Ancient cave art could be Neanderthal's

Researchers have found cave paintings in Spain that are up to 40,000 years old, suggesting they might have been created by Neanderthals.

Dr Alistair Pike, of the University of Bristol, and colleagues, publish their research in the journal Science.

The practice of art is considered an important stage in the development of human cognition, along with the use of symbols, and possibly language.

But determining the age of cave art has often been difficult, especially using radiocarbon dating.

Pike and colleagues instead used a technique called uranium-thorium dating to find out the minimum age of calcite deposits overlying art in 11 different caves in northern Spain.

Among the 50 paintings studied, the researchers found a 40,800-year-old disc, a 37,000-year-old hand stencil and a 35,600-year-old club-shaped symbol.

As well as giving insight into how painting styles changed over time, the findings suggest cave painting in Europe started 5000 to 10,000 years earlier than previously thought.

This is at the same time that modern humans were arriving in Europe and Neanderthals were dying out.

Pike says either modern humans arrived already painting or they developed the skill once they arrived - as part of cultural innovation triggered by competition with Neanderthals.

"Alternatively, cave painting started before the arrival of modern humans, and was done by Neanderthals," says Pike.

"That would be a fantastic find as it would mean the hand stencils on the walls of the caves are outlines of Neanderthals' hands, but we will need to date more examples to see if this is the case."

The artwork was found in an area that includes the UNESCO World Heritage sites of Altamira, El Castillo and Tito Bustillo.

"Useful contribution"
Australian archaeologist Dr Iain Davidson who has also dated cave art in Spain welcomes the new research.

"It's a really useful contribution," says Davidson, an emeritus professor at the University of New England.

He points to two other findings since this paper was accepted for publication that push back the date for art in caves in Europe.

Earlier this year publications reported the engraving of female genitalia dated at around 37,000 years and the discovery of flutes made from bone and ivory dated at around 40,000 years.

"We now have dates of around 40,000 in three parts of Europe for things that would be called 'art' in general," says Davidson.

He says the lack of good skeletal remains from around that time in Europe mean it is difficult to know who is actually responsible for the artwork found there.

But, Davidson says the latest evidence calls for a rethink of the traditional view that Neanderthals could not possibly have had the cognitive abilities of modern humans - a view that he himself has held for a long time.

"I think I was wrong," says Davidson.

"There does seem to be tenuous evidence that Neanderthals were experimenting with pigment. There is slightly plausible evidence that they were creating objects out of bone. All of this suggests they had something like the abilities that modern humans have."

Davidson says the question of whether Neanderthals had similar cognitive abilities raises the difficult question of how that came about.

Genetic evidence suggests the ancestors of modern humans and Neanderthals diverged 400,000 years ago and didn't interbreed, he says.

So, how would Neanderthals and modern humans both have developed the same cognitive abilities?

Either they evolved independently the same abilities under different selective pressures, says Davidson, or they did in fact interbred with each other to transfer genetically-determined traits.

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Fitness is simple..it really is.  Most trainers, websites, exercise DVD makers, etc, want to make it seem like there’s some exact, and hard to comprehend, scientific formula to getting in shape.  They all claim to have figured it out, and purport that THEIR method is the best, and likely, only way to get in shape.  The whole game is designed to confuse you, so you become reliant on them for their advice and/or workouts.  The game is up; this simply isn’t the way fitness works.

Certainly, there are some elements of any successful workout program that must be followed.  We aren’t saying you can just go out, casually lift some weights, run a few miles a week, and develop a killer bod.  It’s not quite that simple.  Problem with so many exercise programs out there today is they take bits and pieces of the three basic elements of a great workout.  P90x, for example, is great at utilizing muscle confusion techniques…but only for a limited period of time.  These workouts aren’t geared for a lifelong body transformation..rather, a 90 day change, at which point, your body has gotten so used to the workout cycle, it stops making progress.

I’ve been in the exercise biz many a year now, and have created Share It Fitness to bring top quality exercise programming to the masses.  I’ve seen what works and what doesn’t.  I know women don’t want to look like men, they simply want to develop that lean, mean, athletic look.  Being fit and sexy isn’t about being deathly skinny and starving yourself.  It’s about having a lean, toned upper body, a strong core, and a powerful and explosive lower body.  Developing this is very simple.  All it takes is self-discipline and a well-crafted plan.  If you stick to the plan below, to a T, I guarantee you will discover the body you’ve always wanted (provided you are eating a healthy diet as well).

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For each week, each bullet point corresponds to one day.  It is best to do these in order (first bullet point = Monday, second bullet point = Tuesday, etc.) as the routine has been carefully designed to allow your muscles to rest effectively.

