WOW. Archaeologists have discovered oldest cave art hidden for more than 6,000 years in Tennessee.

[snagglepuss]

Archaeologists have discovered America's oldest cave and rock art that has remained hidden for more than 6,000 years.


The faded images were found in Tennessee's Cumberland Plateau and are believed part of the most widespread collection of such art ever found in the U.S.


Some of the pictures were drawn using shallow lines made with a pointed tool and these show events such as hunting, or depict animals that the Native Americans would have lived with and eaten.


Other images are more elaborate, depicting mythical creatures and representing the Native's spiritual beliefs.



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2343766/American-cave-rock-art-lay-hidden-SIX-THOUSAND-YEARS-offers-unique-remarkable-insight-Native-American-societies-lived-lives.html#ixzz2WaCS62GG
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[FSogol]

1. Cool thanks for posting.

Have you seen Werner Herzog's "Cave of Forgotten Dreams"?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1664894/

[xchrom]

2. Wow. Very cool. Nt

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

3. It was only 4,000 year ago

Because that's when Jesus created the dinosaurs.

This is Tennessee, remember?

[BrotherIvan]

12. ...

[timdog44]

13. I was just telling

my wife about this and said about the same thing. This are had to be drawn before the earth was created. And it is ironic that it is not faa from the creationism museum. Maybe they will find a picture of a man riding a dinosaur and the creationists will have to push back creation a couple thousand years.

[Myrina]

34. +1

"creationists will have to push back creation a couple thousand years"

[TheMadMonk]

56. Don't they buy up artifacts too old for their narative...

...and "disappear" them?

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

66. I've heard that. Don't know if it's true, though (nt)

[Lunacee_2013]

71. I really hope that's not true.

If it is, that's horrible. Great, now I'm gonna spend at least an hour searching for info on that on the googles.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

77. I hadn't heard it either until I watched an episode of "Bones."

Or maybe I was blocking it out. It's sickening.

The curator of the Creationist museum funded James Sutton's explorations, and it was discovered that he bought rare historical artefacts such as fossilized dinosaur eggs and ancient carvings so that he could either lock them away or destroy them, because they conflicted with his religious views.

http://bones.wikia.com/wiki/The_Archeologist_in_the_Cocoon

I need to hit the "googles" as well.

[Lunacee_2013]

80. I searched a little,

but didn't find anything so far, except this story about a kid who is fighting creationism:
http://www.houstonpress.com/2013-02-21/news/zack-kopplin/full/

[Uncle Joe]

59. Well oddly enough there are crosses figured prominently in this prehistoric art.

Rayed circles with crosses inside found on the wall of the Dunbar Cave in Tennessee. According to the study, rayed circles are a 'classic Mississippian icon'. Circles are common in caves, usually shown as sun pictographs

[cleanhippie]

69. Are you implying that anytime two lines intersect, it's a "cross" indicating Christianity?

[Uncle Joe]

76. No I was just making an observation to a post

implying that prehistoric Native Americans believed that Jesus rode on dinosaurs, just because they lived in what is now Tennessee.

[cleanhippie]

79. Ahh, got it.

[Kennah]

81. There is a whole lot to crosses that predates Christianity

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross

The swastika dates back to the Bronze Age--long before the rise of Hitler's Tea Party.

[Baitball Blogger]

4. Was that graffitti scratched over one of the drawings?

[LuvNewcastle]

30. I wondered the same thing.

It looked like someone took his pocket knife or maybe a key and scratched letters across the image. I'm surprised there wasn't more of that, really. That area is a popular destination for camping and sightseeing for people all over the Eastern U.S. Millions of people live within a day's drive of that area, so those caves must be hidden very well or they would've been found long ago.

On Edit: That place isn't where I thought it was, so tourists aren't as common there as in other parts of eastern TN. I thought it was closer to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, but it appears to be a good distance from there.

[jazzimov]

57. Dunbar Cave used to be a very popular site,

in Northern Middle TN. It's actually quite close to Ft. Campbell. Currently, all caves in TN are closed to the public because of White-Nose fungal disease that is running rampant among the bats here.

The article also mentioned Mound Bottoms in Cheatham County. I actually live in Cheatham County which borders the west of Metro Nashville/Davidson County. I have been on a tour of Mound Bottoms, which used to be a Mississippian Native American village. Our guide has us go to the top of the Main Mound a few at a time in complete silence, until he joined us. I tend to be Agnostic, but I cannot deny what I felt on top of that mound. When our guide joined us, he asked us what we felt. All of us felt the same thing - a feeling of cleansing. I can only describe it as "magical".

