Spanish researchers discover 30,000 year-old cave paintings

Researchers have discovered four new sets of cave paintings in Cantabria, northern Spain, the oldest of which was made nearly 30,000 years ago – making it one of the earliest known examples of prehistoric art in the world.

The team from the Museum of Prehistory of Cantabria, led by Spanish prehistorian Roberto Ontañón, used cutting-edge imaging techniques to identify the drawings.

Twenty years ago, a speleologist – a scientist who studies caves – had informed archaeologists of the possible existence of ancient paintings in various rock cavities in Cantabria. However, the techniques available at the time were not sufficient to confirm the existence of the art.

The paintings, like much prehistoric artwork, had degraded so much over time that they were difficult to identify with the naked eye. To overcome this, Ontañón and his team used a 3D laser scanning method, which reproduced the artwork on a computer.

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"These technologies allow you to detect colors beyond the range of the visible spectrum (infrared to ultraviolet) and, in this way, 'reveal' paintings that at first sight are imperceptible or difficult to
distinguish", Ontañón told IBTimes UK.

The artworks are estimated to have been made between 30,000 and 20,000 years ago, making them older than the famous bison drawings at the renowned UNESCO World Heritage Site at nearby Altamira – created around 16,000 years ago – but not as old as the earliest example in the region.

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That title goes to the cave drawings at El Castillo, also in Cantabria, which were made more than 40,000 years ago and are arguably the oldest in the world.

Cantabria has some of the highest concentrations of prehistoric art anywhere on Earth. This can be attributed to the fact that the region was a good place to live during glacial periods in the Earth's history, a result of its temperate climate and abundance of wild animals.

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Spanish researchers discover 30,000 year-old cave paintings

Roman conquest of Spain written in chemistry of ancient coins

As examples of hubris go, that of Hannibal (the Carthaginian general, not the fictional serial killer) takes some matching. And now German geochemists have added solid science to the evidence of historians and archeologists.

Hannibal, as documented by the Roman historian Livy, memorably led his Spanish army, aided by columns of war elephants, over the Pyrenees and the Alps, intent on sacking Rome.

The general successfully occupied much of Italy – although not Rome itself – for about 15 years, until he met defeat at the hands of the Roman general Scipio Africanus.

“Either we must stop fighting and disband our armies,” Livy has him saying before his Italian invasion, “or pursue our conquests elsewhere.

“By doing the latter, and by seeking plunder and renown from the conquer of other countries, the Spanish peoples will reap the harvest not only of peace but of victory.”

Research presented this week to the Goldschmidt geochemistry conference in Paris shows that, far from becoming enriched, Spain, newly conquered by avenging Romans, ended up losing much of its silver reserves, providing the raw metal for the coinage of Rome’s expanding empire.

A team of geochemists led by Fleur Kemmers and Katrin Westner from Goethe University in Frankfurt analysed 70 Roman coins dating from between 310 and 101 BCE. Roman conquered Spain, and thus acquired control of the country’s silver mines, around 211 BCE.

Using mass spectrometry, the German team showed that the lead content of most Roman coins changed after 209 BCE. Lead isotope concentration serves as a geological clock, identifying the origin or the ores used to extract silver.

Looking at four isotopes – 208Pb, 207Pb, 206Pb and 204Pb – the researchers established that Roman coins made before the Spanish conquest used silver that came from the same sources used by Greek and Sicilians in the same period.

By 211 BCE, however, the isotopes clearly identified the silver sources as being located in either southeast or southwest Spain.

“The defeat of Carthage led to huge reparation payments to Rome, as well as Rome gaining high amounts of booty and ownership of the rich Spanish silver mines,” says Westner.

“From 209 BC we see that the majority of Roman coins show geochemical signatures typical for Iberian silver.”

Defeat, by the way, did not mark the end of Hannibal’s career. He went onto enjoy a stint as a judge in Carthage, before taking up a role as military advisor to Antiochus III, ruler of the Seleucid Empire.

His new job went pear-shaped after the king was roundly defeated by the Romans, but Hannibal, who seems to have been made of Teflon, simply sped away and made a new gig for himself as naval chief in the court of Bithynia.

