this post was submitted on 09 Dec 2024
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Archaeology

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Archaeology or archeology[a] is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscapes.

Archaeology has various goals, which range from understanding culture history to reconstructing past lifeways to documenting and explaining changes in human societies through time.

The discipline involves surveying, excavation, and eventually analysis of data collected, to learn more about the past. In broad scope, archaeology relies on cross-disciplinary research. Read more...

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Mysterious Fossils Suggest Neanderthals Were Capable of Abstract Thought (www.sciencealert.com)
submitted 2 weeks ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to c/archaeology@mander.xyz
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[–] jordanlund@lemmy.world 14 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

Yesterday I learned about Bruniquel Cave in France.

Neanderthals broke off stalagmites and stalactites and used them to create a structure in a cave almost 200,000 years ago.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruniquel_Cave

"The artificial ring structures made of broken stalagmites now have been dated by uranium series dating as 176.5 (±2.1) thousand years old, with 2σ uncertainties (95.5% probability). There are two annular structures, one 6.7 by 4.5 metres (ellipse major/minor axes), and the other 2.2 by 2.1 metres (ellipse major/minor axes), composed of one to four aligned layers of stalagmites, with some small pieces placed inside the layers to support them. Some stalagmites were placed vertically against the rings, possibly as reinforcement. There are also four stacks of stalagmites measuring between 0.55 and 2.60 metres in diameter, two of which were inside the large ring and two outside it. Approximately 400 stalagmite pieces (called "speleofacts" by the researchers) were used in the construction of the structure, with a total length of 112.4 metres and weight of approximately 2.2 tons."

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