Recently there were a couple of threads about the cave paintings and some new scientific discoveries about what that area might have held for
travelers/painters to 7,500 years BPE. That’s the oldest age dated paint pigment reading.
Just watched a History channel TV program about the Milankovich cycles of the earth, the wobble it has every 21,000 years. While this episodic warming
of land and water in the tropics was turning the Sahara desert into wetlands that became mega lakes rivaling the U.S. Great Lakes, it was also
changing the climate in the San Francisco and Gigante mountains in drastic fashion.
North Africa, about the same latitude as Baja California was able to be occupied for long periods of time by people who could make quite a living on
and around the lakes and rivers – hippos and gazelles and enough fish, reptiles and birds lasted until the cycle was complete. The wobble, the tilt
brought rains to Baja, changed the radiation and evaporation rates, molded the land into something now hard to imagine; pines and ferns and meadows
dotted with streams and lakes might have lured early travelers away from the sea and gulf.
Once the scientific community grasps the enormity of information waiting there at the caves, once they have the resources to go way beyond the
guessing stage we can follow the groups and clans as they traveled, stopped and enlarged this enduring treasure.
Until I learn more I’ll still hold to the idea that the painters were hundreds of groups of pilgrims over thousands of years, just passing through –
modern Mexicans struggle to hold on to the mountains now and I just can’t imagine a long term occupation even if there were meadows full of sandia and
conejos.
This wobble change bolsters my belief that many of the painters came here by sea – abundant fresh water and all that it brings with it would certainly
draw more pilgrims than today’s conditions in a very inhospitable environment. Sea creatures in the paintings outnumber all other figures something
like 8 to 1 for example.Skipjack Joe - 8-29-2011 at 03:12 PM
I ran into some really fine paintings this summer that I've been holding on to. Hopefully this thread will motivate me to share my images. To my
untrained eye they seem to be spiritual in nature.danaeb - 8-29-2011 at 03:42 PM
Please share.
Has anyone seen the Werner Herzog documentary "Cave of Forgotten Dreams" about the Chauvet cave in Southern France? I'm waiting for it on Netflix.
I saw the Lascaux cave paintings a few years ago and agree about the experience being spiritual. The way the painters used the contours of the rock to
depict the animals was truly beautiful.Paula - 8-29-2011 at 04:00 PM
SJ, I would love to see your cave pictures. Please please pretty please post them!redhilltown - 8-29-2011 at 04:55 PM
And we all agree no GPS cords... right!!!!!???????Skipjack Joe - 8-29-2011 at 05:18 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by redhilltown
And we all agree no GPS cords... right!!!!!???????
On that one you have my full agreement.chrisx - 8-29-2011 at 05:57 PM
The last time I found a millenniums old fire ring, I showed it to some professional archaeologists. They dug it up and took it away. Now its gone.
where¿ Someones back yard¿
last year whene I found some uncharted cave paintings, i told no one the address.
The earth may have a 26,000 year wobble. Like a gyroscope spinning with a slight wobble, the earth spins with a slight wobble. Very difficult to
measure, make your best guess. It is only a degree or 2. That is enough to cause an ice age.Osprey - 8-29-2011 at 06:05 PM
Okay Chris, how much is enough to cause an ice age? And what the hell does that have to do with the Baja Cave paintings? And why are you cluttering up
our chat space?Marc - 8-29-2011 at 06:51 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by Osprey
Okay Chris, how much is enough to cause an ice age? And what the hell does that have to do with the Baja Cave paintings? And why are you cluttering up
our chat space?
I think you brought it up.CP - 8-29-2011 at 07:59 PM
Osprey,
C'mon, don't bite the chrisx bait. This started out a nice and interesting string. Please keep it going.Osprey - 8-30-2011 at 05:59 AM
Marc, I didn't bring it up. Nothing in my post about ice. I live smack on the Tropic of Cancer. The post is about the cave painting not far from me in
Baja Sur. The whole discussion is about past climates in the tropics. Nothing about ice.
