Chapter 821 Fried Eggs

In 1956, Henri Roth led a French expedition team to discover 10,000 murals in the Sahara Desert.

The following year, he brought back to Paris copies and photos of the murals with a total area of ​​about 11,600 square feet, which became a sensational story.

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 fertile land and created a highly developed culture.

The most important feature of this culture is the widespread popularity of polished stone tools and the manufacture of pottery, which is a sign of the development of productivity. There are also Saharan and Tifinagh scripts in the murals, 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 imagine that the yellow sand land covering more than 9 million square kilometers used to be a dense forest and grassland.

Today, humans have long had a more detailed understanding of the history of the earth. With the two phases of confirmation, it is not worth making a sensation.

However, when everyone saw the herds of cattle and sheep on the murals and compared them with the desolate scene outside the cave, they could still feel the shock and surprise.

The murals were not complicated in form or technique, but the content was rich and colorful.

From the strokes, a rough and simple touch came naturally.

Bifang came closer and gently blew away the dust on the wall. The picture instantly became clearer, and even the colors seemed to be 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 barbaric and short, they still found time for artistic creation."

"The remains of tools from 100,000 years ago were unearthed in the Blombos Cave on the coastline of West Africa: grinding stones and hammers for crushing red ochre pigments, and abalone shells for mixing animal fat and urine to decorate the body, animal skins and cave walls."

"In the Chauvet, Lascaux and Altamira caves, the pigments used in the rock paintings drawn between 1,500 and 3,500 years ago were black charcoal, chalk and broken bones, as well as red ochre iron oxide minerals that were reddish and yellow like mud, which were even more obvious. It proves the superb skills of early humans in using colors. "

"But the classic red cannot be extracted from iron oxide minerals, because the latter's red comes from the soil and is not as noble as the red of sunset or blood in terms of chroma."

"Most murals use different rocks and soils, such as red iron oxide, white kaolin, ochre, green or blue shale as pigments, and some also use blood and animal fats, which is what we see in front of us."

Bifang came closer to smell it. Although thousands of years have passed, he can still smell some different smells. It is a wounded cow with blood flowing out of its abdomen. Perhaps in order to show it more vividly, the painter directly used real blood.

Perhaps it is too long, the red of blood can no longer be seen on the mural, but it looks more like brown.

The colors of the other pictures are more vivid, and you can see the red at a glance.

Bifang stepped forward and smelled it.

"The red rock on the terrace is ground into powder, and water is added as pigment to paint. Because the pigment has sufficient water infiltrated into the rock wall, the long-term contact with the rock wall causes chemical changes and dissolves into one, so 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 is also a very strange phenomenon."

[What skill is it to judge the type of pigment by nose]

[I want to learn this]

[Why do you want to learn everything? I won't teach you! ]

[Damn]

In addition to cattle and sheep, there are 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 and galloping rapidly, showing the scene of going to war.

Some are wrapped in loincloths and wearing small hats; some people do not carry weapons, as if they are percussion instruments; some seem to be offerings, as if they are welcoming the arrival of the "god of heaven", perhaps a symbolic portrayal of worshiping gods; some figures are in dancing postures.

As for the inside, it was too dark to see clearly, and Bifang did not light the torch rashly.

"To be honest, I don't know much about the murals. I can only match them from a historical perspective and chemical pigments. I can't analyze them from a cultural perspective."

[Teacher Fang laughed]

[I only know a little bit]

[Look, the boss's humility]

"But in addition to cultural value, the murals still have many other practical values, such as the changes in historical climate. In addition to natural sampling and analysis, the study of historical climate is also inseparable from such historical data. The two are mutually corroborated."

The proxy evidence for reconstructing historical climate is usually divided into two categories.

The first is historical document 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 is currently commonly used, mainly including 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. The main purpose is to study the history of climate, reveal the laws of past climate change, and use the past for 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 is extremely important to study climate change in historical periods."

"Okay, since there are murals here, we should not disturb them. Pigments are very sensitive to carbon dioxide."

"The Altamira cave murals, one of the 12 treasures of Spain, were severely damaged in the 1960s and 1970s because of the large number of tourists who brought in carbon dioxide."

"After that, it has been open to the public with limited flow. Now the waiting list for visitors has been arranged for three years later."

"Let's go to another cave to see if there is anything missing."

After taking a look at the murals, Bifang led Alpha out of the cave and came to several other caves on the same rock wall to take a look. It was found that in addition to the one just now, the other few also had some corresponding paintings, accounting for about two-thirds of the number.

In those caves without murals, Bifang also found some other interesting things.

"In the wild, when you encounter a cave, don't be too excited to think that you can explore it. Dark and humid caves are the favorite shelters of many poisonous creatures, especially in the desert. During the day, the sun is scorching, and animals have to find a dark place to escape the heat. Caves are their first choice."

Without worrying about damaging the murals, Bifang lit a torch, half-crouched down, and used the torch to attract the attention of the venomous snake in front of him.

