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Proposal

Caves have been a shelter and a site for religious sanctuaries for humans living shortly after the Flood. Cave art emerged as a result of human habitation of caves and their interpretation as entrance to the womb of a primordial mother goddess, holding the secret of animal souls. Dating of cave art performed either stylistically or “technically” (radiometric and other lab methods) is far from congruent, resulting in serious disagreements amongst scientists. In the meantime, nobody seems to have addressed the question of why cave artists made no use of speleothems, though they skilfully used wall relief to layout their art. Nevertheless many speleothems located close to cave art have features that shouldn’t have escaped the trained eyes of the ancient cave artists. This strongly suggests that those speleothems were not present when the artists were at work. This at its turn casts a serious doubt on the thousands of radiometric datings of speleothems, which yielded many ages far older than those of the paintings. And there is yet another problem with the age of cave art: if it is as old as claimed by specialists, it means it had survived virtually unchanged for at least ten times longer than the Egyptian hieratic art. This is most unlikely since tools and social behaviour did change significantly. There is a simple solution to all these contradictions: a Young Earth speleogenetic model, according to which caves – rapidly excavated by hydrothermal solutions coming from inside the earth, as a result of the great geological changes induced by the Flood - became available to humans only after the Flood. Noah’s descendants used caves gradually, according to their availability and the pattern of human dispersion. Hence their different use, from mere shelters to religious sanctuaries. Caves appear to have played a major role in the survival of important human groups during the Ice Age, thus contributing to the repopulation of the planet.

Keywords

Caves, mythology, Biblical Flood, shelters, human habitation of caves, cave art, cave art longevity, religious sanctuaries in caves, Africa, Asia, Americas, Europe, Altamira, Bluefish Caves, Chauvet, Fumane, Kafzeh, Kebara, Lascaux, Longgupo, Pedra Pintada, Shanidar, Skhül, Tabun, Twin Rivers Cave, Zhoukoudian, Ice Age, radiometric dating of speleothems

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