D coava: Explain a Mysterious Image

Reading
Discuss these questions with a partner.
1. When you imagine scientists at work,
where do you see them?
2. Do you think it’s important to learn
about prehistoric people?

Try to figure out the meaning of each word

in bold without using a dictionary.

trek

facing
handprints
shamanistic

fF
no
= fragile
wrnm

What do you think the scientists wondered

when they first saw the Kalimantan cave
paintings? Write three questions they
might have asked themselves.

Compare your questions with a

partner’s questions. Then speculate
about the possible answers.

A Visitors looking at cave paintings

130 Unit 10
 hey’re known as cavers—people whose idea of a good
time is exploring dark and sometimes dangerous caves.
And that was exactly what first drew Luc-Henri Fage to
the Island of Borneo in 1988. His goal at the time was
an adventurous trek across the island along with other cavers.
On that first trip to Borneo, Luc-Henri saw ancient charcoal
drawings on the ceiling of a large rock overhang. When he
returned to France, he couldn't find any information about rock
art in the region, so he returned to Borneo. Over the years, he
kept returning and was joined by a French archaeologist and an
Indonesian anthropologist. They found numerous caves with
not only drawings, but also mysterious and obviously very old
paintings. Then, in 1999, they saw the hands for the first time.
Exploring the region of Kalimantan, the Indonesian part
of Borneo, is not an easy task. There are no roads to the Marang
Mountains, so Fage and the others made their way up the
Bungulun River in canoes, camping along the way, at times
facing storms and fire ants that tried to join the campers to
get out of the rain. The Marang Mountains rise out of the hot,
humid jungle below, and their steep sides hold the caves that first
brought Fage here. The rock art is found in the highest of these
caves, often painted on a very high ceiling. As Fage points out,
“If something goes wrong, you die.”
One large cave contains drawings of humans and animals,
and around 350 images of handprints, some of them covered
in patterns that look something like tattoos or body painting.
Fage has counted 57 types of symbols depicted on the hands and
is working hard to decode their meaning. Since the caves don’t
contain evidence of people living in them, it’s likely that they
were used for ceremonial or spiritual purposes. “We're dealing
with shamanistic practices here... but I’m not sure what kind,”
says archaeologist Jean-Michel Chazine. The team thinks that the
people who created these works of art more than 10,000 years ago
may have been related to the aboriginal people of Australia.
Like cave paintings everywhere, the ones in Borneo are very
fragile, and many of them may have already disappeared due to
weather and time. The scientific community has learned about
them only recently and is working to provide information that
could lead to the protection of the rock art. Currently, Fage and
Chazine display photos of the rock art and give information in
French and English on their Web site, www.kalimanthrope.com.
It’s a place in cyberspace where anyone in the world can learn
more about the mysterious caves of Kalimantan.

Mysteries 131
 GOAL 4: Explain a Mysterious Image

Communication
Amazing photographs are easy to find on the Internet, but since images
can be changed with computer software programs, you can’t always
believe what you see. Talk to a partner about these two pictures. Try to
agree on which image is real and which is an example of fauxtography—
a photograph that’s designed to deceive the viewer.

Writing
Write a paragraph about each picture. Briefly describe the image, and
then speculate about how the photograph was taken or changed to get the
effect you see.

1.
A Iceberg in the Atlantic
Ocean

i) |GOAL CHECK 97 Explain a mysterious image

Take turns. Read your paragraphs to a partner. Try to agree on the best
explanation for each image.

132 Unit 10
Before You Watch
Discuss these questions. Is there any evidence that aliens from outer
space visit Earth? How would they get here? What would they do here?

While You Watch

©) Watch the video and complete each statement in the box to show the
person's opinion.

[>) Complete the video summary with words from the box. Then watch the
video again and check your answers.
This video examines crop circles, a Strange (1)__________—_ that
occurs in England. These complex designs appear mysteriously in
farmers’ fields overnight, and people want to know if they’re made by
(2) Sich as you'and me; or ii the circles are
(3)____—————S—S—S MleSSages from aliens. To one researcher, crop
circles are a (4) _____-_ ~~~ —a mystery that he would like to solve.
For one crop circle maker, on the other hand, there is no mystery. He
thinks that artists and graphic designers make the crop circles using
wooden (5) ___________ to flatten the grain and (6)
to help them create the designs.

After You Watch / Communication

6B Agree on some questions you would like to ask the crop circle makers.
Think of questions for both alien and human crop circle makers. Then
take turns answering them.

Mysteries 133