Tea at Trianon: 8,000-Year-Old Rock Art

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Sunday, November 30, 2025

8,000-Year-Old Rock Art

From Ancient Origins:

Archaeologists working in Central Anatolia have uncovered a collection of prehistoric petroglyphs near Mount Erciyes that fundamentally reshapes our understanding of symbolic expression in the region. The discovery in Kayseri's Develi district reveals engravings dating to approximately 6000 BC, millennia before the rise of the Hittite Empire that would later dominate these lands.Carved into dark volcanic rocks scattered across the southern foothills of Mount Erciyes, these ancient markings capture human and animal figures alongside geometric patterns. The discovery, currently awaiting official registration with Turkish cultural authorities, represents one of the most significant prehistoric finds in the region in decades. Early analysis dates the engravings to the Late Neolithic or Early Chalcolithic period, offering a rare glimpse into how early Anatolian communities expressed symbolic thought long before written language existed.
The petroglyphs discovered near Develi offer compelling evidence that organized symbolic expression flourished in Central Anatolia thousands of years before any known writing system reports ArkeoNews. Archaeologists involved in documenting the site described the volcanic rock surfaces as "among the earliest canvases of the human imagination," noting that every carved line—whether depicting animals, humans, or abstract shapes—reflects a symbolic consciousness that predates writing by millennia.
The site's strategic position near ancient water sources and migration routes suggests it may have functioned as a gathering or ritual area for early farming and herding communities. Researchers believe the engravings served purposes far beyond decoration, likely representing early expressions of belief, identity, and social connection. The figures of humans and animals, along with geometric motifs, provide insight into how prehistoric communities understood their world and their relationship to the natural environment surrounding them. (Read more.)