Taxacom: deciphering cave paintings

[John Grehan]

Apologies in advance, this is not precisely about taxonomy or systematics,
although there is an applicable corollary I think. And it might be of
general interest nevertheless (and I am not on any other list server so I
impose on this one).

A web report stated that aLondon furniture conservator has been credited
with a crucial discovery that has helped understand why Ice Age
hunter-gatherers drew cave paintings. Ben Bacon analysed 20,000-year-old
markings on the drawings, concluding they could refer to a lunar calendar. It
led to a specialist team proving early Europeans made notes about the
timing of animals' reproductive cycles. Mr Bacon said it was "surreal" to
work out for the first time what hunter-gatherers were saying.

Cave paintings of animals such as reindeer, fish and cattle have been found
in caves across Europe. But archaeologists had been stumped by the meaning
of dots and other marks on the paintings. So Mr Bacon decided he would try
and decode them. He collaborated with a team including two professors from
Durham University and one from University College London and, by working
out the birth cycles of similar present-day animals, they deduced that the
number of marks on the cave paintings was a record, by lunar month, of the
animals' mating seasons.

"The results show that Ice Age hunter-gatherers were the first to use a
systemic calendar and marks to record information about major ecological
events within that calendar."
He added: "In turn, we're able to show that these people, who left a legacy
of spectacular art in the caves of Lascaux [in France] and Altamira [in
Spain], also left a record of early timekeeping that would eventually
become commonplace among our species."

Even though the findings are not directly falsifiable, the research would
seem to fit the 'progressive research program' concept of developing a
novel hypothesis and corroborating evidence (lunar cycles of animals). In
this respect it is a bit like the practice of systematics  - e.g. novel
phylogenies leading to novel predictions. Or perhaps I am stretching that
is a bit too far. Nevertheless, it goes to show that ivory tower
authorities are not necessarily any better at science than anyone else when
it comes to novel insights into the natural world.

John Grehan

-- 
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