texascavers Digest 20 Apr 2011 13:55:07 -0000 Issue 1292
Topics (messages 17620 through 17625):
Re: NSS Directors Election Deadline Nearing
17620 by: Joe Ranzau
Bear DNA is clue to age of Chauvet cave art :
17621 by: JerryAtkin.aol.com
17623 by: Geary Schindel
17624 by: Geary Schindel
17625 by: Stefan Creaser
UT Grotto Meeting TONIGHT - Wed 4/20
17622 by: Gary Franklin
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--- Begin Message ---
There is a fellow Texan running for the BOG! John Moses out of El paso by way
of Houston.
Joe
On Apr 17, 2011, at 6:34 PM, R D Milhollin <[email protected]> wrote:
> The deadline for mailing your ballot for the NSS Director Election is
> nearing. Ballots must be postmarked by **May 1st.** If you haven't voted yet,
> go find that ballot that is buried on your desk or in a pile of stuff-to-do
> and mail it in. Your vote matters.
>
> Sincerely,
> Allan Weberg
> NSS Nominating Committee Chairman
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> Visit our website: http://texascavers.com
> To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected]
> For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected]
>
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
Bear DNA is clue to age of Chauvet cave art
19 April 2011 by _Michael Marshall_
(http://www.newscientist.com/search?rbauthors=Michael+Marshall)
EXPLORING a gorge in south-east France in 1994 for prehistoric artefacts,
Jean-Marie Chauvet hit the jackpot. After squeezing through a narrow
passage, he found himself in a _hidden cavern_
(http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg14519621.400-cave-art-work-of-great-talent.html)
, the walls of which
were _covered with paintings of animals_
(http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg14519621.400-cave-art-work-of-great-talent.html)
.
But dating the beautiful images - which featured in Werner Herzog's recent
documentary film _Cave of Forgotten Dreams_
(http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/culturelab/2011/03/ancient-paintings-unlocked-from-history.html)
- has
led to an _ugly spat_
(http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn3631-doubt-cast-on-age-of-oldest-human-art.html)
between archaeologists. Could the bones
of cave bears settle the debate?
_Within a year_
(http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg15020281.000-passions-run-high-over-french-cave-art.html)
of Chauvet's discovery, _radiocarbon
dating_
(http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg14619820.400-ancient-masters-put-painting-in-perspective.html)
suggested the images were between 30,000
and 32,000 years old, making them almost twice the age of the famous
_Lascaux cave art_ (http://www.lascaux.culture.fr/?lng=en#/en/00.xml) in
south-west France (see map). The result "polarised the archaeological world",
says
Andrew Lawson, a freelance archaeologist based in Salisbury, UK.
Lawson accepts the radiocarbon findings. "Nowhere else in western Europe
do we know of sophisticated art this early," he says. But _Paul Pettitt_
(http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/archaeology/staff/pettitt.html) of the University
of Sheffield, UK, is adamant that the paintings cannot be that old. The
dating study doesn't stand up, he claims, insisting that the paintings'
advanced style is enough to mark them as recent. To suggest otherwise, he
says,
would be like claiming to have found "a Renaissance painting in a Roman
villa".
Despite a comprehensive radiocarbon study published in 2001 that seemed to
confirm that the paintings were indeed 30,000 years old (Nature, _DOI:
10.1038/35097160_ (http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/35097160) ), Pettitt and his
colleagues were unconvinced. Two years later they argued that the cave walls
were still chemically active, so the radiocarbon dating could have been thrown
out by changes over the millennia to the pigments used to create the
paintings (Antiquity, vol 77, p 134).
To try to settle the controversy, Jean-Marc Elalouf of the Institute of
Biology and Technology in Saclay, France, and his team have turned to the
remains of cave bears. Along with mammoths and other huge mammals, cave bears
(Ursus spelaeus) dominated the European landscape until the end of the last
ice age.
The Chauvet cave contains several depictions of cave bears, and Elalouf
argues that these must have been painted while the bears still thrived in the
area. To pin down when the bears disappeared, his team collected 38
samples of cave bear remains in the Chauvet cave and
(http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn7462-dna-of-ancient-bears-successfully-sequenced.html)
.