He was eventually betrayed to Rome by Bithynian double agents, and poisoned himself before he could be captured.

source

https://cosmosmagazine.com

Roman conquest of Spain written in chemistry of ancient coins

Fossilised Ice Age hyena feces sheds new light on ancient human sites in Spain

Researchers have discovered fossilized feces from hyena 'latrines' dating back thousands of years to the Early Pleistocene.

The droppings, also known as coprolites, were found in two archaeological sites in Spain known to have been inhabited by ancient humans.

Analysis of the coprolites revealed they contain bits of bone, plant matter, and fungi, which could help to paint a clearer picture of what the environment may have been like at the time.

The researchers stumbled upon the fossil fecal samples while investigating Gran Dolina and la Mina for signs of ancient human activity.

'We decided to stop our excavation and study the hyena latrines,' Antonio Pineda, a graduate student at The Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution, told National Geographic.

The researchers found accumulations of droppings at both sites, as evidence of regions where the hyenas would once have ventured to relieve themselves.

While it may seem bizarre, they say this strategy is commonly employed by a number of carnivores today.

'Social defecation' is an habitual part of the behaviour of many modern gregarious mammals, in which many individuals deposit their drops in specific areas, named latrines, occasionally forming large accumulations,' the authors wrote in the study, published to the journal Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology.

Analysis of the coprolites revealed they contain bits of bone, plant matter, and fungi, which could help to paint a clearer picture of what the environment may have been like at the time

The researchers stumbled upon the fossil fecal samples while investigating Gran Dolina and la Mina for signs of ancient human activity. The researchers found accumulations of droppings at both sites

According to the researchers, it's 'relatively easy' to trace a fecal sample to hyenas, due to the high concentration of bone in their droppings.

And, the team found the samples were rich in elements derived from bone, including calcium and phosphorus.

They also found that these samples show the latrines were used by hyenas of different ages, based on the varying sizes of the coprolites, National Geographic reports.

According to the researchers, it's 'relatively easy' to trace a fecal sample to hyenas, due to the high concentration of bone in their droppings

The researchers say these types of samples help to shed light on the conditions that existed thousands of years ago, as well as the behaviour of the animals that left them behind.

The analysis suggests one of the latrines was located in an open flood plain, while the other was likely in a cave, according to National Geographic.

'The analytical complexity of the study of coprolites reflects that these elements are, in essence, packages that represent changes in diets and digestive processes of animals that generated the coprolites and various processes of diagenetic alteration,' the authors concluded.

'This complexity underscores the importance of conducting the study of these materials from an integrative perspective, which allows to obtain the maximum information possible relating to defecators and their ethology, the taphonomic history of the assemblages, and the landscape in which they were deposited.' 

Source/Photography/Bibliograpy

http://www.getty.edu

http://www.nationalgeographic.com

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Fossilised Ice Age hyena feces sheds new light on ancient human sites in Spain

The Casa de Pilatos, Spain

The Casa de Pilatos is the quintessential Andalusian palace. Stood in a sunny plaza at the edge of the historic neighbourhood of Santa Cruz, it is famed for its sublime architecture and seductive courtyard gardens, which offer a peaceful refuge from the hot Seville afternoon.

Construction of the palace began in 1483, just nine years before Columbus’s voyage to the Americas. Its incredible beauty and opulence offer a glimpse into the glories of Golden Age Spain when, for hundreds of years, Seville was one of the richest, most important cities in the world.

Arriving at the palace, you first step into a small cobble-stoned courtyard known as the apeadero (the mounting-block), which in bygone days would have echoed to the cries of stable boys and the clatter of horse-drawn carriages. Shady colonnades offer protection from the heat and rain, and a beautiful 100 year old Bougainvillea pours over the wall in a bright, frothing waterfall of magenta.

The heart of the palace is the spectacular main patio, with its paved black and white marble floor and two levels of arcaded galleries. In the corners, classical statues gaze out towards a central fountain which features a sculpture of the two-faced Roman god, Janus.

One of the most enchanting things about the palace is its seamless blend of architectural styles. The marble columns and fountain are pure 16th century Italian Renaissance, but the balustrade is Gothic, and the arches are Mudéjar (Spanish-Islamic), and when you gaze at the walls of the arcade and adjoining rooms, all gorgeously and kaleidoscopically tiled with azulejos, you really couldn’t be anywhere else but Andalucía!

