paleofantasy

i wish genndy tartakovsky’s primal was Real

[batmanego]

im having feelings about the uffington white horse again

[batmanego]

so essentially there’s this cool horse drawn into the hills in england made out of chalk and it’s like 3,000 years old.

people carved trenches 3,000 years ago and filled them with chalk in the shape of a horse but what’s interesting is that if you fail to maintain the horse by adding new chalk regularly, it will disappear. for 3,000 years, we’ve been filling in chalk in this horse so it doesn’t disappear.

we’ll never know what the purpose of the horse was originally. we’ll never know if it had ritual or spiritual significance or if it was just art. but we do know that people maintained it then, and, even though the meaning of the horse has long been lost to time, we continue to maintain it now.

the people who made this horse are long dead, but they live through us still, don’t you think?

[batmanego]

couldn’t agree more we’re best friends now

[time-left-to-kill]

peak female role model

[bayouette]

I have a folder called Time is a Flat Circle in which I collect evidence of humanity. Here is most of them.

[aqueerkettleofish]

Okayokayokayokaybut "My hand will wear out but the inscription will remain" is kind of a power line BEFORE you factor in that it is, in fact, over a thousand years old.

[dduane]

It’s always good to spend a few moments, on a quiet day, looking through the Family album.

[zoanzon]

Friend, for you I have made a gift.

The Boy with Klippel-Feil Syndrome: Archaeologists find prehistoric humans cared for sick and disabled | Link from Denver Post, article originally from NYT (fuck their paywall)

The Westminster Throne Graffitti: King Charles' Coronation Artifacts: Orb, Sceptre and a Vandalized Chair

“Halfdan carved these runes”: Wikipedia - ‘Runic Inscriptions in Hagia Sophia’, Viking Graffiti in Hagia Sophia: “Halvdan Carved These Runes”

A Paleolithic Dog & Its Bone: Prehistoric Dog Found with Mammoth Bone in Mouth

The White Dog from Melita (ft. other heartbreaking dog-grave epigraphs): Historians Discover Ancient Dog Tombs With Tear-Jerking Inscriptions

Letter of Apion: Academia.edu article: “Greetings from the camp. Memories and preoccupations in the papyrus correspondence of Roman soldiers with their families” [Takes you to the overview page where you can choose to download the PDF of the article], P.Oxy. III 533 (TM/HGV 28373) - Letter of Apion | Heidelberg University

Carnuntum Child’s Footprint: Honestly I can’t find anything about this other than that image re-uploaded to different Tumblrs and stuff like iFunny, so...unsure where to properly cite this one from.

Martial 5.34: The Classical Anthology, Poem analysis on feminaeromanae.org, Wikipedia - ‘Martial’, [bonus: ‘Sadie’ by Bill Coyle, a modern poem which seems directly inspired by Martial 5.34]

The Whitehawk Woman: National Geographic (also cited below for the Slonk Hill Man), LiveScience (also cited below for the Slonk Hill Man), Brighton & Hove Museums: ‘One of Brighton and Hove’s earliest known residents – Whitehawk Woman’

The Slonk Hill Man: LiveScience, National Geographic (could not find the article whose exact words are in the photo)

Adelasius Ebalchus: SwissInfo: ‘Facing up to Switzerland’s Roman past’, National Geographic,

The Wari Queen: Bored Panda (ft. all three of the above people too), LiveScience, Peru.Travel - ‘Four female representations of ancient Peru’, National Geographic article on the tomb she was found in (unfortunately paywalled for NatGeo subscribers only)

Guooey’s post on the boy who’d own a Minecraft Creeper in present day: Original post ending with @evilswampchicken​​ art, original post with contributions from @fontain on reconstruction, original post with note-compliation of people comparing the boy to kids they know now

Image of the child holding a carved figurine: Cannot trace the image further than Tumblr

Herbert of Reichenau and his brother Werner: photographed post from @elucubrare​, no clue what book this itself was cited from, [bonus: apparently this is the same post that the next two bits comes up in too? so...the extended version of the post]

Medieval parenting manual: The extended post mentioned above (started by @elucubrare​ and expanded on by @marzipanandminutiae​)

Letter from Michael Psellos to his infant grandson: The same extended post mentioned above (started by @elucubrare​ and expanded on by @marzipanandminutiae​ and then @theoutcastrogue​), Psellos’ letter is noted to be found in “Mothers and Sons, Fathers and Daughters: The Byzantine Family of Michael Psellos (University of Notre Dame Press, 2006).”

