Sunday, December 15, 2019

Monkeys in 3,700-year-old Greek wall painting identified as from India area


“As there were no native species of monkey in Bronze Age Greece, it was always known that these lively fellows were exotic imports. However, most artwork from the period that features monkeys involve species native to Egypt, which was far closer to home and had an established trade network with ancient Greece.


So, we have Indus Valley monkeys on a Greek wall painting from 1,700 B.C. Ancient peoples traveled farther than has been believed. Why disbelieve distant and dangerous travels by people who did not know what lay over the horizon, but were willing to find out?

Our own ancestors from only 250 years past made journeys into the unknown, spurred on by a quest for land. Earlier travelers sought riches.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, my wife’s and my ancestors traveled long distances by foot and some by wagon. From Virginia to Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, the Chickasaw Nation and then to Texas, looking for a land of their own, and freedom to do as they wanted.

For some time, archaeology was considered settled. Experts defined the limits of human achievement. The experts, though, failed to consider one important aspect of humanity: Nothing can hem in peoples’ desire to find more and to do more.



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