"Look, a horned viper."

Bifang smiled.

The desert horned viper is a snake that is easy for ordinary people to identify because it has two clearly visible horns on its head.

At this time, the horned viper was curled up behind a rock, and its body, which was no different from the color of gravel, was tightly curled up, like a spring compressed to the extreme, and it was obviously ready to attack.

Although he had caught venomous snakes several times in the desert, but for venomous snakes, if you miss it, it often means you are finished, and there are only zero times, so Bifang didn't dare to get too close.

[I've seen it in the animal world! ]

[Are all vipers poisonous? 】

【Is this today's lunch? (dog head)】

【Fuck, this horn is so domineering! 】

【Reliability】

【Is this horn a bone? Growing on the head? That's kind of awesome]

"Not really. Unlike the hardened keratin of a rhino horn, the two horns on the head of the horned viper are extensions of the snake's normal scales, which means 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. When touched by a person, they will also fold up."

"As a snake living in the desert, in theory, the horns can protect their eyes from the strong rays of the sun and maintain their vision intact when crawling on the sand dunes."

"However, they may also use their horns to lure, rubbing their scales up and down and left and right, disguising themselves as species such as wriggling worms, and luring rodents, which they then kill."

"One of the species' signature techniques is to bury itself in loose sand dunes, leaving only its eyeballs exposed, and passing animals can only see its horns and eyes."

Bifang brought the torch close, and the audience could clearly see the lower half of the snake buried in the gravel.

The cave is exposed to the sun and wind all year round, and there is a lot of gravel accumulated within the first few meters.

"This snake is almost never found in human settlements. They have evolved carefully to survive in desert areas. They can store precious water and morning dew from recent prey in their scales."

"It is said that the Greek mythology Celestes was created in the image of the horned viper."

Cerestes is one of the lesser-known chapters in Greek mythology. It is a terrifying horned snake monster.

Legend has it that this beast was created by the blood of Medusa spilled in the Libyan desert, and it is an evil regenerative head.

"According to legend, Celestes jumped out of the sand and dragged 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."

The desert horned viper is one of the four rattlesnakes in the world. Instead of gliding forward, it moves directly to the side, with only two small parts of its body touching the ground, in order to minimize contact with the scorching desert ground.

Professional researchers can directly determine the number of scales on the abdomen of the horned viper by the snake prints left on the sand, and then know the size and age.

"As for its toxicity, I won't say much. It's very strong. If you get bit, there's a chance it will be fatal. The venom will destroy the cell membranes and the nuclei of these cells. Death is usually caused by kidney failure because the cells rupture and the organs can't function normally."

[Every time I talk about how fierce and poisonous snakes are, and then I get so close to them and act so rogue, it's annoying [wonderful]]

[South African snake king Austin Stevens 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'm scared (covering my face)]

"And this one."

Bifang tried to bypass the horned viper and look behind it, but at this moment the horned viper suddenly made a louder rustling sound, tensed up again, and was about to attack, which made him give up the idea of ​​trying.

Of course, it was just an idea to bypass and look behind, not to give up catching it.

Bifang stared at the horned viper and explained while shaking the torch in his hand.

"Horned vipers are calm, but when facing threats, they will curl their bodies into a C shape and rub their bodies to warn the enemy."

"Because their scales are quite hard, they can rub and make a strong sound, just like the saw-scaled viper. Both the adults and larvae of this species have the ability to make this special rustling sound, and they also have the ability to bite sharply, so we must be careful."

The high-heat torch firmly attracted the attention of the horned viper. Bifang held a tree stick in his other hand and waited quietly for the opportunity.

As he said, catching venomous snakes is a very dangerous thing, so Bifang rarely takes action directly. He usually presses the head with a tree stick and then directly cuts off the head.

Bifang used this trick to catch a lot of rattlesnakes.

"Not all snakes rely on heat induction to hunt, usually only the Viperinae subfamily do this."

"Snakes such as rattlesnakes, pit vipers, desert vipers, and bamboo pit vipers all have extremely developed cheek pit structures, and will use heat induction as the main means of locking prey."

The opportunity came soon.

When the horned viper could no longer bear it and finally jumped out of its body to attack, the tree stick in Bifang's hand also smashed down and hit the horned viper's head immediately.

This powerful and heavy blow was almost not aimed at pressing, but directly cracked its head, causing the horned viper to roll wildly on the spot in pain, and the gravel underneath twisted into a messy pattern.

[The tree stick has done a great job! ]

[It gives me a headache]

[This is too accurate]

Bifang did not let it suffer for too long, stepped forward, saw the gap, pressed down its head, and chopped off its head with a knife.

The only remaining body was still struggling, Bifang used the tree 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 just thought that this one seemed to be a female snake. Vipers usually lay eggs in July and August, and most snakes also lay eggs at this time."

"If I remember correctly, most horned vipers are active in April, and then lay eggs after 50 to 80 days, which is exactly June and July."

"We are lucky, we can have fried eggs tonight."