They found that almost all the samples were genetically similar,
suggesting the cave bear population was small, isolated and therefore
vulnerable.
Radiocarbon dating showed the samples were all between 37,000 and 29,000
years old, hinting that by the end of that period they were extinct, at least
locally. Samples from a nearby cave, Deux-Ouvertures, gave similar results
(Journal of Archaeological Science, _DOI: 10.1016/j.jas.2011.03.033_
(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WH8-52HS637-2&_user=88627
79&_coverDate=04/02/2011&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=gateway&_origin=gateway&_so
rt=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_acct=C000000593&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=88
62779&md5=fb69e1ba22fe4c584a43fff8cc7404de&searchtype=a) ).
Given the age of the cave bear remains, "it is clear that the paintings
are very ancient", says Elalouf. _Michael Knapp_
(http://anatomy.otago.ac.nz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=544&Itemid=46)
of the University
of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand, who also studies cave bears, says he has
no doubts about the DNA analysis.
While we do not know exactly _when cave bears became extinct_
(http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1502-3885.2008.00071.x) , all reliably dated
remains in
Europe are at least 24,000 years old, says _Martina Pacher_
(http://www.oeaw.ac.at/kfq/pacheren.html) of the Commission of Quaternary
Research in Vienna,
Austria. "So the results at Chauvet are not surprising, and I agree with
their conclusions," she says.
"We now have an independent line of evidence that the bears [in Chauvet]
date to before 29,000 years ago," Lawson says. "That bolsters the case for
an early date."
Pettitt remains unconvinced, calling the new research "sloppy". He says
that the team is trying to extrapolate the regional spread of the bears over
time by relying on evidence from just two caves.
Pettitt also questions whether the paintings show cave bears at all: brown
bears lived in the area long after the cave bears were gone. But Elalouf
says the two species can be distinguished by skull shape, and that the
paintings definitely show cave bears.
_http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21028093.900-bear-dna-is-clue-to-age-
of-chauvet-cave-art.html_
(http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21028093.900-bear-dna-is-clue-to-age-of-chauvet-cave-art.html)
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
On NPR's Fresh Air program, to air today in San Antonio at 11 am, Werner Herzog
will be interviewed about his new film and about the Cave of Forgotten Dreams.
I wonder if this is the same Warner Herzog who is/was the famous mountain
climber.
Geary
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, April 19, 2011 11:19 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [Texascavers] Bear DNA is clue to age of Chauvet cave art :
Bear DNA is clue to age of Chauvet cave art
19 April 2011 by Michael
Marshall<http://www.newscientist.com/search?rbauthors=Michael+Marshall>
EXPLORING a gorge in south-east France in 1994 for prehistoric artefacts,
Jean-Marie Chauvet hit the jackpot. After squeezing through a narrow passage,
he found himself in a hidden
cavern<http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg14519621.400-cave-art-work-of-great-talent.html>,
the walls of which were covered with paintings of
animals<http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg14519621.400-cave-art-work-of-great-talent.html>.
But dating the beautiful images - which featured in Werner Herzog's recent
documentary film Cave of Forgotten
Dreams<http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/culturelab/2011/03/ancient-paintings-unlocked-from-history.html>
- has led to an ugly
spat<http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn3631-doubt-cast-on-age-of-oldest-human-art.html>
between archaeologists. Could the bones of cave bears settle the debate?
Within a
year<http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg15020281.000-passions-run-high-over-french-cave-art.html>
of Chauvet's discovery, radiocarbon
dating<http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg14619820.400-ancient-masters-put-painting-in-perspective.html>
suggested the images were between 30,000 and 32,000 years old, making them
almost twice the age of the famous Lascaux cave
art<http://www.lascaux.culture.fr/?lng=en#/en/00.xml> in south-west France (see
map). The result "polarised the archaeological world", says Andrew Lawson, a
freelance archaeologist based in Salisbury, UK.
