PALEO-FORENSICS IN ROCK ART: IDENTIFYING A 43,000-YEAR-OLD NEANDERTAL FINGERPRINT:

San Lazaro rock shelter, Spain. Photograph from Alvarez-Alonso et al., 2025, Figure 3A.

Although the term forensic is generally used in the context of gathering evidence for a police investigation, or presenting that evidence in a court of law, I am using the term forensic here because of the detection, determination, and analysis of a fingerprint, much like we would see done in a criminal investigation.

San Lazaro rock shelter excavation units, Spain. Photograph from Alvarez-Alonso et al., 2025, Figure 3B.

Archeological investigations at San Lazaro rock shelter near Segovia in central Spain turned up a number of pebbles (rounded river rocks) that showed signs of percussion, they had been used as hammerstones.

The stone in situ.  Photograph from Alvarez-Alonso et al., 2025, Figure 6.

Among them was a somewhat larger piece of rock that had no evidence of being used as a hammerstone, but had a small, round red dot of ocher paint on it. “Twenty-three pebbles of leucogranite and gneiss have been found in level H, most of them used as hammerstones, showing extensive evidence of percussion marks. These pebbles have been analyzed for comparison with the leucogranite pebble studied in this paper. All pebbles with traces of use as hammerstones are predominantly sub-rounded or small oval shapes, with none exceeding 11 cm in their longest axis. No other pebble displays traces or remains of ocher, nor do they have natural concavities or cupules.” (Alvarez-Alonso et al. 2025: 9)

Photograph from Alvarez-Alonso et al., 2025, Figure 1B.

The red dot in the center of one face of the rock was midway between two indentations at one end and a single indentation at the other end. If one were to think of these indentations as eyes and a mouth then the red dot is precisely placed to mark the position of a nose.

Assuming that the red dot had been applied with a fingertip, the team (Alvarez-Alonso et al. 2025) arranged for a police forensic lab to examine it. “Determined to test their conviction that the red mark was a human fingerprint placed deliberately between the indentations that could have been the eyes and mouth of a face, the team enlisted the help of other experts. Further investigations confirmed that the pigment, which contained iron oxides and clay minerals, was not found elsewhere in or around the cave. ‘We then got in touch with the scientific police to determine whether we were right that the dot had been applied using a fingertip,’ said Alvarez Alonso. ‘They confirmed that it had.’ The print, they concluded, was human and could be that of an adult male.” (Jones 2025) I assume that the phrase ‘scientific police’ in the preceding paragraph refers to a police forensic laboratory.

“The object to be analyzed in detail is a quartz-rich granite pebble, with a sub-ellipsoidal-planar morphology (21.4 × 11.3 × 7.6 cm). On one of its faces, the pebble has three small cupules and at the center of these, positioned centrally relative to the three marks, a sub-circular red dot is visible on its surface.” (Alvarez-Alonso et al. 2025:6)

The red dot. Photograph from Alvarez-Alonso et al., 2025, Figure 9.

So the question then became ‘why was such a fingerprint so carefully been placed on this stone? “Once we had that and all the other pieces, context and information, we advanced the theory that this could be a pareidolia [catching sight of a face in an ordinary, inanimate object] which then led to a human intervention in the form of the red dot,’ said the archaeologist. ‘Without that red dot, you can’t make any claims about the object.’” (Jones 2025)

Multispectral analysis of the fingerprint. Photograph from Alvarez-Alonso et al., 2025, Figure 11.

It was discovered that the particular layer that this was excavated from had to be Neandertal in age. “Several ¹⁴C-AMS dates have been obtained to contextualize the find chronologically, both for Level H itself and for one of the upper archeological strata, Level D. The results range from 43 ky cal BP for Level H to 42.5–42.1 ky cal BP for Level D, on samples of horse teeth.” (Alvarez-Alonso et al. 2025: 6)

So we have the intentional application of paint to a rock – rock art! This is my excuse for writing this, but I am also excited about it being a genuine Neandertal fingerprint.

The first Neandertal fingerprint on a piece of birch gum. Internet photograph, public domain.

