Vedci našli prapredka písma
SME, Tomáš Prokopčák
Francúzski vedci tvrdia, že objavili najstarší záznam ľudskej komunikácie. Zapísaný je na škrupine pštrosieho vajca.

BRATISLAVA. Bol to možno najdôležitejší krok sprevádzajúci vznik moderného človeka. To, čo Homo sapiens definitívne odlíšilo od zvieracej ríše, nebolo používanie nástrojov. Bolo to využívanie reči, najmä symbolov a znakov - vecí, ktoré zastupovali iné veci. Až tento veľký evolučný skok je podľa niektorých vedcov tvorcom moderného človeka.

Tím francúzskych odborníkov z Univerzity v Bordeaux však teraz tvrdí, že našiel najstarší dôkaz o takomto zápise. Svoj objav zverejnil v prestížnom americkom magazíne Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. O náleze informuje aj časopis Science.
Predchodca písma?

Tím pod vedením Pierre-Jeana Texiera už od roku 1999 skúma nálezisko Diepkloof rock asi 180 kilometrov severne od juhoafrického Kapského Mesta. Vedci tam našli dvadsaťpäť úlomkov pštrosích vajec. Škrupiny pokrývali zvláštne súbežné i opakujúce sa nepravidelné línie, niekedy aj so šrafovaním. Rôzne techniky vek škrupín odhadli na 55- až 65-tisíc rokov.

Odborníci sú teraz presvedčení, že línie predstavujú pravdepodobne najstaršieho známeho predchodcu písma. „Línie sú križované v pravom uhle či rôzne zošikma. Opakovaním týchto motívov sa predchodcovia dnešného človeka snažili navzájom dorozumieť," komentoval nálezy pre BBC News Texier. „Možno sa tak snažili vyjadriť svoju individuálnu identitu v skupine".

Na škrupinách sa nachádzajú aj motívy, ktoré časom miznú a objavujú sa iné.
Neboli primitívni

Vedci zdôrazňujú, že podobné „nápisy" na pštrosích vajciach - nádobách používali aj lovci a zberači, ktorí žili v púšti Kalahari. Znaky v ich prípade hovorili o tom, kto tieto nádoby vlastní a na čo slúžia. Práve to môže naznačovať, že aj symboly na náleze francúzskych archeológov mali podobný účel.

O relatívne rozvinutom myslení našich predkov totiž máme dôkazy staré až stotisíc rokov. V izraelskej jaskyni Shkul i v Alžírsku sa našli pozostatky lastúrnych šperkov. V juhoafrickej jaskyni Blombos výskumníci objavili tiež až stotisíc rokov staré primitívne rytiny, ktoré môžu naznačovať prvé abstraktné myslenie.
http://veda.sme.sk/c/5268384/vedci-nasli-prapredka-pisma.html

Science
Engraved Eggs Suggest Early Symbolism
by Michael Balter on March 1, 2010 5:28 PM | Permanent Link

Symbolism? Fragments of engraved ostrich eggshells from the Diepkloof Rock Shelter, South Africa, dated to 60,000 years ago.
Credit: Pierre-Jean Texier, Diepkloof project

What do Homo sapiens have that our hominid ancestors did not? Many researchers think that the capacity for symbolic behaviors—such as art and language—is the hallmark of our species. A team working in South Africa has now discovered what it thinks is some of the best early evidence for such symbolism: a cache of ostrich eggshells dated to about 60,000 years ago and etched with intricate geometric patterns.

This fits with other recent suggestions of symbolism from South Africa. For example, last year researchers reported pieces of ochre etched with what may be abstract designs and dated to 100,000 years ago at BlombosCave on the Southern Cape; similar etchings dated to about 77,000 years ago were previously reported from Blombos. The Blombos team argued that this represented a continuous, long-standing symbolic tradition, but some archaeologists question whether such etchings qualify as true symbolic behavior.

Since 1999, a team led by prehistorian Pierre-Jean Texier of the University of Bordeaux in France has been working at another site, the Diepkloof rock shelter , on the Western Cape about 180 kilometers north of Cape Town. This shelter contains evidence of several cultures that used stone tools typical of modern humans. Over the past few years, the team has uncovered fragments from an estimated 25 ostrich eggs in 18 archaeological layers dated by two separate techniques to between 55,000 and 65,000 years ago. The fragments are etched with several kinds of motifs, including parallel lines with cross-hatches and repetitive non-parallel lines, the team reports online today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Moreover, the team found that some of the patterns seem to have changed over time. The hatched-band motif is found only in the earlier 12 layers at Diepkloof and then disappears. The team also found a few eggshell fragments that appeared to have been pierced with a tool to make a hole in the top part of the egg. The researchers suggest that the large eggs, which had a volume of about 1 liter, might have been used as water containers, as hunter-gatherers in South Africa’s Kalahari Desert have used ostrich eggshells during historical times. The Kalahari people decorated the eggshells with engravings to indicate either who owned them or what they contained. The team concludes that the discovery “represents the earliest evidence of the existence of a graphic tradition among prehistoric hunter-gatherer populations.”

But is this really symbolism? Yes, says Stanley Ambrose, an archaeologist at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. “The diversity of design motifs is impressive. It is an important new addition to the corpus of evidence for the development of modern human symbolic and artistic expression in Africa.”

Others aren’t so sure. The engravings could have been done for aesthetic purposes unrelated to symbolism, says Thomas Wynn, an archaeologist at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. Researchers need to demonstrate that such engravings “require symbolic thinking,” rather than simply assuming that all such etchings are symbolic, says Wynn.
http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2010/03/engraved-eggs-suggest-early-symb.html
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2010/02/17/0913047107