Lawson accepts the radiocarbon findings. "Nowhere else in western Europe do we
know of sophisticated art this early," he says. But Paul
Pettitt<http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/archaeology/staff/pettitt.html> of the
University of Sheffield, UK, is adamant that the paintings cannot be that old.
The dating study doesn't stand up, he claims, insisting that the paintings'
advanced style is enough to mark them as recent. To suggest otherwise, he says,
would be like claiming to have found "a Renaissance painting in a Roman villa".
Despite a comprehensive radiocarbon study published in 2001 that seemed to
confirm that the paintings were indeed 30,000 years old (Nature, DOI:
10.1038/35097160<http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/35097160>), Pettitt and his
colleagues were unconvinced. Two years later they argued that the cave walls
were still chemically active, so the radiocarbon dating could have been thrown
out by changes over the millennia to the pigments used to create the paintings
(Antiquity, vol 77, p 134).
To try to settle the controversy, Jean-Marc Elalouf of the Institute of Biology
and Technology in Saclay, France, and his team have turned to the remains of
cave bears. Along with mammoths and other huge mammals, cave bears (Ursus
spelaeus) dominated the European landscape until the end of the last ice age.
The Chauvet cave contains several depictions of cave bears, and Elalouf argues
that these must have been painted while the bears still thrived in the area. To
pin down when the bears disappeared, his team collected 38 samples of cave bear
remains in the Chauvet cave and .
They found that almost all the samples were genetically similar, suggesting the
cave bear population was small, isolated and therefore vulnerable. Radiocarbon
dating showed the samples were all between 37,000 and 29,000 years old, hinting
that by the end of that period they were extinct, at least locally. Samples
from a nearby cave, Deux-Ouvertures, gave similar results (Journal of
Archaeological Science, DOI:
10.1016/j.jas.2011.03.033<http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WH8-52HS637-2&_user=8862779&_coverDate=04%2F02%2F2011&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=gateway&_origin=gateway&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_acct=C000000593&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=8862779&md5=fb69e1ba22fe4c584a43fff8cc7404de&searchtype=a>).
Given the age of the cave bear remains, "it is clear that the paintings are
very ancient", says Elalouf. Michael
Knapp<http://anatomy.otago.ac.nz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=544&Itemid=46>
of the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand, who also studies cave
bears, says he has no doubts about the DNA analysis.
While we do not know exactly when cave bears became
extinct<http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1502-3885.2008.00071.x>, all reliably dated
remains in Europe are at least 24,000 years old, says Martina
Pacher<http://www.oeaw.ac.at/kfq/pacheren.html> of the Commission of Quaternary
Research in Vienna, Austria. "So the results at Chauvet are not surprising, and
I agree with their conclusions," she says.
"We now have an independent line of evidence that the bears [in Chauvet] date
to before 29,000 years ago," Lawson says. "That bolsters the case for an early
date."
Pettitt remains unconvinced, calling the new research "sloppy". He says that
the team is trying to extrapolate the regional spread of the bears over time by
relying on evidence from just two caves.
Pettitt also questions whether the paintings show cave bears at all: brown
bears lived in the area long after the cave bears were gone. But Elalouf says
the two species can be distinguished by skull shape, and that the paintings
definitely show cave bears.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21028093.900-bear-dna-is-clue-to-age-of-chauvet-cave-art.html
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
Sorry,
It was Maurice Herzog who climbed Annapurna, the first summit over 8,000 meters
to be climbed and the 10th highest mountain in the world. He climbed it in
1950 along with a couple of other folks including a Frenchman named Gaston
Rebuffat pronounced Gastly Rabittfat in Texan.
Geary
From: Geary Schindel [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Wednesday, April 20, 2011 7:50 AM
To: [email protected]; [email protected]
Subject: RE: [Texascavers] Bear DNA is clue to age of Chauvet cave art :
On NPR's Fresh Air program, to air today in San Antonio at 11 am, Werner Herzog
will be interviewed about his new film and about the Cave of Forgotten Dreams.
I wonder if this is the same Warner Herzog who is/was the famous mountain
climber.
