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Name: Verified Earliest Art in the Americas
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Category: Fine Art
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Description: The Earliest Documented Art in the Americas
Discovered by an amateur fossil hunter it is been described by Dr. Dennis Stanford from the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History as "An incredibly exciting discovery and estimated to be at least 13,000 years old. Dr. Barbara Purdy from the University of Florida calls it "The oldest, most spectacular and rare work of art in the Americas."
The findings and research procedures have now been documented in the Journal of Archaeological Science and other publications as this artifact represents the first verified Paleoindian representations of a proboscidean in the Western hemisphere and more importantly the earliest art in the Americas.
While digging in the Vero Beach area of Florida, an amateur fossil hunter found a bone fragment and etched into the bone by a highly sharpened stone tool is the clear image of a walking adult mammoth or mastodon.
Realizing its importance he took the fossil to the experts at the University of Florida and The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and the Museum Conservation Institute, Smithsonian Institution Museum Support Center. The Journal of Archaeological Science reports that "Never before in the Western Hemisphere has there been found a validated bone from an extinct faunal species incised with a recognizable image of a proboscidean."
Etched into the bone by a highly sharpened stone tool or the tooth of the animal is the clear image of a walking adult mammoth or mastodon. Extensive tests over the past two months have shown that the image was created when the bone was fresh, presumably right after the animal it belonged to was killed or died. Bradshaw Foundation June 2009
The findings by Dr. Stanford and Dr. Purdy will result in a new and revealing chapter of the history of early man in the Americas. According to experts these first ice age people in the Americas were very much like us, perhaps shorter but with the same brain mass, skills and cunning and now we can add artistic talent.
Jeff Speakman, head of technical studies at the Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute, "The engraving was done by a group of people that we would refer to as Paleo-Indians or Paleoamericans, The word "Paleoamerican" does not necessarily point to a cultural group, he added, but instead is a "general term that refers to the earliest inhabitants of the Americas." Discovery News Science Direct.
The owner has graciously allowed the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and the University of Florida to make a casting on the item.
40.1cm L, 10.2cm W, 4.0cm thick (approximately).
Journal of Archaeological Science link:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305440311001828
National Geographic link: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/06/110622-mammoth-bone-oldest-art-americas-science/
Many other links type in "Earliest Art in the Americas"
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Condition: Excellent
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Selling Price (USD): $ 5,000,000.00
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Location of Item: Naples, Florida (FL) 34110
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