However, this is not the first Neandertal fingerprint discovered. And as impressive as a date of 43ka is, the first one found was much older. “Even more complex demonstrations of Neanderthal hafting technology. In the 1970s archaeologists excavating another German brown coal mine at Konigsaue found two small black lumps from a lakeside excavation, dating around 85 to 74 ka. One had certainly been part of a composite tool: three surfaces bore imprints of a lithic tool, a wooden surface and the unmistakable whorls from a partial Neanderthal fingerprint. It was only in 2001 that chemical analysis identified unique biomarkers from birch trees: specifically, tar derived by cooking the bark in low-oxygen conditions.” (Sykes 126) This technology has since been replicated numerous times through experimental archaeology.

So, two Neandertal fingerprints, this is something that could not have even been imagined when I was in school – amazing.

NOTE: Some images in this posting were retrieved from the internet with a search for public domain photographs. If any of these images are not intended to be public domain, I apologize, and will happily provide the picture credits if the owner will contact me with them. For further information on these reports you should read the original reports at the sites listed below.

REFERENCES:

Alvarez-Alonso, David et al., 2025, More than a fingerprint on a pebble: A pigment-marked object from San Lazaro rock shelter in the context of Neanderthal symbolic behavior, 5 May 2025, Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences (2025) 17:131. Accessed online 28 May 2025.

Jones, Sam, 2025, World’s oldest fingerprint may be a clue that Neanderthals created art, 26 May 2025, The Guardian online, https://www.theguardian.com. Accessed online 28 May 2025.

Sykes, Rebecca Wragg, 2020, Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art, Bloomsbury Sigma, London.

 

V

CARVED STONE DISKS UNEARTHED IN UKRAINE MAY BE VIKING SUN COMPASSES:

 

Disk from Listven, Ukraine, pyrophyllite slate. Photograph by O. Veremeychyk, Figure 1.

And, while we are on the subject of carved stone disks - - the excavation of a number of interesting carved stone disks in Ukraine has been interpreted as having possible connections with Viking navigation tools.

Castle Hill, Liubech, Ukraine. Photograph by O. Veremeychyk, Figure 2.

“A total of eight pyrophyllite slate objects, sourced from outcrops near Ovruch (Ukraine), were analyzed. These disks have been previously interpreted as various items, including calendars, craft tools such as needle sharpeners and polishing stones, as well as components of hand-operated bow drills. Through measurements and surface analysis, three stone disks (Kyiv, Listven, Liubech) exhibit similarities to Vikings’ sun compasses, with a limited number of examples found in Greenland and the Baltic Sea region. The analyzed objects were dated to the period between the late 12th and mid-13^th centuries. The origin of the raw material suggests local manufacturing.” (Veremeychyk and Antowska-Goraczniak 2024:383) I seriously doubt ‘needle sharpeners’ or ‘polishing stones’. There are no apparent results of such activities – remember the shapes of sharpening grooves as a form of rock art. A bow drill weight is more possible, or perhaps even the weight from a drop spindle for spinning wool. All in all, however, the stone disks seem more like known Viking ‘solar compasses’ than any of these other possibilities.

Uunartoq disc, Greenland. Image from researchgate.com.

“Three of the disks, in particular, had characteristics reminiscent of Viking solar compasses: the central holes and engraved radial patterns may have allowed for temporary gnomonic lines to be drawn with erasable materials like chalk or charcoal. This flexibility would have been indispensable for observing and adapting to new latitudes as the user moved. Yet the lack of permanent markings of the equinox and solstice lines, common in Viking solar compasses, still gives one pause for skepticism. Supporting this hypothesis, the researchers pointed out that the diameter and design of the Ukranian disks are very similar to those of navigational instruments found at Woline in Poland and in Greenland. Such parallels hint at the possibility that the pyrophyllite disks could represent a local adaptation of Viking navigation instruments.” (Radley 2025) The historic Rus region had major interactions with, and cultural influences from Scandinavian Vikings. Although these stones were not recovered from locations near open ocean waters it is likely that Viking trading vessels would have routinely carried their accustomed navigational aids just in case, and Viking traders are known to have explored all the navigable river systems in that area.

Wolin Stone, Wolin, Poland. Internet image, public domain.

