From J
Reading a book on Stonehenge and other prehistoric structures by Gerald S. Hawkins, I came across some doodle-like patterns that resembled the ones shown in Alison George’s article on cave art and the origins of intelligence (23 November 2013, p 36). The examples from caves in Canchal de Mahoma and La Pileta in Spain show a series of spots and lines that have been interpreted as recording the phases of the moon. Could the same explanation, a primitive record of the moon’s phases and seasons of the year, apply to the drawings from El Castillo in your article? Perhaps the world’s oldest calendar?
Chesterfield, Derbyshire, UK
. Malcolm Wilkinson
