September 17th: Holland was feeling a little better this morning, so, around noon we decided to get out of the house 😉 & go for a short loop drive - for fresh air & a change of scenery that did not involve 4 walls 🌞🚘
We spent time sitting and watching rivers in 3 different locations - and talking between us about different topics; topics that wouldn't mean anything to anyone else, but us 💞
Driving up the road a bit & sitting and watching the activity at the Olequa Crossing Boat Ramp, I was surprised to see how low the water was 📸; but Holland says that happens here, sometimes.
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The next destination we drove to 🚘, was the Cowlitz River Boat Launch, in Toledo. I like this place; even though freeway traffic flows steadily across the bridge above the parking lot, it's kinda peaceful - the first time I was here, was a couple months ago with Holland: he has fished here for decades 🦈 I like driving the short jump road too, that goes under the overpass bridge & ties Mandy Road into Jackson Highway.
Just as we pulled into the boat ramp's graveled parking lot, I caught sight of a strange looking duck 📸 I could see that it was not a wild duck. Someone's strange looking domestic duck had flown the coop at some point and was enjoying it's freedom. We watched it for a while while we enjoyed the sunshine, each other's company, and the easy flowing convo between us - I researched it when we got back home 💻:
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{{Magpie Ducks are among the few black and white domestic ducks in the world.
This species is always black and white, as this was a characteristic the ducks were intentionally bred for, in Europe.
Magpie Ducks were intended to look like The Common Magpie, which is also black and white.
Mostly white, the duck shows a black crest, black wings, and a black tail. Their black and white look is only contrasted by an orange beak and orange legs.
In their first year, both sexes usually show a bright yellow or orange bill. Magpie ducks do not have pure yellow legs, but their orange legs (sometimes mottled) can appear yellowish, particularly in younger bird. So while they are not “yellow-legged” in the sense of a pure, bright lemon color, the orange hue of their legs can be perceived as yellow, especially in younger ducks or in certain lighting. This is a normal and expected trait for the breed.
Blue and black are also color combinations sometimes accepted for Magpie Ducks.
A species with diminishing numbers across The United Kingdom and Europe, Magpie Ducks are now bred for show.
Their intentional initial breeding was focused on meat and egg production.}}
Coming back into Castle Rock from Toledo 🚘, Holland said, "How about we go down by the river - then, we stop by Burger King on the way home for some ice cream?"
Deal! 💞😘
While watching the river, we watched a flat bottom boat gently float past us … and several fish jumped, happily in the sunshine, putting on a silvery show 😊📸🦈
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{{Discovery of 270 Engraved Ostrich Eggshells in South Africa
Archaeologists have uncovered 270 engraved ostrich eggshell fragments inside a South African cave, representing some of the oldest known decorated containers — dating back about 60,000 years.
Where and when: The find came from the Diepkloof Rock Shelter in the Kalahari region of South Africa, part of the Howiesons Poort cultural tradition. The fragments were recovered from a cave deposit that preserves Ice Age artifacts, and the engravings were made by Kalahari hunters during the late Middle Paleolithic period.
What the fragments are: The pieces are remnants of ostrich eggshell canteens — durable, portable containers carved with geometric patterns such as grids, diamonds, and parallel lines. These designs are thought to form a visual grammar predating written language, possibly serving as symbolic or functional markings.
Significance: According to researchers Pierre‑Jean Texier and Silvia Ferrara, the engravings reveal a sophisticated understanding of geometry and design among early humans, and suggest that these containers were not only practical water vessels but also carried cultural or symbolic meaning. The fact that they were engraved so early shows that decorative art and symbolic thought were part of human life tens of thousands of years ago.
Preservation and context: The cave environment protected the fragile eggshells from decay, allowing them to survive for tens of millennia. The discovery expands the known range of decorated artifacts from this period and provides rare evidence of artistic expression and tool-making in the Ice Age.
Why it matters: This find links early human technology (containers) with art and symbolism, offering insights into the cognitive and cultural development of our ancestors. It also highlights the importance of preserving such sites, as they contain unique, irreplaceable evidence of prehistoric life.
In short, the 270 engraved ostrich eggshells are a remarkable archaeological treasure - a direct window into the creativity, ingenuity, and symbolic world of Ice Age hunters in the Kalahari.
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Discovery Date of Ostrich Egg Fragments at Diepkloof Rock Shelter
The engraved ostrich eggshell fragments from Diepkloof Rock Shelter in the Western Cape, South Africa, were first recovered during archaeological excavations that began in 1973 by John Parkington and Cedric Poggenpoel.