Children frolicking in puddles: LiveScience: “Ice age children frolicked in 'giant sloth puddles' 11,000 years ago, footprints reveal”

Onfim: Wikipedia: ‘Onfim’, TheVintageNews

Baby with Down Syndrome: Keranews: “Ancient Bones Offer Clues To How Long Ago Humans Cared For The Vulnerable”

Dawn, the Mesolithic Teen: Reuters: “Scientists reconstruct face of 9,000 year-old Greek teenager”, BBC.com

‘Marcus loves Spendusa’ (ft. some fun bonus carvings): United Streets of Art: “Graffiti of the Ancients: Pompeii”, Classical Wisdom: “The Dirty World of Ancient Graffiti”

I can’t find half of the graffiti included in that compilation image, but I did also find one or two articles covering ancient Greek graffiti in general: “A Sampling of Graffiti and Other Public and Semi-Public Texts from Pompeii and Herculaneum”, Haaretz.com: “Largest Collection of Ancient Graffiti Ever Found in Pompeii. Some Are Hysterically Funny”

Wet nurse terracotta statue: Wikimedia Commons file directory

Viking graffiti compilation: Stencil Archive: “Viking Graffiti in Scotland”

‘Someone will remember us’: Sappho, fragment 147

‘do you really think that people in the past were not people?’: original post by @natequarter​

Toddler with a pillow: CNN.com: “The oldest human burial in Africa was a toddler laid to rest with a pillow”

[paleofantasy]

Fang in the first 5 minutes of S2E1 ‘Shadow of Fate’:

[randomredneck]

If that ain't the cutest way to wrap up his story.

[llluminare]

permian doggie. (Inostrancevia)

хихоз.

[tertiadecimapostolus]

Gorgonopsia

[legbird]

gorgonopsid posting

[ancestorsalive]

Beyond the Grave: Burial and the Human Condition in Deep Time

In the remote depths of caves from Iraq to Spain and South Africa, our ancient relatives confronted the mystery of death—and in doing so, re

“In the tapestry of human evolution, few threads are as evocative as the act of burial. The deliberate interment of the dead signifies more than a practical response to mortality; it reflects cognitive depth, emotional resonance, and social complexity. For early hominins, grappling with death may have been a pivotal moment—marking the emergence of symbolic thought and cultural expression. It is in this reckoning with the finality of life that we catch glimpses of an evolving consciousness, one not purely driven by survival, but by memory, grief, and meaning.

This article delves into the archaeological and anthropological evidence of burial practices among ancient hominins, focusing on three seminal sites: Shanidar Cave, Sima de los Huesos, and the Rising Star Cave system. Each site offers a unique window into the evolving relationship between early humans and the concept of death, hinting at a complex interplay between biology, belief, and behavior. Understanding these practices allows us to reimagine the ancient mind and our shared emotional lineage.”

[alvie-pines]

disability rights involves the right to do fuck all. the right to be a useless member of society and STILL be loved and cared for and have a fair standard of living. human beings are not defined by the capital we produce.

[multidimensionalbulletinboard]

There is a fossil from the Shanidar Cave called Shanidar 1, or ‘Nandy’. Nandy was and Neanderthal that lived 65,000-35,000 years ago.

Nandy’s body showed abnormalities that would have been debilitating, and made day-to-day life painful. At some point in his life he suffered trauma to the left side of his face, likely making him at left partially blind in his left eye. His atypically worn teeth suggested he had a degenerative disease. He was deaf in one ear and partially deaf in the other ear due to his ear canals being blocked by painful bone spurs. His right arm was withered fractured in several places. A fracture on his C5 vertebra likely left him with damage muscles in that arm. He eventually lost his lower right arm and hand, either die to congenital problems, disease, trauma, or more than likely an amputation, one of the earliest examples of a surgery on a living person. Nandy’s arm healed, but it likely left him paralyzed on the right side and caused deformities in his legs, which had been broken twice. It would have been extremely painful for him to walk.

