‘Amazing’ archaeological find in Yukon’s melting ice patches — an intact atlatl dart

thecringeandwincefactory:

archaeologicalnews:

At first, Jennifer Herkes didn’t realize what had been found — she thought it was a piece of an atlatl dart.

“I thought, ‘Oh yeah, that’s neat,’” she recalled.

Then she saw it wasn’t just a piece — it was the whole spear.

“My heart rate started increasing, and I got goose bumps all over. I’d never seen anything like that before, it was amazing,” said Herkes, who is the heritage manager for the Carcross/Tagish First Nation in Yukon.

“The feathers, the sinew, the sap they would have used as, like, a glue to attach the stone point to the wood shaft — all of it is completely intact.“

Herkes believes it’s the first full atatl spear ever found in Yukon. It’s believed to be at least 1,000 years old. Read more.

Holy bonkers.

dragon-in-a-fez:

overherewiththequeers:

personalgremlin:

this makes me want to cry

First of all, “…they were surrounded on all sides by echoes and images of themselves, in a world where image and object had not yet torn themselves apart” is one of the most poetic phrasings I’ve ever heard.

Second, here’s the original source, “What the caves are trying to tell us” by Sam Kriss.

Third, the original opens with: “Every so often, I get the urge to drag someone into a cave, and show them something unspeakable.”

I had another point, but it got lost in the artful prose of this article.

I feel like “every so often, I get the urge to drag someone into a cave and show them something unspeakable” is something that’s okay for a paleolithic cave art expert to say, but like, absolutely no one else

dragon-in-a-fez:

overherewiththequeers:

personalgremlin:

this makes me want to cry

First of all, “…they were surrounded on all sides by echoes and images of themselves, in a world where image and object had not yet torn themselves apart” is one of the most poetic phrasings I’ve ever heard.

Second, here’s the original source, “What the caves are trying to tell us” by Sam Kriss.

Third, the original opens with: “Every so often, I get the urge to drag someone into a cave, and show them something unspeakable.”

I had another point, but it got lost in the artful prose of this article.

I feel like “every so often, I get the urge to drag someone into a cave and show them something unspeakable” is something that’s okay for a paleolithic cave art expert to say, but like, absolutely no one else

crazyness2400:

To be fair, humans are some bullshit from a balance perspective.

“I’ll just outrun that human…any day now… any… day… jesus christ it’s the terminator.”

“Maybe I can outsmart it and hide. What’s that you say, its brain takes up 20% of it’s caloric intake? FML.”

“It doesn’t have any natural weapons. I’ll just turn around and kill it. OH GOD IT’S GOT STONE CLAWS THAT ARE UNHOLY SHARP!”

“Okay, fight number two. It’s squishy so if I’m careful and find the right time when it’s weak I can – IT HAS PROJECTILE SHARP THINGS!”

“I’ll try crossing the river. It’s too gangly to be buoya – IT CAN SWIM?!?”

“Okay nothing can swim and run and climb. I’ll just go up this tree… FML it descended from apes.”

“It doesn’t even have fur, I can run to a colder climate and escape. Welp, it’s wearing the fur of my loved ones to keep warm.”

“If the whole herd bands together and protects each other, we can trample it… it can CONTROL FIRE.”

“Fuck it. Might as well just follow them around and get domesticated.”

Prettymuch everything we did to animals comes out of a horror movie.