Even in the 21st century, there are still many unsolved mysteries in the world.
For example, how exactly were the Egyptian pyramids built?
In the eighties of the last century, a French diving enthusiast found a cave at a depth of 37 meters under the sea, which contained frescoes more than 20,000 years ago.
This makes people wonder: "How did hominid man dive to the bottom of 37 meters 20,000 years ago?" ”
What's going on here?
Submarine exploration in Kosque
In 1985, Henri Kosque, a professional deep-sea diver in France, accidentally discovered the entrance to an undersea cave during a dive.
Curious about the unknown world and eager to explore, Koske did not report the discovery to the government, but secretly explored the cave several times with friends.
The cave resembles a long tunnel full of winding passages, the entrance is 37 meters deep from the sea, but because the cave is completely submerged by the sea, many attempts have failed.
After five years of repeated exploration, Koske finally found an area of the cave that was not flooded by the sea in 1990.
Kosque found that the inner part of the cave was not flooded, forming a closed cavity, and that it was also an upward sloping cave.
Deep inside the cave, Kosk was pleasantly surprised to find a large number of animal murals and handprints left by ancient humans, which made him realize that this was probably the place where ancient humans lived.
Kosk later recalled that when he first discovered the cave entrance, he didn't realize how big the entrance was due to the poor view of the sea's light.
At first, he thought it was just some seaweed-covered rock gaps, but when he tentatively illuminated the flashlight inward, he found that it was a dark passage extending downward, and he was immediately excited.
Koske himself is not an archaeology major, but he has been passionate about exploration since he was a child, and joined the diving team to find underwater ruins, and this accidental discovery undoubtedly stimulated his curiosity, but due to the limited equipment conditions, he could only move cautiously near the cave entrance.
In the days that followed, Koske began to prepare equipment to go deep into the cave, and he bought oxygen cylinders for a longer period of time, as well as professional lighting equipment, surveying and mapping equipment, etc.
At the same time, he also selected several more reliable divers among his close friends to discuss plans for when to explore the sea again.
Kosque's discovery quickly caused a sensation in society, and many civilian expeditions wanted to come and explore, but the cave was blocked by the government and only scientific research teams were allowed to enter.
A government-mounted archaeological team conducted a detailed survey of the cave and confirmed that the entrance was 37 meters deep from sea level, and the passage was narrow and dark, making it difficult to enter, but they managed to enter the cave and saw the frescoes and handprints found by Kosque.
The archaeological team conducted detailed surveys and mappings inside the cave, and they found that the cave was irregular in shape, and some passages were so narrow that they could only enter the wider space after passing through.
The walls of the cave are slippery and full of traces of water currents, and archaeological experts speculate that the place has probably suffered repeated erosion by seawater, while traces of dripping water can be seen in the depths of the cave, indicating that the roof of the cave is close to the surface, which also provides very important geological conditions information for archaeology.
On the cave walls, archaeologists have found a large number of primitive paintings, which are mainly animal images, including horses, bison, seals, turtles, fish, etc.
According to expert research, the mural was created 19,000 years ago, while the appearance of palm prints is even earlier, dating back to 27,000 years ago.
Why did primitive people paint in the Kosk cave
Located on the Mediterranean coast of southern France, the discovery of the Cosco Cave as an undersea cave has given humans a new understanding of prehistoric civilizations.
The murals are scientifically dated to at least 19,000 years ago.
So, back in prehistoric times, why did primitive people create murals in such deep underwater caves?
The mainstream view is that it was the last ice age, most of the earth's water sources were frozen, and the sea level was more than 100 meters lower than it is now.
The location of the Kosk Cave was actually a high mountain 20,000 years ago, not at the bottom of the sea.
In order to escape the cold and go into the mountains for warmth, primitive people also used caves as habitats and created these murals on rock walls.
Then the sea level rose and the cave was submerged to the bottom of the sea.
This explanation seems reasonable, but there are some doubts.
For example, horse portraits in Kosk cave clearly have long manes, but wild horses usually have short manes, and horses with long manes are more likely to be domesticated, which means that primitive people may have begun to domesticate horses at that time, but the history of horse taming is generally considered to be later than prehistory.
It is also believed that primitive people only saw a mustang with a long mane and painted it on the cave wall.
In addition to land animals, marine life such as seals, seabirds and octopuses have also appeared in the cave paintings, indicating that primitive people also lived by the sea during the ice break and painted the creatures they saw in the cave, and experts are conducting a comprehensive investigation of the cave, hoping to find more clues and restore the life of primitive people.
There is also a doubt that if it was really in the extremely cold ice age at that time, whether primitive people had the ability to climb over the mountains and enter the alpine caves, this also needs to be investigated.
There is also a different view of this.
There is a view that 20,000 years ago, the earth may not be in a typical ice age, may be a warm interglacial period, primitive people did not climb over the mountains into caves, but relied on strong breath-holding ability to dive from the bottom of the sea.
This is mainly based on two points: one is that the earth's ice ages appear periodically, 20,000 years ago may not be in the cold ice age, and the other is that primitive people living on the seashore may have evolved stronger spleen function and can hold their breath underwater for longer.
There is also some basis for this statement, such as the Bajau people, who live by the sea today, can generally hold their breath underwater for up to 10 minutes.
From the perspective of evolutionary theory, the long-term adaptation of the living environment can promote evolutionary changes in the body, so the ability of primitive people to enter caves cannot be underestimated.
And the underwater passage of the Kosk cave is only 122 meters, which is not completely impossible for primitive people with special functions.
Of course, experts still disagree on how primitive people entered the cave.
The secret of the cave
Some people believe that this cave is likely to be the residence of primitive people, after all, in ancient times, the cave could provide a natural shield for primitive people to shelter from the wind and cold, and also to avoid the invasion of beasts.
The Kosk cave space is large, up to 175 meters deep, is the ideal living environment for primitive people, primitive people into the cave to avoid the cold and beasts, is a common way of survival, the cave interior is warm, comfortable and pleasant for primitive people, and the cave can also provide enough space for the descendants of primitive people to survive.
There is also speculation that the cave was a place where primitive people stored food.
Because the cave is located at the bottom of the sea, the temperature is low and constant, and food can be preserved for a long time, especially in the cold winter, which is of great significance to primitive people, and the animal paintings on the cave wall may be a record of the storage of food by primitive people.
Primitive people stored food in caves, just like using a huge refrigerator, food can be stored for a long time without decay, and primitive people will also use caves to store food at low temperatures in summer.
Not only that, but it is also believed that the cave may have been used for mining, where primitive people searched for hard stones to make weapons.
The cave may be rich in mineral resources, such as hard stones that can be used to make stone tools, which played an important role in the making of weapons by primitive people.
Some people also feel that the cave can be used as a prison, where prisoners are held, as long as a guard post is set up at the entrance of the cave, prisoners cannot escape, and the dim light in the cave will also blow the spirit of the prisoner.
The jury is still out on the function of the cave.
But regardless of the cave's purpose, 20,000-year-old frescoes prove that it was once an important place for primitive people.
With the advancement of archaeological technology, the mysteries of the cave will eventually be further revealed.
The traces of primitive people in the caves tell a distant history.
We look forward to one day completely unlocking the secrets of this cave and restoring the life of primitive people.
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