Paléoartistes demandés

(Agence Science-Presse) – Si le paléoanthropologue est celui qui étudie les fossiles humains, que fait un paléoartiste? Il ou elle sculpte ou dessine des Néandertaliens ou des Homo erectus. Et il y a une demande croissante. Il n’y a pas si longtemps pourtant, le nombre de variables inconnues était tel que ces artistes tendaient à représenter leurs sujets «à mi-chemin entre le singe et l’humain», explique Science dans un dossier récent.

Mais depuis 20 ans, l’explosion de fossiles d’hominidés a été telle que les directeurs de musées et de magazines, en plus d’émissions de télé comme National Geographic, exigent beaucoup plus de précisions et de réalisme. Il en résulte même un phénomène inattendu: le travail de ces artistes influence la réflexion des

PUBLICITÉ

L’amour en 3 dimensions. Roman de cheminement humoristique. Pour dédramatiser les événements qui nous ont bouleversés. Pour mieux comprendre notre relation envers soi, notre entourage et notre environnement. Peut être lu pour le plaisir d’un roman ou dans un objectif de croissance personnelle.

Le livre est disponible au coût de 19,95$.

Par téléphone: (514) 256-9000, en région: 1-877-256-9009
Par Internet: http://www.editionstnt.com/Livres.html
Par la poste: Reflet de Société 4233 Ste-Catherine Est Montréal, Qc. H1V 1X4

anthropologues sur nos ancêtres et leurs comportements. Un autre de ces cas où l’art influence la science…

I’m partial to Cretaceous beasties, myself, but the Jurassic classic Stegosaurus seems to be popular these days in my Dinosaur Tattoos group on Flickr! Additions in reverse chronological order:

MC Mikey Megatron's "Stegosaurus"

This is such a great start to MC Mikey Megatron’s dinosaur “pantleg”. (“Stocking”? Either of those terms working for you?) I can’t wait to see the next installment! Tattoo by Evan Lovett at Bayside Ink Tattoo in Beachwood, NJ.

littlest foot's "little stego, pile of dinos"

Littlest foot shows off her cute stego tattoo by Ethan at Brass City Tattoo in Waterbury, CT. She also has a colorful (and also cute) half sleeve featuring a pair of “apatosauruseseseseses” done at Hartford County Tattoo in Bristol, CT!

Stego tattoo from Cossix's photostream

I like this little guy! Interesting how it is in the same position as MC Mikey Megatron’s; bonus ink nerd points to anyone who can find a link to the source artwork! I asked Cossix for info about tattooer or tattooee (this collector seems to be female… Tatooine, perhaps? Sorry, I couldn’t resist.), but got no response.

UPDATE: Briana has informed us that she is the Tatooine, and this stego was done by one of the artists at Marks of Art in San Jose, CA!

maurosourousrex's baby stego tattoo

We’ve been following the progress of maurosourousrex’s baby stego tattoo for a while now, and are looking forward to the “waterfall and possible tree still to come”. I love the the blue and green (and purple!) color scheme and the interesting markings; it reminds me of a tropical fish! No word yet on artist or locale.

Roulettedares00's stegosaurus skeleton tattoo

We first saw Roulettedares00’s meticulously detailed stego skeleton on Carl Zimmer’s Science Tattoo Emporium, and we were very pleased when he saw fit to add it to the Dinosaur Tattoos group. In case you’re interested, it seems to be based on this illustration by pre-eminent paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh done in 1896.

This man, by the way, is a walking museum of nerd ink, representing a trifecta close to my own heart: Star Wars (Hoth, no less! The best part of all 6 movies!), dinosaurs, and comics. If he gets a Lego tattoo, I will found the Official Church of Roulettedares00 of Latter Day Ink Nerds, or, at the very least, swear eternal fealty to my true liege. A “Mutants in Asgard” tattoo would also qualify for this honor.

UPDATE: All of Roulettedares00’s tattoos were done by Myles Karr, currently working at Saved Tattoo in Brooklyn!

The Gnome's dinosaur tattoos

One of the very first members of the group was The Gnome, who gets bonus ink points for symmetry with these two excellent specimens. No artist info available.

Thanks to everybody who has submitted photos to the Dinosaur Tattoos group; keep ‘em coming!

]]> http://mathildasanthropologyblog.wordpress.com/2008/10/26/25-million-year-old-australopithecus-collectible-shows-symbolic-thought/ Sun, 26 Oct 2008 09:14:09 +0000 mathilda37 http://mathildasanthropologyblog.wordpress.com/2008/10/26/25-million-year-old-australopithecus-collectible-shows-symbolic-thought/

The Makapansgat cobble

Found in a cave in Limpopo, South Africa. The Makapansgat cobble is a naturally occurring peice of reddish jasperite, found in cave breccia at the Makapansgat quarry, along  with Australopithecus bones. It’s dated to have been left in the cave 2.5 to 3 million years old. Technically it’s called a manuport, a naturally occurring object that’s been deliberately moved for some reason to a new location. It was found four kilometres from the nearest possible site, so it wasn’t carried back as an act of absent mindedness. Carrying an object over 4km has a reason. Presumably it was picked up by a hominid and carried back to the cave as a curiosity, because of it’s resemblance to a face and unusual colour. It seems that it was recognised it as a ‘face’, and taken it home; an indication of symbolic thought. Although, it may have been a ‘toy’ rather than ‘art’, as modern primates show a fondness for toys, and the colour red in particular.

Isotope analysis of the bones from this site suggest that the Australopithecus in residence were eating meat as well as fruits and vegetables, and that they were exploiting open grassland for food. Absent from this stage are stone tool and fire use. It would seem that Australopithecus was clever enough to recognize and value a face, but not to create tools or use fire. An ape right on the verge of the Homo genus.