Week 1

    Monday – 60 minutes HIIT cycling (30 seconds 100% intensity, 1:30 60% intensity, repeat for an hour)
    Tuesday – 5 sets of 8: squats, barbell deadlifts, sumo squats, walking lunges, reverse lunges. 100 box jumps.
    Wednesday – 30 minutes HIIT jump rope (45 seconds jump, 30 seconds rest. repeat for half-hour)/15 minutes row machine
    Thursday – 5 sets of 8: bench press, military press, barbell curls, skull crushers, snatch, lat pulldowns. 250 ab reps ( you pick the type of exercises)
    Friday – 60 minute jog

Tips: Try to complete this Mon-Fri, allowing yourself a full two days off on the weekend.  On weight days, make sure the weight is heavy enough that the 7th and 8th rep are VERY tough to complete.  Training heavy at the beginning of this program is key for establishing  your base.

Week 2:

    Monday – 5 sets of 8: deadlifts, bulgarian squats, lunges. 5 sets of 50: squat jumps,  calve raises.  Plank for 3 minutes, 60 reverse crunches, 60 hanging knee raises.
    Tuesday – 60 minutes HIIT cycling (:30/1:30 format)
    Wednesday – 5 sets of 8: incline bench press, clean and press, overhead tricep extension, bent over barbell row, concentration curls, upright row.
    Thursday – 60 minutes HIIT running (sprint for 30 seconds/jog for 1:30 minutes)
    Friday – 5 sets of 8: deadlifts, bulgarian squats, lunges. 50 squat jumps, 50 calve raises.  Plank for 3 minutes, 60 reverse crunches, 60 hanging knee raises

Tips: When there aren’t any sets listed for squat jumps, calve raises, planks, and any ab exercises, complete the number of reps/time in as few sets as possible. i.e. 50 squats as fast as possible, before moving on to the 50 calve raises.  Continue to go heavy on the weight during resistance training.

Week 3:

    Monday – Super Sets: jump rope 45 seconds/12 box jumps/rest 1 minute.  Repeat 20 times.
    Tuesday – 5 sets of 8: close grip lat pulldowns, single arm dumbbell rows, dumbbell bench press, dumbbell flys, incline dumbbell curls, standing barbell curls, lat pulldown burnout (100 reps on light weight).
    Wednesday – Super Sets: jump rope 45 seconds/12 box jumps/rest 1 minute.  Repeat 20 times.
    Thursday – 100 body weight squats, 60 crunches, 100 alternating lunges, 60 bicycle crunches, 100 knee tucks, 100 flutter kicks, 3 minutes plank.
    Friday – 30 minutes HIIT cycling (:20/1:00 format), 30 minutes HIIT running (sprint every other .2 miles, i.e. 0-.2 jog, .2-.4 sprint, .4-.6 jog, .6-.8 sprint, .8-1 mile sprint)

Tips: Super sets involve no rest between exercises; only rest when indicated.  Last week of heavy resistance, go hard and heavy.  Make sure you’ve increased the weight on each exercise from Week 1, if only slightly.

Week 4

    Monday – 3 sets of 20: leg press machine, squats, deadlifts, calve raises, hamstring curl machine, box jumps
    Tuesday – 20 minutes HIIT cycling (:20/1 min), 20 minutes HIIT rowing (:20/1 min), 20 minutes HIIT jump rope (:30 jump/:30 rest)
    Wednesday – 3 sets of 20: lat pulldowns, bench press, incline bench press, tricep pushdown, concentration curls, upright rows, bicycle crunches, decline sit ups, hanging leg raises
    Thursday – 60 minutes casual jog
    Friday – 3 sets of 20: leg press machine, squats, deadlifts, calve raises, hamstring curl machine, box jumps

Tips: Use light weight on resistance training days.  Do these exercises slow.  Count to a full 4 seconds on the lift, and a full 2 seconds on the lower.

The above routine is part one, of a 12-week total body makeover.  You should already be seeing results after only 4 weeks of training.  As we previewed in week 4, part 2 focuses on increasing total time under tension (TUT) resistance training, which is a departure from the high sets/low rep heavy training that made up weeks 1-3.  Cardio training begins to include more cross-training principles and explosive movements to really develop your lower body while maximizing fat loss at the same time.  Part 3 will introduce complex lift formats such as step sets, drop sets, etc. while combining short, intense bouts of cardio to give you a couple more extreme workouts each week.

Part II of this workout found here.

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Source : shareitfitness.com