Geary
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, April 19, 2011 11:19 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [Texascavers] Bear DNA is clue to age of Chauvet cave art :
Bear DNA is clue to age of Chauvet cave art
19 April 2011 by Michael
Marshall<http://www.newscientist.com/search?rbauthors=Michael+Marshall>
EXPLORING a gorge in south-east France in 1994 for prehistoric artefacts,
Jean-Marie Chauvet hit the jackpot. After squeezing through a narrow passage,
he found himself in a hidden
cavern<http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg14519621.400-cave-art-work-of-great-talent.html>,
the walls of which were covered with paintings of
animals<http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg14519621.400-cave-art-work-of-great-talent.html>.
But dating the beautiful images - which featured in Werner Herzog's recent
documentary film Cave of Forgotten
Dreams<http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/culturelab/2011/03/ancient-paintings-unlocked-from-history.html>
- has led to an ugly
spat<http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn3631-doubt-cast-on-age-of-oldest-human-art.html>
between archaeologists. Could the bones of cave bears settle the debate?
Within a
year<http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg15020281.000-passions-run-high-over-french-cave-art.html>
of Chauvet's discovery, radiocarbon
dating<http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg14619820.400-ancient-masters-put-painting-in-perspective.html>
suggested the images were between 30,000 and 32,000 years old, making them
almost twice the age of the famous Lascaux cave
art<http://www.lascaux.culture.fr/?lng=en#/en/00.xml> in south-west France (see
map). The result "polarised the archaeological world", says Andrew Lawson, a
freelance archaeologist based in Salisbury, UK.
Lawson accepts the radiocarbon findings. "Nowhere else in western Europe do we
know of sophisticated art this early," he says. But Paul
Pettitt<http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/archaeology/staff/pettitt.html> of the
University of Sheffield, UK, is adamant that the paintings cannot be that old.
The dating study doesn't stand up, he claims, insisting that the paintings'
advanced style is enough to mark them as recent. To suggest otherwise, he says,
would be like claiming to have found "a Renaissance painting in a Roman villa".
Despite a comprehensive radiocarbon study published in 2001 that seemed to
confirm that the paintings were indeed 30,000 years old (Nature, DOI:
10.1038/35097160<http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/35097160>), Pettitt and his
colleagues were unconvinced. Two years later they argued that the cave walls
were still chemically active, so the radiocarbon dating could have been thrown
out by changes over the millennia to the pigments used to create the paintings
(Antiquity, vol 77, p 134).
To try to settle the controversy, Jean-Marc Elalouf of the Institute of Biology
and Technology in Saclay, France, and his team have turned to the remains of
cave bears. Along with mammoths and other huge mammals, cave bears (Ursus
spelaeus) dominated the European landscape until the end of the last ice age.
The Chauvet cave contains several depictions of cave bears, and Elalouf argues
that these must have been painted while the bears still thrived in the area. To
pin down when the bears disappeared, his team collected 38 samples of cave bear
remains in the Chauvet cave and .
They found that almost all the samples were genetically similar, suggesting the
cave bear population was small, isolated and therefore vulnerable. Radiocarbon
dating showed the samples were all between 37,000 and 29,000 years old, hinting
that by the end of that period they were extinct, at least locally. Samples
from a nearby cave, Deux-Ouvertures, gave similar results (Journal of
Archaeological Science, DOI:
10.1016/j.jas.2011.03.033<http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WH8-52HS637-2&_user=8862779&_coverDate=04%2F02%2F2011&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=gateway&_origin=gateway&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_acct=C000000593&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=8862779&md5=fb69e1ba22fe4c584a43fff8cc7404de&searchtype=a>).
Given the age of the cave bear remains, "it is clear that the paintings are
very ancient", says Elalouf. Michael
Knapp<http://anatomy.otago.ac.nz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=544&Itemid=46>
of the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand, who also studies cave
bears, says he has no doubts about the DNA analysis.
While we do not know exactly when cave bears became
extinct<http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1502-3885.2008.00071.x>, all reliably dated
remains in Europe are at least 24,000 years old, says Martina
Pacher<http://www.oeaw.ac.at/kfq/pacheren.html> of the Commission of Quaternary
Research in Vienna, Austria. "So the results at Chauvet are not surprising, and
I agree with their conclusions," she says.