These early finds included ostrich eggshell material, but the internationally significant engraved fragments — dating to about 60,000 years ago and associated with the Howiesons Poort lithic industry — were identified and studied in more detail during ongoing excavations from 1999 onwards in collaboration between the University of Cape Town and the University of Bordeaux.
The engraved fragments themselves, which display standardized geometric motifs, were part of a large assemblage of over 270 pieces documented in a 2010 study by Pierre‑Jean Texier and colleagues. This work confirmed their age and symbolic importance, but the physical recovery of the fragments predates that by several decades, with the initial excavation work in the 1970s and continued fieldwork in the late 1990s and 2000s.
In summary: First excavations: 1973 (Parkington & Poggenpoel)
Key engraved fragment studies: 2010 (Texier et al.)
Ongoing research: Since 1999, with major finds documented in the 2000s
These ostrich eggshell fragments are now recognized as some of the earliest known examples of symbolic engraving by modern humans, and the site was inscribed as part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site “The Emergence of Modern Human Behaviour: The Pleistocene Occupation Sites of South Africa” in 2024
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Humanity’s oldest geometries, engraved on ostrich eggs
An analysis of the markings found on hundreds of eggshell fragments dating back more than 60,000 years, unearthed between South Africa and Namibia, has revealed our ancestors’ remarkable ability to organise visual space according to abstract principles.
At several archaeological sites in southern Africa, hundreds of highly unusual fragments of ostrich eggs have been found. Dating back more than 60,000 years, the shells were engraved by groups of Homo sapiens who lived in that region.
A new investigation, led by researchers from the University of Bologna, has now revealed for the first time that these engravings on ostrich eggshells were not random or improvised, but followed recurring and surprisingly organised geometric rules. The study – published in the journal PLOS One – shows the presence of a genuine cognitive organisation of forms, based on parallelism, orthogonality and the repetition of lines and regular patterns.
“These signs reveal a surprisingly structured, geometric way of thinking,” says Silvia Ferrara, Professor at the University of Bologna’s Department of Classical Philology and Italian Studies, who coordinated the study. “We are talking about people who did not simply draw lines, but organised them according to recurring principles – parallelisms, grids, rotations and systematic repetitions: a visual grammar in embryo.”
The ostrich eggshells were most likely used as water containers. The researchers carried out a quantitative and systematic investigation of 112 fragments from two South African archaeological sites (Diepkloof and Klipdrift) and one site in Namibia (Apollo 11). By applying methods of geometric and statistical analysis never previously used on these artefacts, the study made it possible to reconstruct in detail the lines, angles and trajectories of the markings.
The results show that more than 80% of the configurations analysed display coherent spatial regularities, with repeated use of angles close to 90° and groups of parallel lines. The most complex compositions – such as hatched bands, grids and diamond-shaped motifs – reveal cognitive operations of rotation, translation, repetition and “embedding”, i.e. the ability to build hierarchical levels of signs within the same surface.
“These engravings are organized and consistent, and show mastery of geometric relationships,” Ferrara explains. “There is not only a process of repeating signs: there is real visuo-spatial planning, as if the authors already had an overall image of the figure in mind before engraving it.”
Beyond the possible meanings of the markings, the authors stress that the implications of the study concern above all the cognitive foundations that made it possible to create these decorations. The ability to construct visual configurations structured according to specific rules can be seen as a key indicator of the emergence of abstract thought – a crucial step in the evolution of human thinking.
“Our analysis shows that Homo sapiens 60,000 years ago already possessed a remarkable ability to organise visual space according to abstract principles,” notes Valentina Decembrini, PhD student at the University of Bologna’s Department of Classical Philology and Italian Studies and first author of the study. “Transforming simple forms into complex systems by following defined rules is a deeply human trait that has characterised our history over millennia, from the creation of decorations to the development of symbolic systems and, ultimately, writing.”
The study was published in PLOS One under the title “Earliest Geometries. A Cognitive Investigation of Howiesons Poort Engraved Ostrich Eggshells”. The authors are Valentina Decembrini, Ludovica Ottaviano, Mattia Cartolano, Enza Elena Spinapolice and Silvia Ferrara.
The research was carried out as part of the FIS Advanced project SAPIENCE – Symbols, Preliteracy and Code Evolution, directed by Professor Silvia Ferrara, in collaboration with Professor Enza Spinapolice of Sapienza University of Rome.
~Various Info Sources}}
Then, I stretched for a bit in bed 🧘; before allowing the Sandman his time 😉
It was a good Day, filled with enjoyable destinations 😊
