YouTube Video Here: https://www.youtube.com/embed/hJnEQCMA5Sg?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1

In 2007, paleoanthropologist and rock art researcher Genevieve von Petzinger decided to set out to study geometric signs found in caves and other sites, dating back as far as 40,000 years ago during the Stone Age. While most people are familiar with the familiar petroglyphs of animals, little was known about the symbols alongside them, even though there are far more of them. After traveling across the globe, Von Petzinger was able to document a group of symbols that appear in sites all over the planet. Her findings suggest a common early communication system dating back much further than the first written languages of Ancient Sumer 3,000 years ago.

“The funny thing is that at most sites the geometric signs far outnumber the animal and human images,” said Genevieve von Petzinger. “But when I started on this back in 2007, there wasn’t even a definitive list of how many different shapes there was; nor was there a strong sense of whether the same ones appeared across space or time.”

The paleoanthropologist set out to compile a database of all the known geometric signs at rock art sites in Ice Age Europe. She found that there was vague information on some of the locations and that some hadn’t been studied in half a century or more. She and her husband, Dillon, decided to target the lesser-studied sites across France, Spain, Portugal, and Sciliy. They found a treasure trove of new geometric signs.

“We found new undocumented geometric signs at 75 percent of the sites we visited,” she explained.

The couple ventured deep into cave systems and found symbols on walls a mile into the earth in some cases. Later, she traveled to other sites, including in North America. Armed with a growing database of symbols, the researchers started to see some stunning similarities.

“Barring a handful out outliers, there are only 32 geometric signs. Only 32 signs across a 30,000-year time span and the entire continent of Europe. That is a very small number,” she explained. “Now if these were random doodles or decorations, we would expect to see a lot more variation, but instead what we find are the same signs repeating across both space and time.”

The researchers found that 65 percent of the signs stayed in use over the course of thousands of years. Some signs appeared to be locally used without wide distribution, while some were used across the world, all the way to Indonesia and Australia. They seem to have agreed-upon culturally-recognized meanings.

“It’s starting to seem increasingly likely that this invention actually traces back to a common point of origin in Africa,” said Von Petzinger.

The geometric shapes aren’t like a written representation of a spoken language but are stylized abstract representations of things people saw in the world around them.

“If we’re talking about geometric shapes, with specific culturally-recognized, agreed-upon meanings, then we could very well be looking at one of the oldest systems of graphic communication in the world,” said Von Petzinger.

These early representations may be the first inspirations for what later developed into abstracted written language. She thinks of them as similar to emojis today.? ? ? ?

“If you think about it, these [geometric signs] are like the great, great, great grandparents of emojis; simple little characters with huge amounts of information embedded into them,” she said. “But you need to be part of the culture group to be able to decipher it. You have to know the code.”

Now that the researchers have found the common symbols, they are working translate what they mean. Objects like a 16,000-year-old necklace from a burial site in France may serve as a helpful decoder. In this case, the necklace is covered with 45 different signs. (see below)

You can find out more in the book “The First Signs: Unlocking the Mysteries of the World’s Oldest Symbols,” by Genevieve von Petzinger.

It’s fascinating to know that ancient geometric symbols appear around the world dating back 40,000 years, though some experts point out that ancient humans created symbolic markings as far back as 500,000 years ago.

Homo erectus made world’s oldest doodle 500,000 years ago http://t.co/tXLxALlRae pic.twitter.com/qQ1Be6pjoq

— nature (@Nature) December 4, 2014

See Genevieve von Petzinger discuss this topic in her TED Talk and National Geographic below:

YouTube Video Here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSF4zk2nsTU

Featured image: Screenshot via YouTube

Formed as a result of the natural processes that created quarries and other natural phenomena millions of years ago underground, the city of Paris and its catacombs are famed for many reasons. Probably one of the most macabre is that it contains about 150 miles of quarries under its streets, complete with the bones of over six million people buried in them. Lauded as one of the most infamous tourist sites in the country, the catacombs are a complex maze that has a rich, if not dark, history.

What began as a new promise of wealth and big city life resulted in massive overcrowding in the 1700s. This overcrowding naturally led to disease and death, and Paris’ cemeteries weren’t big enough to contain all of the bodies that resulted. With the city’s cemeteries full to the brink and the smell of rotting bodies killing the local economy, along with morale and trade, the city closed the Les Innocents Cemetery in 1780; said to be the biggest at the time in France.

According to one report:

“By May 1780, the cemetery was literally bursting at the seams. A cellar wall of a property bordering Les Innocents split open under the pressure of excess burials and spring rains, causing a gush of half-decomposed bodies and disease to flood into the basement.”

After closing the quarries due to multiple instances of the Parisian streets collapsing as a result of the massive digging that was mostly unregulated, they were dedicated on April 7, 1786, as a consecrated site for a final resting place for the overcrowded cemeteries, also closed. Between 1787 and 1814, Parisians worked day and night to carry the bones from the closed cemeteries to the quarries, called an ossuary. It was opened to the public even before the transfer was complete in 1809.

Ultimately, the last bones from other cemeteries, in addition to Saint-Eustache and Saint Etienne-de-Grès, were finally placed into the catacombs by 1814, and others the final bones placed about 1860.

Sadly, because the work was dangerous and quite horrible, only poorer Parisians would accept the work. According to a report, they could only move older, decomposed bodies and any skeleton that they unearthed that still contained human flesh had to be burned to the bone. Additionally, some parts of Les Innocents were “left untouched because some mass graves were too recent for their bodies to be exhumed.”

Because the initial deposit of bones was haphazard, simply thrown into piles, Inspector Héricart De Thury ordered that workers rearrange them, an order that ultimately resulted in today’s arrangement.

Tourists can visit the catacombs to this day but are restricted only to specific areas that cover about a mile of the tunnels because visiting the other areas was rendered illegal since 1955. This was largely because many people have gotten lost and, as a result, died in the tunnels, not to mention the very hazardous nature of the underground structures.

One story in particular notes that three teens had to be rescued because they got lost for three days. Another is a bit creepier, as a few cataphiles (what illegal catacomb explorers are called) found a camcorder of an unnamed man who apparently got lost as well. Said to be a seasoned cataphile, he allegedly got disoriented, panicked and dropped the camera, only to run off in the darkness. He was allegedly never seen again. The recovered footage was aired in a documentary in the 2000s (view it below).

Over the years, many people have gotten lost and were never seen again. Also, over the years, many people have gotten lost and made it out alive. You can find many such videos of their adventures on YouTube.

Recently, improvements were made to the catacombs, and it was eventually turned over to the Carnavalet Museum – History of Paris in 2002. The museum still controls and takes care of the catacombs today. If you wish to visit the catacombs, you can get more information on the site and on what you’ll need to do to prepare to enter the ossuary. This includes purchasing a ticket. But if you do visit, remember that while being one of the most beautiful sites, it is also a sacred site, and you should venture underground accordingly.

View the documentary of the lost footage here:

Featured Image: Screenshot via YouTube Video