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

The following year, he brought back to Paris a replica and photograph of a mural with a total area of about 11,600 square feet, which became a sensation around the world.

Judging from the large number of ancient artifacts excavated, about 10,000 to 4,000 years ago, the Sahara was not a desert, but a steppe, a lush oasis of vegetation, and many tribes or ethnic groups lived on this beautiful and fertile land, creating a highly developed culture.

The main 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 productive forces. There are also Saharan scripts and ancient Tiphina scripts in the frescoes, indicating that the culture of the time had developed to a considerable level.

This news was undoubtedly extremely shocking and sensational at the time, and no one could have imagined that the yellow sandy land, which spread over 9 million square kilometers, used to be a dense forest and grassland.

By now, mankind has long had a more detailed understanding of the history of the earth, and it is not worth making a sensation again.

It's just that when everyone sees the picture of the herd of cattle and sheep on the mural, and then compares it with the lonely scene outside the cave, they can still experience the astonishment and amazement.

The form or technique of the mural is not complicated, but the content is rich and colorful.

Judging from the strokes, a rough and earthy touch arises spontaneously.

Bi Fang leaned closer and gently blew away the dust on the wall, and the picture instantly became a little clearer, and even the colors seemed to be gorgeous.

"Before industrialization, pigments were a very expensive thing."

"But there was no shortage of ingenuity in the production of paints, and during the Ice Age, when human life was barbaric and short, it was still possible to find time for artistic creation."

"The Bloombos Caves on the West African coastline have unearthed the remains of tools dating back 100,000 years: grinding stones and stone hammers used to mash red ochre paint, and abalone shells used to mix animal fat and urine to decorate bodies, hides and cave walls."

"In the Chauvé, Lascaux and Altamira caves, the petroglyphs painted between 1,500 and 3,500 years ago are painted with black charcoal, chalk and broken bones, as well as red ochre ferrite minerals that glow like earth, which are testaments to the mastery of early humans in the use of color."

"But the classic red cannot be extracted from the iron oxide mineral, because the red of the latter comes from the earth, and is not as glorious in color as the red of sunset or blood."

"Most of the murals use different rocks and earths, such as red iron oxide, white kaolin, ochre, green or blue shale, etc., as pigments, and some also use blood and animal fat, which is the case in front of us."

Bi Fang took a closer look, and despite thousands of years of separation, he could still smell something different, it was a wounded cow with gurgling blood from its abdomen, perhaps in order to express it more vividly, the painter directly used real blood.

Perhaps it was too long ago, and the red of blood was no longer visible on the mural, but more like brown.

However, in other places, the color of the picture is more vivid, and you can see the red color at a glance.

Bi Fang stepped forward and sniffed.

"Through the red rock on the terrace ground into powder, add water as pigment to paint, because the pigment moisture fully penetrates into the rock wall, and the long-term contact with the rock wall causes chemical changes, dissolved into one, so the vividness of the picture can be maintained for a long time, thousands of years, after the wind and sun and the color is still bright and dazzling."

"It's a rather peculiar phenomenon."

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

[I want to learn this]

[Why do you want to learn everything?] Don't teach! 】

【Grip】

On the rock wall that spreads for more than ten meters, there are many figures in addition to cattle and sheep.

Many of them were majestic warriors, showing an awe-inspiring and inviolable demeanor, holding spears and round shields, and riding on chariots at a rapid gallop, showing the scene of conquest.

Some wore loincloths and small hats; Some people are unarmed, like percussion instruments; Some of them seem to be offerings, as if welcoming the arrival of the "gods", perhaps as a symbolic portrayal of the sacrifice to the gods; Some of the figures are in dancing poses.

As for the inside, it was too dim to be a little unclear, and Bi Fang didn't take the liberty of lighting the torch.

"To be honest, I really don't know much about murals, so I can only make a match between the historical perspective and the chemical pigments, and I can't do it from the cultural perspective."

[Teacher Fang laughed]

[I only know 100 million points]

[Look at the modesty of the big guy]

"However, in addition to the cultural value, the mural still has many other practical values, such as the change of historical climate, and the study of historical climate is inseparable from such historical data in addition to natural sampling and analysis, and the two are mutually corroborative."

Proxy evidence for reconstructing historical climate generally falls into two broad categories.

The first is the record of historical documents, 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 surrogate evidence, which is commonly used mainly including tree rings, ice cores, stalagmites, corals, lake marshes and bay sediments.

"Historical climate research is an important part of historical geography, especially historical physical geography, and its main purpose is to study the history of climate, reveal the laws of climate change in the past, and use the past for the present."

"Now many studies have pointed out that the era of human influence on the natural evolution of the earth has come, and when the human living environment is facing a series of severe challenges such as global warming and frequent extreme weather and climate events, it has become extremely important to study climate change in historical periods."

"Well, since there are murals here, let's not bother, pigment substances are very sensitive to carbon dioxide."

"The Altamira cave paintings, one of Spain's 12 treasures, were badly damaged in the 60s and 70s of the 20th century because of the carbon dioxide brought in by a large number of tourists."

"Since then, it has been open with limited traffic, and now the waiting list for visitors has been lined up for three years."

"Let's take a look at another cave and see if there's anything that doesn't have one."

After taking two last glances at the murals, Bi Fang led Alpha out of the cave and went to several other caves on the same rock wall to take a look, and found that in addition to the one just now, the rest also had some corresponding paintings, accounting for about two-thirds of the number.

And in those caves without frescoes, Bi Fang also found some other interesting things.

"In the wild, don't be interested in exploring caves, dark and damp caves are the most popular shelter for many poisons, especially in the desert, the sun is scorching during the day, and animals have to find a shady place to escape the heat, caves are their first choice."

