Chapter 817 Fried Eggs
In 1956, Henri Roth led a French expedition that discovered 10,000 murals in the Sahara Desert.
The following year, he brought back to Paris copies and photographs of the murals, covering a total area of about 11,600 square feet, which became a worldwide sensation.
Judging from the large number of ancient artifacts unearthed, about 10,000 to 4,000 years ago, the Sahara was not a desert, but a prairie, an oasis with lush vegetation. At that time, many tribes or ethnic groups lived on this beautiful and fertile land and created a highly developed culture.
The main features of this culture are the widespread use of polished stone tools and the manufacture of pottery, which are signs of the development of productivity. The murals also contain Saharan and Tifinagh scripts, indicating that the culture at that time had developed to a fairly high level.
This news was undoubtedly extremely shocking and sensational at the time. No one could have imagined that the yellow sand land covering more than nine million square kilometers had once been a dense forest and grassland.
Nowadays, humans have already had a more detailed understanding of the history of the Earth, and with these two things confirmed, it is not worth making a fuss about it.
However, when everyone saw the herds of cattle and sheep on the mural and compared it with the desolate scene outside the cave, they could still feel the shock and surprise.
The expression form or technique of the murals is not complicated, but the content is rich and colorful.
Judging from the strokes, a rough and simple touch comes naturally.
Bifang moved closer and gently blew away the dust on the wall. The picture instantly became clearer and even the colors seemed to become brighter.
“Before the industrial age, pigments were very expensive.”
"But humans have never lacked ingenuity in making pigments. During the Ice Age, when human life was brutal and short, they still found time to create art."
"Blombos Cave on the coast of West Africa has unearthed remains of tools dating back 100,000 years: grinding stones and hammers for pounding red ochre pigment, and abalone shells for mixing animal fat and urine to decorate bodies, hides, and cave walls."
“The rock paintings in the Chauvet, Lascaux and Altamira caves, dating from 1,500 to 3,500 years ago, were made using black charcoal, chalk and bone fragments, as well as reddish and yellowish ochre iron oxide minerals, which are evidence of the early human skill in using color.”
"But the classic red cannot be extracted from iron oxide minerals, because the red of the latter comes from the earth and is not as noble as the red of sunset or blood in chroma."
"Most of the murals were painted with different rocks and soils, such as red iron oxide, white kaolin, ochre, green or blue shale, and some used blood and animal fat , like the one in front of us."
Bifang leaned in and smelled it. Even though thousands of years had passed, he could still smell something different. It was a wounded cow with blood gushing out of its belly. Perhaps in order to make it more vivid, the painter had used real blood.
Perhaps because time has passed too long, the red color of blood can no longer be seen on the mural, but instead it looks more like brown.
However, the colors in other places are more vivid, and you can see the red color at a glance.
Bifang went forward and smelled it.
“The red rocks on the terrace are ground into powder and then added with water as pigment. The pigment fully penetrates into the rock wall and causes chemical changes due to long-term contact with the rock wall, thus dissolving into the whole. Therefore, the vividness of the picture can be maintained for a long time. After thousands of years, the colors are still bright and dazzling after being exposed to wind and sun.”
“It’s a rather strange phenomenon.”
[What skill is it to use your nose to judge the type of paint?]
I want to learn this.
[Why do you want to learn everything? I won’t teach you! ]
【Diablo】
In addition to cattle and sheep, there are also many human figures on the rock wall that stretches for more than ten meters.
Many of them are majestic warriors, showing an awe-inspiring and inviolable majestic demeanor, holding spears and round shields, riding on chariots at a rapid speed, depicting the scene of going to war.
Some of them are wearing loincloths and small hats; some are unarmed and seem to be playing percussion instruments; some seem to be making offerings, as if welcoming the arrival of the "God", perhaps a symbolic portrayal of worshiping the gods; some of the figures are in dancing postures.
As for what was inside, it was too dark to see clearly, and Bifang did not dare to light a torch.