There are said to be around 150 different azulejo designs throughout the palace, one of the largest collections in the world,  all displaying a mesmerising variety of abstract, floral and geometric patterns.

The patio is also decorated with a style of intricate stucco carving, known as yesería, which was first introduced to Spain by the Moors.

The palace has a superb collection of antique statues. Of the four lifesize figures in the main patio, three are from ancient Rome (the goddesses Minerva and Ceres and a dancing muse) and one is from ancient Greece (the goddess Athena, dating from 5th century BC). Their shapely classical forms make a wonderful juxtaposition with the dazzling, lacy patterns of the yesería.

More statues surround the lower gallery. Looking down from the walls of the arcade are twenty five busts of Roman emperors and other illustrious figures from antiquity, plus one 16th century Spanish king – Carlos V – who in his time presided over his own vast, global empire with Seville as its bustling economic hub.

This monograph from 1850 shows how little the patio has changed in over 150 years. The palace clearly had plenty of admirers, even then

A husband and wife from two of Seville’s most distinguished aristocratic families, Pedro Enríquez de Quiñones and Catalina de Ribera, first began work on the palace in 1483. Later generations (in particular their son, Fadrique Enríquez de Ribera, and grandson, Per Afán de Ribera) – gradually made their own additions and refinements.

In 1520, Fadrique, an ardent Italophile, returned from a two-year grand tour of Italy and the Holy Land. Inspired by the new styles of Renaissance art he had encountered, he began hiring skilled Italian artisans and assimilating their work into the palace’s design – the  columns and fountain in the main courtyard, as well as the arch at the main entrance, were all imported from Genoa.

It was from Don Fadrique’s trip that the Casa de Pilatos is said to have acquired its quirky name. On his return from Jerusalem, the story goes, Fadrique arrived in Seville bearing the floor plans of Pontius Pilate’s Praetorium, which were then adopted as the model for the layout of palace.

Over time, rooms have acquired names in honour of this legend. The Praetor’s Room is another example of fine Mudéjar craftsmanship, lavishly adorned with azulejos, with a coffered ceiling carved with Don Fadrique’s ancestral coats of arms.

As you wander around the palace, there seems no end to its artistry and splendour. Each room contains a new, exquisitely rendered detail, such as these wooden marquetry shutters.

Or this ceiling, whose ten-pointed golden stars represent the celestial vault.

And here is the marble staircase that leads to the upper floor of the palace, one of the most admired in Seville.

The palace has two delightful gardens which are among the city’s best kept secrets. Abundant with palms and orange trees, with Spanish Jasmine, wisteria, magnolia, rosebushes, leadwort and bougainvillea, they are worthy of a visit any day of year, but the best time to come is from March to May when the air is full of the heady citrus and floral scents of Seville in the springtime.

As in the palace itself, the attention to detail in the gardens is wonderful – tiny azulejo tiles can be found embedded in the stone walls, and even in the terracotta flooring.

The Jardin Chico (small garden) contains a little rectangular pond surrounded with flowerpots. For centuries this was the reservoir that supplied the palace with freshwater (a luxury afforded to only the most prestigious residences). During the palace’s heydey, water was channelled directly from Seville’s Roman aqueduct, known as Caños de Carmona, which was still in use up until 1912. The pond also features a playful bronze statue of Bacchus.

A 16th century architect from Naples, Benavenuto Tortello, was hired to design the Jardin Grande (large garden). He built beautiful Italian style loggias at either end and an arcaded pavilion down one wing.

The loggias make the transition from interior to exterior seem effortless and organic –  wherever you are in the palace you are never far from an elegant portico or window offering enticing glimpses of the gardens beyond. Architecture and nature work in perfect harmony.

The loggias also display many of the classical statues that the palace has acquired over the centuries.

Also on display are artifacts excavated from the nearby archaeological site of Italica – a long vanished city of Hispania (Roman Spain), birthplace of Emperors Trajan and Hadrian.

These intriguing ancient fragments add a quiet note of melancholy to the overall effect. The white marble contrasts eye-catchingly with the bright ochre paintwork.

Though it maybe overshadowed by the city’s most famed palace – the Alcázar, the Casa de Pilatos is without doubt one of our favourite buildings in Seville.  Its evocative architecture and incredibly lovely gardens make for a joyous visit, and one definitely not to be missed.

The Casa de Pilatos, Spain