French Roast News

Anne is reading …

The Panel of Hands at El Castillo cave in northern Spain. The hand stencils are dated at 37,300 years old, the disk is at least 40,600 years old. (Image courtesy of Pedro Saura. / June 14, 2012)Using a new method of dating antiquities and artifacts, a large group of independent scientists have dated hand stencils in Spain to be as much as 10,000 years older than previously-dated cave art in France. Believing that the art is nearly 41,000 years old and coincident with the evolution of modern humans from Neanderthals, researchers conclude that it’s possible that the cave paintings could be associated with Neanderthals, writes the LA Times.

NPR adds to the discussion:

Archaeologist Joao Zilhao from the University of Barcelona is part of the team that did the work. He says his gut tells him it’s Neanderthal art.

“We can’t be 100 percent certain that they did it,” Zilhao says. “I think that there is a strong probability. My point is the evidence for symbolic behavior among the Neanderthals already exists.”

Neanderthals did perform ritual burials. They made decorative beads and other ornaments. Pike also notes that DNA evidence now suggests that modern humans and Neanderthals interbred.

Related reading: Study: Neanderthals Wore Jewelry and Makeup NPR

France: 37,000-year-old ‘vulva art’ Global Post

Scientists believe that 37,000 years ago, the vulva was sacred — at least in wall art discovered in the south of France. Today in America, not only is the word vulva or vagina considered to be pornographic, it is a banned word in the Republican War on Women.I

Michigan Silences Women Legislators

The Spittin’ Sisters of Women who are also legislators sent messages loud and clear about their opposition to Michigan’s massive omnibus abortion bill that passed the House by a 70-39 vote on Wednesday. The Michigan Senate is not expected to take up the three-bill package until September.

In one of the more dynamic moments in the debate, State Rep Lisa Brown was prohibited from speaking on the House floor Thursday, after ending a speech in the video above with the word vagina. Brown stated that her Orthodox Jewish faith mandated that abortion be the right of any mother needing one to save her life.

“I’m flattered that you’re all so interested in my vagina, but ‘no’ means ‘no,’ ” said Brown, D-West Bloomfield.

State Rep. Barb Byrum, D-Onondaga, also wasn’t recognized to speak Thursday for a disturbance she caused on the House floor Wednesday when the GOP majority wouldn’t allow her to propose a ban on men getting a vasectomy unless the sterilization procedure was necessary to save a man’s life, writes the Detroit Free Press.

Related reading: Medium is message? Catholic bishops debate hiring a spokesperson The Washington Post

Yesterday’s consideration that the Catholic bishops’ hierarchy hire someone to soften the messages in their assault against American women and Catholic nuns on behalf of fertilized eggs begs the question of whether they understand at all the depth of anger turning against them. Sugar-coating their agenda surely won’t stop the hatred that is building against the bishops among many American women.