Interesting. A pendant from about 15,000 years ago, identified by great British geologist as being made from a wolf or badger tooth, has been reidentified as belonging to a seal. The seal obviously came to a hard fate. But there's still some nice craftsmanship apparent.
The Magdalenian, still part of the Paleolithic Era, had an apparent burst of creativity, leading to some beautiful artifacts that are still in existence. Of course the British Isles would have felt very different at the time from what they are now. The population, however dense or sparse it might be, spoke no language we'd even vaguely recognize. It would be fascinating to see firsthand what daily life was like for these people.
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That was a fascinating story about how the pendant was found and then just how much more time went by before it was identified. The suggestion that the geologist Pengelly and his cohort did such a thorough exploration of Britain 'that left it so completely explored that there is little left for their successors but to correct mistakes and fill in minute details'. Now that's what I'd call thorough.
When reading about archeological and geologic discoveries I'm always just as happy I never took up either career. I can't imagine doing something like finding a partial finger bone in a cave and determining from it a whole new human species.
The artwork of the Magdalenian people is remarkably sophisticated. A few years ago we watched Werner Herzog's Cave of Forgotten Dreams filmed with great difficulty deep inside the Lascaux Cave. Imagining those artists working by some dim lightsource and incorporating the shapes of the rocky walls in their illustrations could only be described as amazingly impressive.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_of_Forgotten_Dreams
William Pengelly was a very serious guy, as well as being a member of the Royal Society. When he put his mind to exploring and cataloging the features of Britain, that meant that he would really tackle it. Probably no one could cover everything, but he came as close as he could given the tools of the time.
It's wild that anyone takes minute details like a single finger bone and extrapolates the whole skeleton from it. Some entirely new (as in previously undiscovered) species have been found that way, so it has to be pretty exciting for them. But it does take a very specific kind of mind to do this job. Most of us don't have it.
What Herzog does with his documentaries is quite admirable. He can make enough money and get quite a bit or prestige through his feature films, but he's got interests he wants to share too. And the Magdalenians did create beautiful art under very strict circumstances.
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