Viking presence in Rus can be dated to the ninth century AD. “The close connection between the Rus and the Norse is confirmed both by extensive Scandinavian settlement in Bel)arus, Russia, and Ukraine and by Slavic influences in the Swedish language. Though the dabate over the origin of the Rus’ remains politically charged, there is broad agreement that if the proto-Rus’ were indeed originally Norse, they were quickly nativized, adopting Slavic languages and other cultural practices. This position, roughly representing a scholarly consensus (at least outside nationalist historiography), was summarized by the historian, F. Donald Logan, “in 839, the Rus’ were Swedes; in 1043 the Rus’ were Slavs.” (Wikipedia)

The Greenland example of a disc had been discovered in 1948. “The remains of the supposed compass – known as the Uunartoq disc – were found in Greenland in 1948 in an 11^th-century convent. Though some researchers originally argued it was simply a decorative object, other researchers have suggested the disc was an important navigational tool that the Vikings would have used in their roughly 1,600-mile-long (2,500 kilometers) trek from Norway to Greenland.” (Poppick 2014)

The Vikings were inveterate travelers, having reached Greenland, Iceland, and North America by sailing the open ocean. They also reached Constantinople, not only by sailing down the Atlantic coast of Europe and through the Mediterranean, but by transiting rivers in the area known as Rus and through Slavic territories in eastern Europe.

Disks recognized hereto. Wooden - a,c; stone - b; whale bone - d. (Illustrated by O. Antowska-Gorączniak after a – Jagodziński 2015, fig. 37; b – Thrislund 1987, 27; c – Stanisławski 2000, fig. 4, 5; d – Jagodziński 2015, fig. 39) Fig. 5 from Veremeychyk and  Antowska-Goraczniak, 2024. 

“In the early medieval period, the utilization and advancement of  navigational instruments were ascribed to Scandinavians, who were believed to have been able to use such tools not only in coastal sailing but also undertake long voyages across open seas, eliminating the need to constantly observe the shoreline. Both constellations and the Sun played crucial roles in sea navigation during this era. Compasses utilizing sunlight have been recognized as a significant technological advancement of the time. Scandinavians, with their vessel construction, navigational skills, and compass usage, successfully reached distant islands in the northern Atlantic, such as Greenland, Newfoundland, and the shores of present-day Canada. The sagas also provide limited information on sea voyages and directional settings, indirectly suggesting the use of navigational instruments. In favorable weather conditions, a navigator ‘could then discern the quarters of heaven’, indicating the ability to find direction, and the radial lines on the disks might have facilitated such quarter division, aiding in staying on course.” (Veremeychyk and Antowska-Goraczniak 2024:395) Of course, navigational tools were not needed for coastal sailing, but between such compasses and Viking ‘sun stones’ they could navigate their longships across great distances of open ocean. ‘Sun stones’ were a form of calcite crystal known as Icelandic spar with unique optical properties that allow the user to detect the position of the sun, even on a totally overcast or foggy day to help navigate at sea. Icelandic spar is also a natural polarizer.

Historic core of Rus' territory. Map by professor A. Motsya. Internet image, public domain.

“The pyrophyllite slate disks, as discussed above, likely originated as a local product, manufactured in the territories of southern Rus’ given the proximity of the raw material outcrops. However, if their function as compasses is acknowledged (a plausible scenario), it can be speculated that the inhabitants of the region acquired knowledge about such instruments from the Scandinavians, who had a presence in the area from the early 10^th century. Considering the locations where these stone disks were discovered, particularly Kyiv, Listven, and Liubech situated along the significant communication and trade route ‘from Varangians to the Greeks’ it is conceivable that the skill of using navigational instruments, such as sun compasses, in this part of Europe might have been imparted by Scandinavian traders and sailors.” (Veremeychyk and Antowska-Goraczniak 2024:395-396) Another piece of evidence that the stone disks might be a product of Viking influence is the locations wherein they were found. Viking traders explored the ‘southern Rus’ area and even reached Constantinople by following waterways through that region. With their ‘sun stones’ and ‘solar compasses’ Viking sailors could determine the position of the sun which gave them the ability to make their amazing voyages. I believe that even if they were only traversing a river in southern ‘Rus’ their navigational instruments would have been on board the boat as standard equipment. Just because they were found a long distance from the sea does not mean that they are not Viking navigational instruments.