Any one of these conditions would have made it absolutely impossible to survive in Neanderthal society. So, the fact that Nandy lived to the elderly age of 30-45, — and based on the level of healing from his injuries, lived with these conditions for a significant time before his death — made us have to totally change the way we thought about Neanderthal society. Nandy could not contribute to his society, could not survive on his own, and would have been a drain on resources. Yet he lived to an old age. Someone would have had to help him get around. Someone else would have had to take care of his family for him. Someone would have had to source food specifically for his worn teeth to be able to chew. Someone had to perform life saving surgery on him.

Nandy was disabled in several ways, but his fellow Neanderthals still saw value in his life beyond his ability to contribute to their society. Nandy was taken care of, loved, and given he was buried with several others of his kind, missed after he was gone. Nandy is just one example of Neanderthals living after being disabled by injuries or disease that they never could have survived with on their own.

Do you really think it is acceptable that in modern society, humans show less humanity towards their disabled than non-humans showed theirs? Do you think it’s okay that if Nandy lived today, he would have had a worse standard of living than he would have when he actually lived tens of thousands of years ago? We can do better. We owe it to our fellow humans to do better.

[itsadragonaesthetic]

Me and my anthropology class were talking about Shanidar 1, and they were saying, "maybe his skills were unprecedented and indispensable to the group. Maybe he was the only good leatherworker so it was better to keep him around" well maybe his one good arm gave good hugs. Maybe the kids liked putting beads in hair and beard. Maybe he had a beautiful cane that his late wife made for him that didn't survive the test of time due to its inability to be preserved. Maybe he was bilingual and part of the reason his clan was in such good standing with the Plains People. Maybe he was a good storyteller and sang lullabies to the kids at night that echoed through the caves. Idk I think love is what keeps people going or whatev

[aeruginascenss]

The Mogur Creb from Clan of the Cave Bear is Shanidar 1

[prehistoricpencil]

A portrait of Shanidar I, a Neanderthal man who experienced multiple debilitating injuries that would have left him severely disabled. Despite these injuries and thanks to the care of his community, he lived to be between 30-45, which is considered elderly for Neanderthals - a reminder of how deeply rooted compassion and altruism are in our origins.

[thatshowthingstarted]

Eagle-shaped Pottery Tripod

Neolithic, Yangshao Culture (c. 5,000-3,000 BCE)

Its body is smooth and without decoration. It is supported by three fulcrums - the thick legs and tail feathers. The form emphasizes the eagle’s inherent physical and spiritual characteristics and achieves a harmonious unity with the shape of the pottery tripod.

Unearthed in 1958 in Taiping Village, Hua County, Shaanxi Province,

It stands approximately 35.8 cm high with a mouth diameter of 23.3 cm.

Courtesy: National Museum of China

[genderkoolaid]

Neolithic study finds gender roles in Europe were distinct yet remarkably flexible

Study of 125 Neolithic skeletons in Hungary reveals gendered yet flexible labor roles and burial customs in prehistoric Europe.

