How realistic were the cave drawings of our ancient ancestors? Geneticists now say that they’re drawings were most likely exact paintings of real animals of their time, described in this article. Previously, there was no evidence of spotted horses that were depicted in Chauvet cave in southeast French more than 300 centuries ago. Since, up until recently, there was only evidence of black or brown horses, scientists were unsure if the paintings were made up or if they were real. The Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Germany led a team to investigate the possible coat color of horses during this time period. These researchers analyzed the DNA of 31 horse bone or teeth fossils that were found in over twelve archeological sites. They discovered that six of these horses had a genetic mutation that lead to spotted coat color in horses. As it turns out, cavemen were in tune with their surroundings and painted a realistic picture of everything they saw, and genetics is the reason that this is now known.
I have taken a few anthropology courses and so this article is very interesting to me. I would not think it possible for genetics to be performed on bones and teeth so archaic; they must have been very well preserved. I think it makes sense that the spotted horses in Chauvet cave were realistic depiction of horses observed by cavemen; painting from imagination is a form of higher thinking that is not normally associated with cavemen.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is very awesome, for lack of a better term, that the genetic mutation of the horses lead to conculsion to the spotted horses. That would have to been something to see.
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