The San people in South Africa painted animals that related to their cultural beliefs, but were most likely inspired by fossils discovered in the area.
Rock art found in South Africa, and painted two centuries ago, represents how the San people imagined extinct animals that they found in fossil form.
While it was difficult to access, he found it without too much searching. “It was quite a nice moment for me, because I didn’t think I’d find it so easily,” Benoit says. Dicynodonts were therapsids — a large group of animals that mammals also descended from. Dicynodonts weren’t mammals, but some dicynodonts were like hippos, while others were more like wild pigs. There were dozens of described species, some rat-like in size and others as big as elephants.were the most common, and both had tusks. Dicynodonts were common until they went extinct around 250 million years ago — eons before humans ever evolved.
The fact that the art was much more faded when Benoit saw it with his own eyes compared to the photo taken a century ago also means it couldn’t be too old. “It’s deteriorating very quickly,” he says, adding that in several more decades there might not be much left of this art.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Fossils from lush 53 million-year-old South Pole rainforest discovered in TasmaniaSascha is a U.K.-based trainee staff writer at Live Science. She holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Southampton in England and a master’s degree in science communication from Imperial College London. Her work has appeared in The Guardian and the health website Zoe.
Read more »
The Kiffness Performs Viral ‘Eating the Cats’ Track Live in MunichSouth African artist Kiffness has taken his viral, Donald Trump-inspired track to the stage.
Read more »
The largest arthropod to ever live finally has a head Fossils of an extinct giant millipede reveal new details about the arthropod’s anatomy.
Read more »
Frozen in time: Rock fossils hint at Mars's ancient climateLong ago, flowing wind and water shaped Mars's malleable sand and sediment into dunes, ripples and other landscape patterns, called bedforms. Over billions of years, some of these landforms hardened into rock—scientists then call them paleo-bedforms.
Read more »
Fossils dating back 9 million years unearthed during construction at high schoolDuring recent construction work at a Los Angeles high school, millions of fossils were unearthed, many of which were marine life like fish and sea turtles.
Read more »
Fossils Reveal The True Origin of The Oldest Tombstone in The USThe Best in Science News and Amazing Breakthroughs
Read more »