[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index][Subject Index][Author Index]

Re: America's earliest paleoartist authenticated

Well maybe I rushed to judgment with the nudibranch identification. Upon further reflection in the fullness of time, I now believe the carving on the right to represent a holothurian echinoderm and the object on the left to be its regurgitated internal organs. Some sea cucumbers will expel the organs of their digestive system through their mouth when alarmed. What this mass of scratches MIGHT represent just depends on which scratches YOU want to join together in WHICH arrangement or pattern. There's more than enough scratches on the rock surface to represent almost anything one can think of. At least the carving on the bone, regardless of its age of manufacture. is of a probiscidean. 

Dan



6/22/2011 10:15 PM, Ronald Orenstein wrote:

Lots of nudibranchs in Utah back then, were there?

Still, I kile the collembolan idea...

  Ronald Orenstein
1825 Shady Creek Court
Mississauga, ON L5L 3W2
Canada
ronorenstein.blogspot.com



----- Original Message ----
From: Dan Chure<danchure@easilink.com>
To: VRTPALEO@usc.edu
Cc: quailspg@frii.com; Dinosaur<dinosaur@usc.edu>
Sent: Thu, June 23, 2011 12:03:13 AM
Subject: Re: America's earliest paleoartist authenticated

Mammoth and brontothere --- hogwash. The blue engraving on the right is
clearly a nudibranch and the one on the left is a symphylan arthropod or
maybe a collembolan.  That's what it looks like TO ME.

Dan


On 6/22/2011 6:38 PM, quailspg@frii.com wrote:

Obviously there was too much flipping back and forth between pictures
so I mis-remembered which legs of the mammoth engraving looked
unfinished. At any rate, the emphasis on the stride and the beautifully
nuanced front leg and shoulder are exceptional.

HOWEVER... check out this NAT GEO page from earlier this year:

http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2011/02/10/wildest_mammoth_in_the_west_fo/
/

No word on the possible age of this art from Utah, but it's very
intriguing. Also, in the comments section, someone has suggested that
the second animal may be a brontothere. Could this be possible?

-- Donna Braginetz