The team combined skeletal analysis with burial data. They recorded activity-related skeletal changes such as spondylolysis in the spine, which reflects overall workload, humeral enthesopathies linked to repeated strain in one arm, and metatarsal facets on foot bones associated with habitual kneeling or toe hyperextension. They also examined body position in graves and the presence of objects, including polished stone tools. At Polgár-Ferenci-hát, burial treatment did not differ clearly between women and men. The graves showed no consistent separation in body position or objects based on sex. Skeletal markers at this site also did not reveal strong sex-based contrasts in overall workload. Both women and men displayed evidence of physically demanding lives, but patterns varied within each group. Polgár-Csőszhalom presented a different picture. Individuals buried there showed higher levels of physical strain overall than those at Ferenci-hát. Burial customs followed a stricter pattern. Women were placed on their left side, while men were placed on their right. Polished stone tools frequently accompanied male burials. Skeletal evidence partly matched these funerary distinctions. At both sites, male skeletons often showed overuse of the right upper limb. Lesions on the dominant arm point to repeated unilateral tasks, such as throwing or intensive work with stone and wood. Similar patterns appear across prehistoric Europe, suggesting a shared trend in male activity. At Csőszhalom, nine males buried with polished stone tools also displayed metatarsal facets, indicating repeated postures involving strong toe extension. One female burial combined these so-called male-associated grave goods with the same skeletal markers. This case shows that burial symbolism and lived experience did not always align with biological sex in a strict way. The comparison between the two communities shows that gender roles were differentiated but not fixed. At Csőszhalom, burial practice expressed a clearer social structure tied to gender. At Ferenci-hát, such distinctions were less visible. Skeletal markers add another layer, revealing both shared European trends, such as dominant arm overuse among males, and local variation in daily activities. The sample size limits broad generalizations, and activity markers do not identify specific tasks with precision. Even so, combining bone evidence with burial context provides a closer view of how Neolithic communities organized labor and identity. These findings indicate that gender shaped work and ritual while still allowing individual variation within each community.

[artifacts-and-arthropods]

Prehistoric "Chewing Gum" from Denmark, c.3700 BCE: the DNA extracted from this lump of birch tar suggests that it was chewed by a young woman with dark hair, dark skin, and blue eyes nearly 5,700 years ago

This prehistoric "chewing gum" was discovered during excavations on the Danish island of Lolland.

According to this article:

At the dawn of the Neolithic era, a young woman discarded a lump of ancient chewing gum made from birch tar into a shallow, brackish lagoon that drew fishers to the coast of southern Denmark. Nearly 6,000 years later, researchers excavating the site spotted the gum amid pieces of wood and wild animal bone and from it have reassembled her complete DNA and so painted the broadest strokes of her portrait.

The strands of DNA preserved in the gum point to a hunter-gatherer from continental Europe who had dark skin, dark hair and blue eyes. She lived near the lagoon, itself protected from the open sea by shifting sand barriers, about 5,600 years ago, according to carbon dating of the birch tar.

Alongside her DNA, the researchers found genetic material from duck and hazelnuts – presumed remnants of a recent meal – and at least 40 types of microbes.

Above: an artist's interpretation of "Lola," the young woman or girl who chewed the birch tar nearly 6,000 years ago (image created by Tom Björklund)

Hannes Schroeder, a molecular anthropologist at the University of Copenhagen, said: “This is the first time anyone has got a full ancient genome from anything other than bone or teeth. The preservation of the gum is quite extraordinary. We didn’t expect to get the whole genome.”

Birch tar, made by heating the tree’s bark, has been used as a natural adhesive for hundreds of thousands of years. In the stone age, the material was extracted on a mass scale to haft arrowheads and other tools. But it had other applications too. Lumps of the tar found at archaeological sites often contain juvenile tooth marks, and given that it contains antiseptic substances, it may have served as a prehistoric tooth brush.

The scientists found they had enough ancient DNA to reconstruct a full human genome. It showed that the person was female and had dark skin, dark hair and blue eyes. She was also more closely related to hunter-gatherers from mainland Europe than those who lived in central Scandinavia at the time, according to a report in Nature Communications. It is impossible to know her age, but given that children seemed to chew birch tar, the scientists suspect she was young.

Further DNA revealed her oral microbiome, the collection of microbes that live, often harmlessly, in the mouth. Among tens of bacterial species were three linked to severe periodontal disease, and Streptococcus pneumoniae, a major cause of pneumonia. The scientists also spotted the Epstein-Barr virus, which can cause glandular fever. While she may well have been ill, all can be present without causing disease or illness.

Sources & More Info:

The Guardian: Neolithic Chewing Gum Helps Recreate Image of Ancient Dane

Nature: A 5700 Year-Old Human Genome and Oral Microbiome from Chewed Birch Pitch

National Geographic: DNA from Stone Age 'Chewing Gum' Tells an Incredible Story

Smithsonian Magazine: Human Genome Recovered from 5,700-Year-Old Chewing Gum

[hambonous]

Too Early

I wonder if our ancestors ever had artistic doubts...