The oldest human image

2003/04/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Giza zientziak

German archaeologists have dated an ivory board discovered in the German valley of Ach in 1979, which has carved the figure of a man to one side and a row of holes to another.

According to the carbon 14 isotope test, the board is at least 32,500 years old, making it the oldest known human image. The image was carved on a part of the teeth of a mammoth by the humans Cro-Magnon, during the time they lived in Europe alongside the Man of Neanderthal. It is therefore the initial Aurinian culture of the Upper Palaeolithic.

The meaning of the image in the table is not clear. Some consider this to be one of the first representations of the constellation of Orio, but archaeologists have also proposed other interpretations. Some god or half can also be a magical being that is the human environment.

The table also proposes that the row of holes across the image could be a calendar.