The tour also included a short climb to the top of the bluff across from Mound Bottoms, which I have climbed before. But he showed us more Native American artwork that actually pointed across the street to Mound Bottoms - which I had never noticed before. It also included two instances of "flying 7's". They look like big red 7's. The odd thing about them is that they are on the side of steep bluffs that people have tried to rappel to and were unsuccessful. No one knows who did them, or how.

The Cumberland Plateau is actually about halfway between Nashville and Knoxville. I go camping in the Plateau almost every year, and still haven't been to half of the public access spots. It's truly beautiful!

[LuvNewcastle]

62. Sounds wonderful!

I'm going to make it up there one of these days, maybe spend a long weekend there. I don't go on a lot of trips, but that's not too far away, so travel time wouldn't be that bad.

[jpak]

74. The one above looks like "Wyatt" and "1847" below it

n/t

[Poll_Blind]

5. Wow, the full article is awesome! Well worth the read! nt

PB

[reflection]

6. Shhh. That qualifies as art here in TN

and our supermajority Republican legislature may now cut funding to it and actively seek to destroy it.

[HardTimes99]

14. Laughing (but only to keep from screaming) - nt

[Shrike47]

7. I think the 2nd pictograph is a T Rex holding a person's head and upper torso.

This proves creationists are right, man and dinosaur co-existed.

[redwitch]

24. Coexistence can be so challenging!

The Flintstones made it look too easy.

[Downwinder]

8. Going to put Tennessee in a bind.

How do you promote a tourist attraction that predates creation?

[antigone382]

41. Tourism boards in Tennessee promote its natural areas--and science education--a-plenty.

There may well be a lot of wackos in this state and they may be in charge at the moment, but there are also tons of people who recognize our extraordinary natural resources and the natural history which goes along with it. People here are very proud of the landscape, in my experience.

[sinkingfeeling]

9. So, these were all done by Adam? He's the only one around 6,000

years ago (according to some).

[Fawke Em]

10. The fundies here in Tennessee probably will just say

God painted it to look like it was drawn before He created mankind to test our faith.



However, I do live near there. I'm sure the caves are not open to the public just yet, but I would love to see the paintings.

[Go Vols]

15. I live on the Plateau

and read the article thinking it may be close to me,but saw no mention of what town it was close to.

[bettyellen]

17. Clarksville and Ruby Bluff are mentioned- but it says there are sixty spread out.

[Go Vols]

20. Clarksville is around 100

miles from the Cumberland Plateau,not sure where Ruby Bluff is.But there are plenty of caves around here,some with writings/carvings.

[Fawke Em]

82. I live in Knoxville.

I can't be more than an hour or so away. Even two hours.

It's not that far.

Either way, it's far more interesting than spending 10 hours on the road to some lame tourist beach.

[Cleita]

33. Maybe the archaeologists want to keep the location secret so

vandals don't go there to destroy them.

[Go Vols]

36. That's what I was thinking.

[blackspade]

54. As an archaeologist, you are exactly correct.

We do not share the locations of unprotected sites especially ones like this.

[Fawke Em]

83. Right. That's why I said I'm sure they're not open to

the public.

I'd still like to see them.

[LuvNewcastle]

31. I can drive up there in a day so when they get

those caves open, I'm going to go up and take a look myself.

[RebelOne]

47. Me too. I'm in North Georgia and drive up to Gatlinburg at least once a year.

So I guess that I will visit when the caves are open to the public.

[ctsnowman]

11. Thanks for the post.

[madokie]

16. Thanks

Interesting to say the least.

[tarheelsunc]

18. I wonder how many people will think the colonists did this... eom

[Kablooie]

60. Many Tenneseeans will think Adam and Eve must have painted them.

Since they were made about the same time that God created earth.

[evilhime]

19. Fascinating

I wonder how close this is to the Museum of Creation in Kentucky . . . <chuckling>

[Are_grits_groceries]

21. This is where the RWNJs live. nt

[closeupready]

22. Likely, they will destroy it, since it contradicts their sacred myths.

[Buns_of_Fire]

23. Hmmph. It's all heathen pornography. Can't they SEE that?

I mean, that one's a _____, that one's a _____, and that one's OBVIOUSLY a ______! Who are they trying to kid?

Well, okay, there was a butterfly, and one guy who looked like he was being tortured on the rack, and one of a zombie eating a head-on-a-stick, but the rest was pure caveman pron. How DARE they!

[malaise]

25. Wait - no fugging dinosaurs?

Those Tennessee Fundies cannot be happy

Magnificent - Rec

[corkhead]

55. this one was hidden behind some guano stalagtites:

[ashling]

26. Pretty good at math, too

This one shows Pi and long division

[asjr]

27. Aha! Paint by Number

[HomerRamone]

28. Is this it?

[MisterP]

29. an offshoot of Xinaián, eh?

