Researchers Uncover Details of a 58,000-Year-Old Art Studio

Now radiometric data garnered from excavated samples have offered researchers the clues necessary to piece together the chronology of the cavernous “art studio.” In 2011, a Spanish-German research team began excavating works of art from the cave’s entrance, where a majority of the studio’s non-figurative red paintings were found. By 2018 they had 50 samples on which to perform accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dating, a modern radiocarbon dating method known to most efficiently measure an artifact’s half-life.

The results of the AMS procedures revealed that Cueva de Ardales was occupied sporadically, resulting in artistic contribution from humans across two separate points in history. The 58,000-year-old cave was first enjoyed by Neanderthals during the Middle Paleolithic era, when the use of fire by early humans was finally becoming common. “Anatomically modern” humans then rediscovered the cave during the Neolithic period, when humans first began taking up farming. The archaologists, whose research was published this week in the journal PLoS One, emphasize that the cave was not used as a campsite, but rather “visited to carry out non-domestic tasks, such as the production of rock art or the burial of the dead.”

While those non-figurative paintings were found toward the cave’s entrance, paintings depicting humans and animals were found deeper inside, where natural light wouldn’t have illuminated the artists’ stone canvases. The humans responsible for these works appear to have used some of the cave’s stalagmites as stationary lamps, according to charcoal caps found on some of the stalagmites deep within the cave.

The archaeologists estimate that there’s more art to be discovered, thanks to parts of the cave left completely untouched by explorers over the last several hundred years.

Continue reading

New Study Suggests Dark Matter Doesn’t Exist

Most scientists currently believe the iron grip of gravity is augmented by dark matter, an invisible material that makes up about 85 percent of the universe. A new study makes the case for an alternative model, one in which dark matter doesn't exist and gravity works a little differently than we thought.

Google Shuts Down Stadia Games Studio, Plans to License Tech

Google says this is just part of a larger strategy to strengthen its Stadia partnerships, but this feels like the beginning of the end for Google's game streaming platform.

Scientists Can Finally Study Einsteinium 69 Years After Its Discovery

In the remnants of atomic explosions, scientists found never-before-seen elements like einsteinium. Now, almost 70 years after its discovery, scientists have collected enough einsteinium to conduct some basic analysis.

Planet Nine Hypothesis Takes a Major Hit in New Study

It used to be easy to know how many planets there were: nine. It had been nine planets for an entire generation before scientists started rethinking what counts as a planet. Pluto is out, but some astronomers believe there's a real ninth planet lurking out there. Others aren't convinced, and the debate is starting to shift in favor of the planet nine skeptics.