Case file · Sacred site
The python rock of Rhino Cave
In 2006 archaeologist Sheila Coulson announced that a rock carved with hollows like a python's scales in Rhino Cave at Tsodilo was the site of the oldest known ritual, about 70,000 years old.
2006 CE · -18.74, 21.72 · status: disputed
The account
The python is central to San creation stories, and the claim drew worldwide press coverage.
The sceptical view
Other archaeologists said the hollows were made at different times and that the dating did not support 70,000 years; one called the interpretation flatly misleading.