23,000 year old stone wall found at entrance to cave in Greece

March 22, 2010
Photo provided by the Greek Culture Ministry shows an prehistorical stone wall

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An undated handout photo provided by the Greek Culture Ministry shows an prehistorical stone wall. The ministry said Greek experts discovered the oldest stony wall of the country, blocking the entrance of a cavern for 23,000 years in Thessalia, in the north.

The oldest stone wall in Greece, which has stood at the entrance of a cave in Thessaly for the last 23,000 years, has been discovered by palaeontologists, the ministry of culture said Monday.

The age of the find, determined by an optical dating test, singles it out as "probably one of the oldest in the world", according to a ministry press release.

"The dating matches the coldest period of the most recent ice age, indicating that the cavern's paleolithic inhabitants built it to protect themselves from the cold", said the ministry.

The wall blocked two-thirds of the entrance to the , located close to Kalambaka, itself near the popular tourist area and monastic centre of Meteora in central . Greek palaeontologists have been excavating the site for the last 25 years.

(c) 2010 AFP

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frajo
Mar 22, 2010

Rank: 5 / 5 (1)
What is an optical dating test?
jonnyboy
Mar 22, 2010

Rank: 4.3 / 5 (3)
Hmmmmmmmmm......lemme look at that..........I would guess it's about 20-25,000 years old...........LOL

But seriously, this link will explain it to you
http://en.wikiped...l_dating
NeilFarbstein
Mar 22, 2010

Rank: 3.3 / 5 (3)
they really dont know why it was built. Maybe they were holing up in a cave to keep warm but the wall might have been there to keep invaders or animals out.
Caliban
Mar 22, 2010

Rank: 1 / 5 (1)
It appears to be less "built" than "piled". Maybe just the remnant of a slurry of rubble washed into the cave mouth during the Flood? I jest!
Mandan
Mar 23, 2010

Rank: not rated yet
"Optical dating is a method of determining how long ago minerals were last exposed to daylight. It is useful to geologists and archaeologists who want to know when such an event occurred." The Wikipedia

neoconstantine
Apr 05, 2010

Rank: not rated yet
The age of the our specie is determined circa 80000 years. This find has 23000 years. Over 57000 years, people could learn to build walls.
Thulefoth
Apr 08, 2010

Rank: not rated yet
People appear to have been making serious maritime voyages for twice this long.

High-class art had hung on the walls of French caves, for 10,000 years when this wall was built.

The great majority of people would not have a cave available: most lived in open settings, and built structures for shelter and other purposes

But most construction was of organic materials, and did not last.

We probably get some wrong ideas, by placing too much weight on what we find in caves: they were never "representative" living-contexts.
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