70,000-year-old snake ritual

An article in ScientificAmerican.com details the discovery, in Africa, of what is called "the earliest evidence for ritual behavior". According to the article, carvings on a snake-shaped rock accompanied by 70,000-year-old spearheads were discovered in a cave in the Tsodilo Hills of Botswana. The location is called the Mountain of the Gods by the local people.

Researchers were led to the location by one of the local San people (Bushmen). The guide, a local chief, led the group to a cave and a six-meter-long rock that resembled a snake, with a mouth-like aperture on one end and hundreds of notches, presumably scales, covering the length.

An archeologist from the expedition representing the University of Oslo in Norway indicated that the spearheads (nearly 100 from among 13,000 man-made objects) were found buried in the rock on the cave floor. The spearheads were similar to others found in Africa that have been dated at up to 77,000 years old. [Read more from ScientificAmerican in the post title link]

Pretty interesting tidbits were gleaned from the site and give insight into some very old behaviors.