Neanderthal Origin of Iberian Cave Art

Pre-lesson - Breaking News English

Look at the picture - what do you think it shows?

Reading

Place these in the right places:

yet
in doing so
makes the case for
as the real artists
made their way to
Until now

More than 65,000 years ago, a Neanderthal reached out and made strokes in red ochre on the wall of a cave, and (1)________, became the first known artist on Earth, scientists claim.

The discovery overturns the widely-held belief that modern humans are the only species to have expressed themselves through works of art.

In caves separated by hundreds of miles, Neanderthals daubed, drew and spat paint on walls producing artworks, the researchers say, tens of thousands of years before modern humans reached the sites.

The finding, described as a “major breakthrough in the field of human evolution” by an expert who was not involved in the research, (2)_________ a radical retelling of the human story, in which the behaviour of modern humans differs from the Neanderthals by the narrowest of margins.

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 Paintings on a section of the La Pasiega cave wall, including a ladder shape composed of red horizontal and vertical lines. Photograph: P. Saura/PA

(3)_______, the evidence for Neanderthal art has been tenuous and hotly contested, often because the works were not old enough to rule out modern humans (4)_________. But the latest findings, based on new dates of symbols, hand stencils and geometric shapes found on cave walls across Spain, make the most convincing case (5)________.

“I think we have the smoking gun,” said Alistair Pike, professor of archaeological sciences at the University of Southampton. “When we got the first date for the art, we were dumbfounded.”

The Neanderthals were already firmly at home in Europe when modern humans left Africa and (6)________ the continent about 40,000 years ago. The remnants of Neanderthals, in the form of skeletons, tools and decorative adornments, reach back more than 120,000 years in the region.

Bold words:

accessories - amazed - remainders - convincing evidence - unconvincing - tracings - reverses
painted - degrees - well established - eliminate


24 terms to understand before listening / watching:

24 terms

Watch:

Neanderthal Origin of Iberian Cave Art


1. When were Neanderthals fossils first discovered?

2. Which ape have they been compared with by some researchers?

3. What is inside the square frames?

4. Why is it impossible to date the paintings by carbon dating?

5. How is calcium carbonate formed?

6. How long has calcite dating been used in geochronology?

7. According to the researchers, when did Homo Sapiens arrive in this region?

8. In which areas of the Iberian peninsula have Neanderthal paintings been found?

9. What does this tell us?

10. The paintings were not made where the Neanderthals actually lived. Why is this significant?



Review

Listen again for these verb phrases and put them in the order you hear them:

was proposed as
done by
focusing on
arrive
portrayed as
represent
form
had to be
shows
making (deliberate decisions)
exists
look at (in terms of)
percolating
precipitate out



Check

was proposed as
portrayed as
represent
form
done by
focusing on
percolating
precipitate out
arrive
had to be
shows
making deliberate decisions
exists
look at (in terms of)







Archeological Discovery in Kakadu

Discuss in groups:

1. How long do you think people have been living in Australia?
2. What kinds of things would archeologists be likely to find when excavating and ancient aboriginal site?
3. Where do human beings (homo sapiens) originally come from?
4. Who should own the ancient artefacts uncovered during the excavation process?

What are the findings?

What do the findings "lay to rest"?

The dating is _____ (adj)
The site is _______ (adj)


What evidence of past activity did the archeologists discover at the site?

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

1. What are the global implications of this discovery?
2. In what sense is the discovery a benchmark?
3. What do the archeologists expect to find between Australia and Africa?
4. Who owns the site and the artefacts?
5. What has happened to the human bones collected?