Quicunque

This is beautiful, isn't it? It could be a modernist paining - something by Klee, perhaps? No, it's actually the oldest wall-painting in the world - 11,000 years old.

It was uncovered at the Neolithic settlement of Djade al-Mughara on the Euphrates, northeast of the city of Aleppo in northern Syria, and forms part of an adobe circular wall of a large house with a wooden roof. The red came from burnt hematite rock, the white from crushed limestone and the black from charcoal. Surely it can be no coincidence that similar geometric designs can been seen even in Turkish and Levantine kilims today?

The Neolithic inhabitants of Djade al-Mughara were hunter-gathers, and the several villages that have been found in this region seem to have co-existed peacefully. The structure in which the painting was found seems to have been a communal house, which was stuffed with mud when the village was abandoned at a later date. A large number of flints and weapons have been found at the site as well as human skeletons buried under houses.

Source

Maybe not the first person to point out the "cabinet-of-curiosities" analogy, as he himself admits, but surely one of the most fluent explanations, Julian Dibbell explains why weblogs are the modern equivalent of Renaissance cabinets of curiosities, or Wunderkammern:

"The genealogy of Web logs points not to the world of letters but to the early history of museums -- to the "cabinet of wonders," or Wunderkammer, that marked the scientific landscape of Renaissance modernity: a random collection of strange, compelling objects, typically compiled and owned by a learned, well-off gentleman. A set of ostrich feathers, a few rare shells, a South Pacific coral carving, a mummified mermaid -- the Wunderkammer mingled fact and legend promiscuously, reflecting European civilization’s dazed and wondering attempts to assimilate the glut of physical data that science and exploration were then unleashing. Just so, the Web log reflects our own attempts to assimilate the glut of immaterial data loosed upon us by the "discovery" of the networked world."

This is fascinating - I love this kind of history mystery!

"When a Yorkshire archaeology group began excavating some 17th century lime kilns in the Dales National Park, they expected to find remains linked to the once important industry.
Instead, they found a mysterious collection of horse bones buried inside the kilns, which had then been backfilled. Members of the Ingleborough Archaeology Group are now looking for clues to the significance of the strange burial. One theory is that the remains were ritually buried to ward off evil before the kilns were abandoned."
Mystery Of Horse Bones Found In 17th Century Yorkshire Lime Kilns

Burials of horse skulls go back to the Iron Age, at least. Even as late as the 18th century workmen were burying horse skulls in buildings, but the mystery here is why the skulls were deliberately placed when the kilns were closed down.