Without worrying about damaging the mural, Bi Fang lit a torch, half-crouched down, and used the torch to attract the attention of the poisonous snake in front of him.

"Behold, a horned viper."

Bi Fang smiled.

The desert horned viper is a snake that can be easily identified by the average person because it has two clearly visible horns on its head.

At this moment, the horned viper was curled up behind a rock, and its body was tightly curled up with its body the color of the gravel, like a spring compressed to the extreme, obviously ready to attack.

Although he has caught poisonous snakes in the desert several times, the poisonous snake is often over, and there are only zero times, so Bi Fang does not dare to get too close.

[I've seen it in the animal world!] 】

[Vipers are poisonous, right? 】

[Is this today's lunch?] (Dog's Head)】

[, this corner, so domineering! ] 】

【Exact rate】

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

"No, unlike the sclerotic keratin of rhinoceros horns, the horns of the horned viper's head are extensions of the snake's normal scales, which means you can't see these two small horns on its skull."

"These two horns can even fold, and as it passes through the underground sand, they flatten the top of the head. They also fold up when touched. ”

"As a desert-dwelling snake, the horns could theoretically protect their eyes from the sun's intense rays, maintaining their eyesight intact as they crawl over the dunes."

"However, it is also possible that they use their horns to lure, and their scales rub up and down, left and right, disguise themselves as species such as wriggling worms, and lure rodents, which are then hunted."

"One of the hallmarks of the species is to bury itself in loose sand dunes, exposing only its eyeballs, and all the animals passing by can see is its horns and eyes."

Bi Fang brought the torch closer, and the audience could clearly see the lower half of the snake's body buried in the sand.

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

"This snake is almost never found in human settlements. They have been carefully evolved to survive in desert areas. They are able to store the precious moisture and morning dew of their recently eaten prey in their scales. ”

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

One of the lesser-known chapters of the Wax mythology, Celesteshi is a terrifying horned serpent monster.

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

"According to legend, while waiting for travelers to pass by, Celestes jumped out of the sand and dragged him into the sand with his fangs. The beast moves sideways, supposedly because Helen of Troy stepped on its back thousands of years ago when she eloped with Paris, in the same way that the horned viper did. ”

The desert horned viper is one of the 4 species of rattlesnake in the world, and instead of gliding forward, it moves directly to the side, with only two small body parts touching the ground, with the aim of minimizing contact with the scorching desert ground.

Professional researchers can directly use the snake marks left in the sand to determine the number of scales on the abdomen of the horned viper, and then know the size and age of the horned viper.

"As for its toxicity, I won't say much, it's very strong, if you are bitten, there is a probability of death, the venom will destroy the cell membranes and the inner core of these cells, and death is usually kidney failure, because the cells are ruptured and the organs cannot function properly."

[Every time I say how fierce and venomous the snake is, and then I get so close to the hooligan so much, it's very annoying [wonderful]]

[Austin Stevens, the snake king of South Africa, used to be broadcast often on the science and education channel, I remember that there was an episode where I was bitten by a viper, and I forgot whether it was a horned viper or a Gabon viper]

[One thing to say, every time I watch Fang Shen introduce poisonous snakes, I am very scared (covering my face)]

"And this one ......"

Bi Fang tried to bypass the horned viper and look behind it, but at this moment, the horned viper suddenly let out a louder rustling sound, tensed again, and was about to attack to dispel his idea of trying.

Of course, it's just the idea of looking around, not giving up on catching it.

Bi Fang stared at the horned viper and explained as he shook the torch in his hand.

"Horned vipers have a calm personality, but when confronted with a threat, they curl up in a C-shape and rub their bodies to warn their enemies."

"Because their scale armor is quite hard, they can rub together a powerful sound, like a saw-scale viper. Both adults and larvae of this species have the ability to make this particular rustling sound, and they also have the ability to bite sharply, so we have to be careful. ”

The high-heat torch firmly attracted the attention of the horned viper, and Bi Fang held a stick in his other hand, quietly waiting for the opportunity.

As he said, catching a poisonous snake is a very dangerous thing, so Bi Fang rarely starts directly, usually pressing his head with a stick and then cutting off his head directly.

Bi Fang relied on this trick to catch a lot of rattlesnakes.

"Not all snakes hunt by heat induction, usually only the pit viper subfamily."

"Snakes such as rattlesnakes, pit vipers, desert vipers, and bamboo leaf greens all have extremely developed cheek socket structures and will use heat sensing as the main means of locking on to their prey."

The opportunity was not long in coming.

When the horned viper couldn't bear it anymore and finally popped out of its body to attack, the stick in Bi Fang's hand also smashed down, and immediately hit the horned viper's head.

This blow was so powerful that it was hardly for the purpose of pressing, and it smashed its head directly, causing the horned viper to roll wildly in place, and the sand underneath twisted into a messy pattern.

[The tree stick makes a great contribution! 】

[I have a headache when I see it]

[This is too accurate]

Bi Fang didn't let it suffer for too long, stepped forward to see the gap and pressed his head, and chopped his head with a knife.

The only body that remained was still struggling, and Bi Fang used a stick to pick the snake's head open, and then used the stick to push open the rock where it was hiding.

As the rocks roll to the side, dozens of round eggs come into view.

Bi Fang flicked the brim of his hat and whistled.

"Sure enough, I just wanted to say that this one seems to be a female snake, and the viper family generally lays eggs in July and August, and most snakes are also at this time."

"If I'm not mistaken, most of the horned vipers are active in April, and then they go through 50 to 80 days of spawning, which is exactly June and July."

"We're lucky to have an omelette tonight."

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