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Australian Aborigines

 

AUSTRALIAN ABORIGENES

The first cuneiform texts appeared at the dawn of the Sumerian civilization in the period between 3500-3100 BCE. Due to the fact that before this interval there was no writing, an older text mentioning ligamentum capitis femoris (LCF) will never be found. Perhaps a drawing or pictogram of it will be found on a stone.

Our assumption is inspired by the study of the rock art of the Australian Aborigines in the style of «X-ray art». Ancient artists, depicting animals and people, often drew bones, internal and external organs, and also designated joints. The minimum age of the early X-ray painting on the western Arnhem Land Escarpment in northern Australia is 5068-6636 years (2017JonesT_WesleyD). Here, in the area of the Burrungui (Nourlangie) and Madjedbebe (Malakunanja II) shelters, rich in rock art, human settlements existed 24-20 Kya (2017MaySK_SanzID). Modern comprehensive analysis indicates the beginning of the settlement of Australia and the territory near Madjedbebe in the period 50-45 Kya (2018O’ConnellJF_CooperA). Accordingly, this is the line before which the visual art of the indigenous people cannot be found.

Among the X-ray paintings available to us for review, we did not find a clear drawing of the LCF in the projection of the hip joints. However, in one of the images «Nabulwinjbulwinj» (Nourlangie Anbangbang Rock Shelter, Northern Territory of Australia) the femur, its head, diaphysis and distal metaepiphysis are clearly outlined. In the area of the femurs and shins a network of intersecting zigzag lines is drawn. It may have depicted a cord-like system of the body (tendons-ligaments-nerves-vessels) surrounding the skeletal system. Also traced is a schematic outline of the knee joint in the form of an oblique-horizontal line and a hip joint, where an arcuate joint space is guessed.

Aboriginal rock art, Anbangbang shelter, Kakadu National Park, Australia Author: Thomas Schoch; source: wikimedia.org collection (license CC BY-SA 3.0, color correction).


We studied the drawing in detail, when it was enlarged, cleared its right part from visual defects and digital noise. We have increased the contrast and clarity, and adjusted the color scheme. The main emphasis is on the right lower limb and the hip joint of the same name. As a result, a certain artifact appeared in the lower section of the image of the femoral head. It was connected to a zigzag line by a cord-like system of the femur, following in the distal direction. If our actions were correct, then it cannot be ruled out that the oldest stylized image of LCF has been discovered.

A fragment of a drawing from the Nourlangie region of the Anbangbang rock shelter in the Australian National Park Kakadu; on the right half of the body, we have removed digital defects and made the following designations: 1 - head of the femur; 2 - femoral diaphysis; 3 - distal metaepiphysis of the femur; 4 - knee joint; 5 – tibia diaphysis, arrow indicates the supposed image of LCF (Author of the original photo: Thomas Schoch; Anbangbang Rock Shelter, Kakadu National Park, Australia Date 5 August 2005 Source Thomas Schoch at retas.de).

It is possible to clarify our version only by directly examining the picture in Kakadu National Park. We hope that this study will be carried out someday and will confirm or refute the opinion expressed by us. In any case, the discussed drawing shows one of the earliest schematic images of the human hip joint, aged 24-5 thousand years.


References

Jones T, Levchenko V, Wesley D. How old is X-ray art? Minimum age determinations for early X-ray rock art from the ‘Red Lily’(Wulk) Lagoon rock art precinct, western Arnhem Land. In: David B, Taçon PSC, Delannoy J-JG, Jean-Michel, (Eds). The Archaeology of Rock Art in Western Arnhem Land, Australia, 47. ANU Press, 2017:129-143. [books.google]

May SK, Taçon PSC, Wrigth D, Marshall M, Goldhahn J, Sanz ID. The roc art of Madjedbebe (Malakunanja II). In: David B, Taçon PSC, Delannoy J-JG, Jean-Michel, (Eds). The Archaeology of Rock Art in Western Arnhem Land, Australia, 47. ANU Press, 2017:87-107. [books.google]

O’Connell JF, Allen J, Williams MA, Williams AN, Turney CS, Spooner NA, ... Cooper A. When did Homo sapiens first reach Southeast Asia and Sahul?. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences2018;115(34)8482-90. [pnas.org]


Keywords

ligamentum capitis femoris, ligamentum teres, ligament of head of femur, doctrine, drawing, anatomy, Australia, aborigines, observation


                                                                     

The original text in Russian is available at the link: Австралийские аборигены 

NB! Fair practice / use: copied for the purposes of criticism, review, comment, research and private study in accordance with Copyright Laws of the US: 17 U.S.C. §107; Copyright Law of the EU: Dir. 2001/29/EC, art.5/3a,d; Copyright Law of the RU: ГК РФ ст.1274/1.1-2,7


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