"To be honest, I don't know much about murals. I can only match them from a historical perspective and chemical pigments. I can't analyze them from a cultural perspective."
【Teacher Fang joked】
[I only know a little bit]
[Look, the boss’s humility]
"However, in addition to cultural value, the murals also have many other practical values, such as historical climate change. In addition to natural sampling and analysis, the study of historical climate is also inseparable from such historical data. The two are mutually reinforcing."
Proxy evidence for reconstructing historical climate generally falls into two main categories.
The first is historical documentary records, which can be roughly divided into weather records, meteorological disaster records, phenological records, regional climate characteristics and their impact records, etc.
The second is natural proxy evidence, which currently mainly includes tree rings, ice cores, stalagmites, corals, lake and bay sediments, etc.
"Historical climate research is an important part of historical geography, especially historical physical geography. Its main purpose is to study the history of climate, reveal the laws of past climate change, and use the past to serve the present."
"Many studies have pointed out that the era of human influence on the natural evolution of the earth has arrived. When the human living environment faces severe challenges such as global warming and frequent extreme weather and climate events, it becomes extremely important to study climate change in historical periods."
"Well, since there are murals here, we should not disturb them. The pigments are very sensitive to carbon dioxide."
"The Altamira cave paintings, one of the 12 treasures of Spain, were severely damaged in the 1960s and 1970s because of the carbon dioxide brought in by a large number of tourists."
"It has been open to the public with limited capacity since then, and now the waiting list for visitors is three years later."
"Let's try another cave and see if there's anything missing."
After taking a final look at the murals, Bifang led Alpha out of the cave and went to several other caves on the same rock wall to take a look. They found that in addition to the one they had just seen, there were also corresponding paintings in the other caves, accounting for about two-thirds of the total.
In those caves without murals, Bifang also found some other interesting things.
"In the wild, when you come across a cave, don't rush to explore it. Dark and humid caves are the favorite shelters for many poisonous creatures, especially in the desert. During the day, the sun is scorching, and animals have to find dark places to escape the heat. Caves are their first choice."
Without worrying about damaging the mural, Bifang lit a torch, half-crouched down, and used the torch to attract the attention of the poisonous snake in front of him.
"Look! A horned viper."
Bi Fang smiled.
The desert horned viper is a snake that is easily recognizable to the average person because of the two clearly visible horns on its head.
At this time, the horned viper was curled up behind a rock, its body, which was the same color as the sand, curled up tightly like a spring compressed to the extreme, and it was obviously ready to attack.
Although he had caught poisonous snakes in the desert several times, failure to catch a poisonous snake usually meant death, and there was only zero chance, so Bifang did not dare to get too close.
【I've seen it in Animal World! 】
[Are all vipers poisonous? ]
[Is this today's lunch? (dog head)]
[Fuck, this character is so domineering! ]
【Accuracy】
[Is this horn a bone? It grows on the head? That’s pretty cool]
"No, unlike the hardened keratin of rhino horns, the two horns on the head of the horned viper are extensions of the snake's normal scales. In other words, you can't see these two small horns on its skull."
"The two horns can even fold up, and when it passes through the underground sand layer, they will flatten the top of the head. They will also fold up when touched by a person."
"As a desert-dwelling snake, the horns could theoretically protect their eyes from the sun's harsh rays, keeping their vision intact while they crawl over sand dunes."
"But it's also possible that they use their horns as a lure, rubbing their scales up and down and side to side to camouflage themselves as something like a wriggling worm, and lure in rodents, which they then kill."
"One of the species' signature acts of violence is to bury itself in loose sand dunes, leaving only its eyeballs exposed so that passing animals can see only its horns and eyes."
Bifang brought the torch closer, and the audience could clearly see the snake's lower body buried in the gravel.
The cave is exposed to wind and sun all year round, and a lot of sand and gravel are accumulated within the first few meters.