[1ProudAtheist]

32. 6000 Years You Say.............

Last edited Tue Jun 18, 2013, 03:25 PM - Edit history (1)

I wonder what the flatheads will have to say about this. Their big book of lies says that jeeebuss's padre didn't wave his magic wand until 5000 years ago. Somebody has been sold a bag of magic beans...............beans that don't add up to squat.

[Flying Squirrel]

38. They'll say,

"Were you there?

Their talking points are well-prepared. They already dispute scientific proof of the age of the planet, why would they have a problem disputing this?

[Hissyspit]

35. I'm not saying it was aliens, but...

it was aliens.

[Coccydynia]

37. Well, since it is older than 6000 years

And since Tennesseans know that can't be true, I believe this art is present day.

[blackspade]

39. What an awesome find.

[Auntie Bush]

40. I must say those cavemen weren't very good artists.

They seem to draw like typical 3-4 year olds.

Thanks for the great article which contained pictures of the most cave drawings I've ever seen.

[tclambert]

43. Maybe it was 3 year olds. And their mom said, "You better clean up that mess!"

Then the kids said, "Ma-a-a! Okay already, we'll get around to it . . . sometime." But did they clean it up? NO-O.

[snagglepuss]

84. If you haven't seen cave paintings and want to be BLOWN away by artistry that equals DaVinci

rent or buy the multi award winning rivetting 3D documentary Cave of Forgotten Dreams. These cave paintings in France are 32,000 years old! Here's a link a link to one of the paintings a below that link to the trailer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Chauvethorses.jpg



http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1664894/

[Auntie Bush]

85. I guess they did have some good artists.

Just like today and always...some people can't draw and some are fabulous artists.
Thanks for the links.

[denem]

42. 6,000 is the oldest? Not even close - 35,000 years old found in Australia

King Edward River, Kimberly, West Australia.

[Motown_Johnny]

45. The Oldest... In America

[Kennah]

50. In Redneckistan or Biblevania, yes. Not in the real America.

[mountain grammy]

67. very funny, will have to remember those.

Redneckistan!! But isn't that the REAL America?

[onehandle]

64. Now, they've declared the oldest in Spain. 40,000 years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_of_El_Castillo

[Vinnie From Indy]

44. The NSA has had copies of those paintings for years

meh!

[ajk2821]

46. It translates to:

Fire Fulmer....

[Treant]

73. Are you sure?

I'm translating it as "Occupy Cave"

[spooky3]

48. Very, very cool.

I hope they can develop the site for visitors without risking the art.

[Jamastiene]

49. Ruh Roh

That won't go well in the Bible Belt AT ALL. I foresee numerous web sites springing up "debunking" the actual age of the art. I wonder how many years they will shave off to make it less than 6000. Or will they make it 6000 exactly to lay even more claim that God made the south first.

[Kennah]

51. The cave art in El Castillo causes even more denial, of Biblical proportions

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/06/120614-neanderthal-cave-paintings-spain-science-pike/

[The Straight Story]

52. We have our best guy on it now:

[Hekate]

53. Marvelous! One appears to show a comet -- it's described as a "rayed circle"

... and identified as the Sun, but I note it has a tail outside and a swastika-like design inside. The ancient swastika crosses a lot of cultures and depicts the Sun, but also motion, so the first thing I thought of was "moving Sun with a tail = comet."

I have to go back and read the article in full, but on first scan I have to say the photos are wonderful.

[Uncle Joe]

61. That's a cross, not a swastika but I agree, the pictures are wonderful. n/t

[Hekate]

63. The one on the left is a cross, another ancient symbol that shows up everywhere

The one on the right is kind of swirly and curvy, not rigid.

It's really a shame that it was so defaced by some yahoo or yahoos scratching over it.

[cleanhippie]

70. A cross, of the Christian variety?

[Uncle Joe]

75. I don't know, you would need to ask them?

Maybe they were Jewish?

[cleanhippie]

78. Two intersecting lines a cross do not make.

Not in the sense of a judeo-christian religious symbol, it doesn't.

[dembotoz]

58. republicans claim ideas written in caves too modern for their platform

[mopinko]

65. we need more atheist anthropologists is all i gotta say.

you don't have to have religion to paint birds at the top of the wall and scorpions on the bottom.
sheesh.

[CountAllVotes]

68. Let's hope that vandals stay away

Vandals love this kind of thing; them and their graffiti that is.

It is too bad they did not try to keep this a secret for it will attract vandals a plenty to ruin what is left, that much you can guarantee!

[toby jo]

72. More naturally transcendant on our first footprints...

[duuser5822]

86. Whoa, what a truly incredible find

I wonder what the creationist fundie types will say about this?