What are archaeologists learning from cave art?

It's something that really challenges some preconceived ideas about where rock art first emerged.

It's Monday, August 26th, and you're listening to Science Friday.

I'm Cyfry producer D. Peter Schmidt.

Back in July, researchers discovered the world's oldest known cave art in Indonesia.

It was dated at 51,200 years old, 500 years older than any other known cave art.

Researchers keep finding older and older cave art, so we wanted to sit down with someone in the field to talk about

what we're learning about early humans through this art and how scientists are using new technologies to bring more people into these caves.

But first here's guest hosts and science journalist Maggie Kurth.

Diving into a debate about whether or not national parks should plant new

sequoia's in the face of worsening wildfires.

Sequoia National Park in California is known for, yeah, sequoia's big, beautiful trees, some thought to be thousands of years old,

but severe wildfires fueled by climate change and fire suppression have destroyed some of those trees.

One solution is to plant new Sequoias, but this creates an interesting scientific debate.

You see most of Sequoia National Park is designated as wilderness.

It's meant to be untouched by human hands.

And some people argue that means humans shouldn't intervene,

even when that land is changing because of human behavior.

My next guest has a new podcast that explores this story and others in a quest to better

understand the meaning of the word wilderness.

Marissa Ortega Welch, host and producer of the How Wild podcast from KALW and NPR in San Francisco, California.

Welcome to Science Friday.

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