As usual we're drifting off into wild speculation with little evidence other than opinion. The caves are suddenly a gathering place for Martian
refugees or evidence of drug-taking mystics extending scientific knowledge through hallucinating. The paintings are 'obviously' evidence of alien
abduction, hybrids and what else. At the same time there's some notion that hunter gatherers lived live at full tilt and had no time for anything
like rock art. Some guys seem to imagine a lifestyle of running from predators, chasing food and never resting.
Like most successful predators, if enough food is secured they rest. Chimpanzees and
modern hunter gatherers all rest after a kill or when
food is abundant.
Chimps can use the same nest for several nights. Modern hunter gatherers
have shelters that they return to. Why would our earlier ancestors have been different? Socializing is a major feature of the primate lifestyle. The
Lascaux caves guys had the same intelligence as we have...bright enough build shelter. Traditional hunter-gatherer social structure has females
remaining to prepare the fruit and veg while males hunt meat. Infants that are too old to carry and too small to travel large distances would remain
with the females and elderly. Mythology, shamen, language and
art would have been developed and gained
sophistication through social times...Throughout the world there are also sites of great tool making industry...hand axes, blades, scrapers, points
etc require the time to create them...not running from a lion whilst chasing a young horse...
Another point is that humans don't seem to be the dish of first choice for predators. The energy expended to kill us isn't rewarded in the same way
a horse or deer would be. We're far less fleshy than other prey. We're also organized like a pack and were probably avoided by predators unless
conditions dictated otherwise. There are kill sights across Europe and especially Africa where we've
ambushed Gelada baboons and butchered the remains.
Martians or alien abductions? They make great sci-fi and fantasy books and movies. The thing is that there isn't any evidence to support the ideas.
The only evidence is based on a 20th or 21st Century mind trying to interpret the motivation and understanding of the societies that created the
'art' thousands of years ago. The
stone tools that have been
found in cave systems in Africa, Asia and Europe are associated entirely with homo habilis, homo erectus, neanderthal etc. The development of the
tools is charted through the millenia. The use of the tools is further recorded by butchery marks on the bones and fragments that we've found around
the world. This evidence firmly indicates the growing sophistication of early humans...it doesn't support a race that was able to cross space from
Mars.
Alien abductions? Well, folk see what they want to see. Aboriginal and Native Americans have explained what their rock art means and it's fairly well
documented...no aliens! No 'sky brothers.' Anyway, we can believe what we like...out of mischief, I'd like to share this rock art painting. What do
you see?
