago and spread across the globe we left our mark in each new landscape we encountered. The Paisley Caves in Lake County, Oregon yield the oldest dates of human occupation in the Americas. The caves figure large in the history of the Great Basin. Digs have been going on there since the 1930s under the Oregon Museum of Natural and Cultural History. Recently, archaeologist Dennis Jenkins has found human coprolites dating to 14,300 years ago. There are charred camel bones that are 700 years older but they were excavated in the 1930s and Jenkins just doesn’t have the documentation to...Read more
- Alvarez speaking at the University of OregonA special public talk by Stephen Alvarez! Ancient Art: Exploring and Preserving Humanity’s Oldest Stories Saturday, May 20, 3:00 p.m. Travel back in time and unravel the human stories told in rock and cave art around the world. There is more information hereRead more
- Procession Panel, Bears Ears National Monument, UtahMoonrise behind the Procession Panel, Comb Ridge, Utah Recorded March 2017 The Procession Panel, San Juan County, Utah The 15-foot long panel depicts 179 human-like forms coming from three different directions and converging on a central circle. Other figures in the panel include mountain sheep, deer and/or elk and snakes. A few smaller panels are located along the cliff just below the main panel. The Procession Panel in Comb Wash, San Juan Country Utah The Panel is one of the most iconic rock art sites in the new Bears Ears National Monument. As such, modeling it was a primary objective of this year's visit to Utah. The model below was built using more than 200 DSLR images. It is best viewed in High Resolution. The Bears Ears contains a stunning number of archeological sites. The monument is a 1.3 million acre open air museum. The area is central to the...Read more
- Bear EarsThe Procession Panel, San Juan County Utah The Ancient Art Archive is in Utah all week scouting locations to record in the Bears Ears. For those that don't know, the Bears Ears is one of the United States newest National Monuments. Its 1.3 million acres represent some of the most inaccessible landscape in the lower 48 states. It is also a cultural treasure. There are over 100,000 archeological sites in the Monument and tens of thousands of pictographs and petroglyphs. It's a remarkable place. Thanks to everyone who has helped us get into the field this spring. Your support is vital.Read more
