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London: Scientists claim to have discovered a
‘prehistoric version of Facebook’ used by Bronze Age
tribes to communicate with each other. Studying
thousands of images scrawled across two granite rock
sites in Russia and Sweden, a Cambridge University team
claimed the sites were like an “archaic version” of the
social networks where users shared thoughts and emotions
and gave stamps of approval to other contributions —
similar to the Facebook “like”.
“There’s clearly something quite special about these
spaces. I think people went there
because they knew people had been there before them,
study researcher Mark Sapwell said. “Like today, people
have always wanted to feel connected to each other —
this was an expression of identity for these very early
societies, before written language,” he said.
Scientists believe ancient man continued to go back
to the exact same locations to draw and communicate for
thousands of years as it provided them with “comfort”
and a deep human “connection”.
According to Sapwell, the sites they are
investigating — one in Zalavruga in Russia and another
in Namforsen, northern Sweden — contain around 2,500
images such as animals, humans, boats and hunting
parties.
Sapwell said, “Like a Facebook status invites
comment, the rock art invites addition — the way the
variations of image both mirror and reinterpret act as a
kind of call and response between different packs of
hunters across hundreds — even thousands — of years.” |
