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One of the Most Important Images On Earth

2024-12-06 · letter vlog · Hank · 5:22 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Science & nature (also: Philosophy & meaning) · mode: Personal essay · tags: self promotion

Hank describes a cave painting in Spain, part of which radiometric dating shows to be Neanderthal art over 60,000 years old and part apparently later human work, and says this collaboration between two human species gives him a secular mysterium tremendum and a sense of mourning for the lost human species whose story he believes continues in us.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Hank in Milwaukee; a Bluesky question about a non-religious image that feels religious; the cave image described

  • ★ Hank is in Milwaukee, where he has just given a talk at the university. — 00:00:02
  • ★★ Asked on Bluesky for a non-religious image that feels religious, Hank first thought of this one: a ladder-like shape with animals, dots, and what looks like a three-armed bunny driving a fan boat. (playful) — 00:00:02
  • ★★ Hank realized the image is very likely religious in a context he cannot know, so posting it with his non-religious take would be almost disrespectful. (hedged) — 00:00:23

00:00:32 — The Spanish cave painting dated over 60,000 years old as Neanderthal art; the other human species and their DNA in us

  • ★★★ Hank says the painting was found in a cave in Spain, and new radiometric dating in 2018 showed some of its paint is over 60,000 years old. — 00:00:47
  • ★★ Hank says modern humans only reached Spain 20,000 years ago, then corrects himself: there were people in Spain 60,000 years ago, just not humans but Neanderthals. — 00:01:01
    • a number in question (doubtful): "20,000 years ago" — check against the recording
  • ★★ Hank says the new dating of this cave and several others revealed several examples of Neanderthal art that we can see and share. — 00:01:14
  • ★★ Hank says Neanderthals used tools, had rituals, made art and lived alongside anatomically modern humans. — 00:01:31
  • ★★ Hank says Homo sapiens once shared the planet with three other species of people (Neanderthals, Denisovans, Floresiensis), maybe more, since Floresiensis was found only about 20 years ago. (hedged) — 00:01:44
  • ★★ Hank says living humans carry pieces of these species' genomes: many people in Asia have Denisovan DNA, and almost everyone not of direct African descent has Neanderthal DNA. — 00:02:00
  • ★★ Hank says DNA from a bone fragment of a person born around 50,000 years ago was exactly half Neanderthal and half Denisovan: a first-generation hybrid of two non-human species. — 00:02:07 · Earth
    • a number in question (doubtful): "around 50,000 years ago" — check against the recording

00:02:29 — The painting as a collaboration between two human species and Hank's secular mysterium tremendum

  • ★★★ Hank says what makes the image so powerful is that parts were made by Neanderthals over 60,000 years ago and other parts apparently much later by humans: an artistic collaboration between two human species. (hedged) — 00:02:29
  • ★★ Hank thinks the work likely carried real significance for each individual who worked on it, whether religious or ritualistic he does not know. (hedged) — 00:02:45
  • ★★★ Hank says for him the image is the kind of religious he gets to have: awe at humans, at us and at our story. — 00:03:00
  • ★★★ Hank says the image gives him a rare secular mysterium tremendum: the planet holds art probably made by two human species, and an archaeologist's drawing of it shows the depth and complexity of our story. — 00:03:17

00:03:47 — Mourning the lost human species, why Neanderthals vanished, and their story continuing in us; sign-off

  • ★★ Hank says we don't get to live on a planet with more than one human species; that world would probably be messy and complicated, but he sometimes mourns it. — 00:03:47
  • ★★ Hank used to think humans killed off the Neanderthals, but says there is no evidence for that; small conflicts, rapid climate change, disease brought out of Africa or a combination could explain it. (hedged) — 00:03:58
  • ★★ Hank says our ancestors knew they lived alongside these other people, told stories about them and interacted with them, which we can see in our genomes and on cave walls. — 00:04:24
  • ★★★ Hank hopes and believes the Neanderthals' story continues in us, as the first worm's does: all life is related and shares biochemistry, and with Neanderthals we also share many deep stories. — 00:04:45

In the description and comments

Threads in this video

  • restate · Does science diminish wonder? — Hank says the image gives him a rare secular mysterium tremendum: the planet holds art probably made by two human species, and an archaeologist's drawing of it shows the depth and complexity of our story. (00:03:17)

Mentioned

Central: cave painting · mysterium tremendum · Neanderthal

Also: Organizations: Bluesky

Concepts: biochemistry · Denisovan · extinction · Homo floresiensis · interbreeding between archaic and modern humans · Radiometric dating · religion

Places: Africa · Asia · Earth · Milwaukee · Spain

Only in the description or credits: DFTBA Records

Also centred on cave painting: How Young Is History?

Also centred on mysterium tremendum: Views

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