2023 paper identifies Upper Paleolithic proto-writing calendar system in European cave art. Paper titled "An Upper Paleolithic Protowriting System and Phenological Calendar" published in the Cambridge Archaeological Journal in 2023 Lead author Bennett Bacon is an amateur craftsman with no university affiliation Co-authors include Paul Pettitt of University of Durham and Tony Fre of University College London
A 2023 paper in the Cambridge Archaeological Journal proposes that European cave art from roughly 37,000 years ago contains a proto-writing system tied to seasonal tracking. Lead author Bennett Bacon, an amateur craftsman, worked with Paul Pettitt (Durham) and Tony Fre (UCL) on the study. What a fascinating example of citizen science meeting academia!
Key Facts
- Paper titled "An Upper Paleolithic Protowriting System and Phenological Calendar" published in the Cambridge Archaeological Journal in 2023
- Lead author Bennett Bacon is an amateur craftsman with no university affiliation
- Co-authors include Paul Pettitt of University of Durham and Tony Fre of University College London
- From 37,000 years ago, European cave art combined symbolic marks with figurative depictions
Related site: Lascaux — view location, images, and history on the Ancient Nerds map.
Source: Ice Age Calendar System Maintained for 20k years by Timeless with Fred Snyder