"We now have an independent line of evidence that the bears [in Chauvet] date
to before 29,000 years ago," Lawson says. "That bolsters the case for an early
date."
Pettitt remains unconvinced, calling the new research "sloppy". He says that
the team is trying to extrapolate the regional spread of the bears over time by
relying on evidence from just two caves.
Pettitt also questions whether the paintings show cave bears at all: brown
bears lived in the area long after the cave bears were gone. But Elalouf says
the two species can be distinguished by skull shape, and that the paintings
definitely show cave bears.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21028093.900-bear-dna-is-clue-to-age-of-chauvet-cave-art.html
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
The book Herzog wrote about that expedition, Annapurna, is a must-read for any
explorer.
Stefan
Sent from my iPad
On Apr 20, 2011, at 8:58 AM, "Geary Schindel"
<[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
Sorry,
It was Maurice Herzog who climbed Annapurna, the first summit over 8,000 meters
to be climbed and the 10th highest mountain in the world. He climbed it in
1950 along with a couple of other folks including a Frenchman named Gaston
Rebuffat pronounced Gastly Rabittfat in Texan.
Geary
From: Geary Schindel [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Wednesday, April 20, 2011 7:50 AM
To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>;
<mailto:[email protected]>
[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>
Subject: RE: [Texascavers] Bear DNA is clue to age of Chauvet cave art :
On NPR’s Fresh Air program, to air today in San Antonio at 11 am, Werner Herzog
will be interviewed about his new film and about the Cave of Forgotten Dreams.
I wonder if this is the same Warner Herzog who is/was the famous mountain
climber.
Geary
From: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, April 19, 2011 11:19 PM
To: <mailto:[email protected]>
[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>
Subject: [Texascavers] Bear DNA is clue to age of Chauvet cave art :
Bear DNA is clue to age of Chauvet cave art
19 April 2011 by Michael
Marshall<http://www.newscientist.com/search?rbauthors=Michael+Marshall>
EXPLORING a gorge in south-east France in 1994 for prehistoric artefacts,
Jean-Marie Chauvet hit the jackpot. After squeezing through a narrow passage,
he found himself in a hidden
cavern<http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg14519621.400-cave-art-work-of-great-talent.html>,
the walls of which were covered with paintings of
animals<http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg14519621.400-cave-art-work-of-great-talent.html>.
But dating the beautiful images - which featured in Werner Herzog's recent
documentary film Cave of Forgotten
Dreams<http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/culturelab/2011/03/ancient-paintings-unlocked-from-history.html>
- has led to an ugly
spat<http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn3631-doubt-cast-on-age-of-oldest-human-art.html>
between archaeologists. Could the bones of cave bears settle the debate?
Within a
year<http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg15020281.000-passions-run-high-over-french-cave-art.html>
of Chauvet's discovery, radiocarbon
dating<http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg14619820.400-ancient-masters-put-painting-in-perspective.html>
suggested the images were between 30,000 and 32,000 years old, making them
almost twice the age of the famous Lascaux cave
art<http://www.lascaux.culture.fr/?lng=en#/en/00.xml> in south-west France (see
map). The result "polarised the archaeological world", says Andrew Lawson, a
freelance archaeologist based in Salisbury, UK.
Lawson accepts the radiocarbon findings. "Nowhere else in western Europe do we
know of sophisticated art this early," he says. But Paul
Pettitt<http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/archaeology/staff/pettitt.html> of the
University of Sheffield, UK, is adamant that the paintings cannot be that old.
The dating study doesn't stand up, he claims, insisting that the paintings'
advanced style is enough to mark them as recent. To suggest otherwise, he says,
would be like claiming to have found "a Renaissance painting in a Roman villa".
Despite a comprehensive radiocarbon study published in 2001 that seemed to
confirm that the paintings were indeed 30,000 years old (Nature, DOI:
10.1038/35097160<http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/35097160>), Pettitt and his
colleagues were unconvinced. Two years later they argued that the cave walls
were still chemically active, so the radiocarbon dating could have been thrown
out by changes over the millennia to the pigments used to create the paintings
(Antiquity, vol 77, p 134).