"These snakes are almost never found in human habitation. They have evolved carefully to survive in desert areas. They store precious water from their recent prey and morning dew within their scales."
"It is said that Celestes in Greek mythology was created in the image of a horned viper."
Celestes is one of the lesser-known chapters of Greek mythology, a terrifying horned serpent monster.
Legend has it that this beast was created from the blood of Medusa that spilled in the Libyan desert, and it has an evil, regenerative head.
"According to legend, Celestes leaps out of the sand and drags travelers into the sand with his fangs while waiting for them to pass by. The beast moves in a sideways manner, which is said to be because Helen of Troy stepped on its back when she eloped with Paris thousands of years ago, which is exactly the same way the horned viper moves."
Instead of gliding forward, the desert horned viper, one of only four species of rattlesnakes in the world, moves directly to the side with only two small body parts touching the ground in an effort to minimize contact with the scorching desert floor.
Professional researchers can directly judge the number of scales on the abdomen of the horned viper based on the snake prints left in the sand, and then find out the body size and age.
"As for its toxicity, I won't go into detail. It's very strong and there's a chance that a bite will be fatal. The venom damages the cell membranes and the inner core of those cells. Death is usually caused by kidney failure because the cells rupture and the organs can't function properly."
[Every time they talk about how fierce and poisonous snakes are, and then they get so close to them and act so ruthlessly, it’s really annoying [Great]]
[Austin Stevens, the South African snake king, used to be on the science and education channel. I remember being bitten by a viper in one episode. I forgot whether it was a horned viper or a Gaboon viper.]
[To be honest, every time I see Fang Shen introducing venomous snakes, I get scared (covering my face)]
"And this one..."
Bifang tried to go around the horned viper and look behind it, but at this moment the horned viper suddenly made a loud rustling sound and tensed up again, about to attack, which made Bifang give up the idea of trying.
Of course, it's just an idea to wait and see, not to give up on catching it.
Bifang stared at the horned viper and explained while waving the torch in his hand.
"Horned vipers are calm, but when faced with a threat, they will curl up into a C shape and rub their bodies together to warn the enemy."
"Because their scales are quite tough, they can rub together very strongly, just like a saw-scaled viper. Both the adults and larvae of this species have this special rustling ability, and they also have a very sharp bite, so we have to be careful."
The torch emitting high heat attracted the attention of the horned viper. Bifang held a stick in his other hand and waited quietly for the opportunity.
As he said, catching poisonous snakes is a very dangerous thing, so Bifang rarely does it directly. He usually presses down the head with a tree stick and then chop off the head directly.
Bifang caught a lot of rattlesnakes using this trick.
"Not all snakes use heat sensing to hunt, but generally only the Viperinae do."
"Snakes such as rattlesnakes, pit vipers, desert vipers, and bamboo pit vipers all have extremely developed cheek pit structures and use heat sensing as the main means of locking onto prey."
The opportunity will come soon.
When the horned viper could no longer bear it and finally jumped out to attack, Bifang swung the stick in his hand down and hit the horned viper's head immediately.
The blow was so powerful that it had almost no purpose of pressing, but it directly cracked the viper's head. The pain made the viper roll wildly on the spot, and the gravel underneath twisted into messy patterns.
[The tree stick performed a great service! ]
[This gives me a headache]
[This is too accurate]
Bifang didn't let it suffer for too long. He stepped forward, seized the opportunity, pressed its head, and chopped off its head with one knife.
The only thing left of the snake was still struggling. Bifang used a stick to pick up the snake's head, and then used the stick to push away the rock where it was hiding.
As the rock rolled to the side, dozens of round eggs came into view.
Bifang flicked the brim of his hat and whistled.
"Sure enough, I was just thinking that this one seems to be a female snake. Viperidae usually lay eggs in July and August, and most snakes also lay eggs at this time."
"If I remember correctly, horned vipers are mostly active in April, and then lay eggs after fifty to eighty days, which is exactly June or July."
"We are lucky. We can have fried eggs tonight."