To try to settle the controversy, Jean-Marc Elalouf of the Institute of Biology
and Technology in Saclay, France, and his team have turned to the remains of
cave bears. Along with mammoths and other huge mammals, cave bears (Ursus
spelaeus) dominated the European landscape until the end of the last ice age.
The Chauvet cave contains several depictions of cave bears, and Elalouf argues
that these must have been painted while the bears still thrived in the area. To
pin down when the bears disappeared, his team collected 38 samples of cave bear
remains in the Chauvet cave and .
They found that almost all the samples were genetically similar, suggesting the
cave bear population was small, isolated and therefore vulnerable. Radiocarbon
dating showed the samples were all between 37,000 and 29,000 years old, hinting
that by the end of that period they were extinct, at least locally. Samples
from a nearby cave, Deux-Ouvertures, gave similar results (Journal of
Archaeological Science, DOI:
10.1016/j.jas.2011.03.033<http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WH8-52HS637-2&_user=8862779&_coverDate=04%2F02%2F2011&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=gateway&_origin=gateway&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_acct=C000000593&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=8862779&md5=fb69e1ba22fe4c584a43fff8cc7404de&searchtype=a>).
Given the age of the cave bear remains, "it is clear that the paintings are
very ancient", says Elalouf. Michael
Knapp<http://anatomy.otago.ac.nz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=544&Itemid=46>
of the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand, who also studies cave
bears, says he has no doubts about the DNA analysis.
While we do not know exactly when cave bears became
extinct<http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1502-3885.2008.00071.x>, all reliably dated
remains in Europe are at least 24,000 years old, says Martina
Pacher<http://www.oeaw.ac.at/kfq/pacheren.html> of the Commission of Quaternary
Research in Vienna, Austria. "So the results at Chauvet are not surprising, and
I agree with their conclusions," she says.
"We now have an independent line of evidence that the bears [in Chauvet] date
to before 29,000 years ago," Lawson says. "That bolsters the case for an early
date."
Pettitt remains unconvinced, calling the new research "sloppy". He says that
the team is trying to extrapolate the regional spread of the bears over time by
relying on evidence from just two caves.
Pettitt also questions whether the paintings show cave bears at all: brown
bears lived in the area long after the cave bears were gone. But Elalouf says
the two species can be distinguished by skull shape, and that the paintings
definitely show cave bears.
<http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21028093.900-bear-dna-is-clue-to-age-of-chauvet-cave-art.html>http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21028093.900-bear-dna-is-clue-to-age-of-chauvet-cave-art.html
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--- Begin Message ---
You are cordially invited to attend the Underground Texas Grotto meeting
tonight April 20, 2011
The meeting is on Wednesday from 7:45 P.M. - 9:00 P.M.
University of Texas Campus in 2.48 Painter Hall
NOTE: THE ROOM NUMBER CHANGE to 2.48 PAI
http://www.utexas.edu/maps/main/buildings/pai.html
Pete Strickland will be presenting the Program of the evening that will
share some of his caving adventures. Pete has been an active caver for
decades and has visited a wealth of cave systems. Come out to visit with
friends from the extended Austin Texas caver community.
For information on Underground Texas Grotto activities, please see
www.utgrotto.org All of our information including officer contact info,
trips reports, new caver training, event calendar, and posting links to
beginner trips or vertical rope training are available.
Before the meetings, we sometimes meet at Sao Paulo www.saopaulos.net for
a happy hour special. This area is the best place to park and meet folks
walking over to the meeting. Then after the official meeting, we continue
with the decades long tradition to reconvene for burgers, beer, and tall
tales of caving at Posse East. www.posse-east.com
The UT Grotto needs you, the caver with photos and a story to share about
your adventures, scientific research, or something else really cool. Contact
Gary
Sincerely,
Gary Franklin
UT Grotto Vice Chair & Program Organizer
[email protected]
Pete Strickland <[email protected]>
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