NOTE: Some images in this posting were retrieved from the internet with a search for public domain photographs. If any of these images are not intended to be public domain, I apologize, and will happily provide the picture credits if the owner will contact me with them. For further information on these reports you should read the original reports at the sites listed below.

REFERENCES:

Poppick, Laura, 2014, Forget GPS: Medieval Compass Guided Vikings After Sunset, 25 March 2014,  LiveScience online, https://www.lovescience.com. Accessed online 1 May 2025

Radley, Dario, 2025, Medieval stone disks found in Ukraine could be Viking solar compasses, 11 January 2025, Archaeology Magazine online, archaeologymag.com. Accessed online 12 February 2025.

Veremeychyk, Olena, and Olga Antowska-Goraczniak, 2024, New medieval sun compasses? The problem of the function of stone disks from southern Rus, Sprawozdania Archeologiczne 76(2), pp. 383-398. DOI:10.23858/SA76.2024.2.3290. Accessed online 12 February 2025.

Wikipedia, Kievan Rus’, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kievan_Rus%27. Accessed online 11 June 2025.

 

SACRIFICIAL 'SUN STONES' UNEARTHED IN DENMARK:

 

Danish sacrificial Sun Stone. Internet image from Pinterest.

Large numbers of engraved stone disks have been unearthed in Denmark.

“Hundreds of unusual discs unearthed in Denmark are revealing clues into how a Stone Age population responded to a devastating volcanic eruption nearly 5,000 years ago, a new study has found. Scientists discovered the first of these small, carved stone artifacts in 1995 at a Neolithic site called Rispebjerg on the island of Bornholm, about 112 miles (180 kilometers) southeast of Copenhagen. Because many of the discs were etched with branching rays emanating from central circles — a recognizable image of the sun — archaeologists named the objects “sun stones,” though some featured motifs resembling plants or rows of crops. Excavations uncovered hundreds more sun stones between 2013 and 2018 at Vasagård, another Neolithic site on the island about 6.2 miles (10 kilometers) northwest of Rispebjerg. Most of the Vasagård sun stones were made of local shale. They were placed in ditches around the same time and were seemingly buried on purpose, but scientists didn’t know why.” (Weisberger 2025)

Danish sacrificial Sun Stone. Internet image, public domain. 

Some of the engravings show rows of lines and/or dots and perhaps represent crops in a field. Others have spiderweb-like designs, while others seem to have engravings representing the sun on them.

“A total of 614 crafted plaques and plaque fragments carrying a variety of decorative motifs were found during excavations at Vasagård West between 2013 and 2018. The vast majority derive from the ditches of the causewayed enclosure, though a few were found in postholes belonging to one of the timber circles and some come from a cultural layer deposited in a shallow depression just next to the causewayed enclosure. In the ditches, the engraved stones are delimited to a specific recurring layer. The stratigraphy, comparable between ditches, indicates a sealing of the lower layers of the ditches by a stone pavement dated by pottery inclusions to c. 3000–2900 BC. Most engraved stones were found in the lower section of the darker infilling layer that sits on top of the pavement (layer 2). This infill is dated by ceramic typology to the local Vasagård phase of the late Funnel Beaker culture, c. 2900–2800 BC.” (Iversen et al. 2025)

Danish sacrificial Sun Stones. Internet image, public domain. 

The original interpretation of this speculated that it had something to do with fertility rites for the crops in their fields (falling back on the old definition of anything we don’t fully understand as ‘ceremonial’). However, the timing of the burial of the stones now has been found to coincide with a period of climatic cooling caused by volcanism. “Recently, researchers fit together clues hinting at a motive for the Vasagård burial. They examined sediments from Germany, tree rings from Germany and the western United States, and frost markers in Greenland ice cores, identifying a period of intense climate cooling around 2900 BC — the time of the sun stones’ burial. Quantities of sulfate in ice cores from Greenland and Antarctica dating to about 2910 BC suggested that this cooling followed a volcanic eruption, scientists reported January 16 in the journal Antiquity. ‘It was a major eruption of a great magnitude,’ comparable to the well-documented eruption of Alaska’s Okmok volcano in 43 BC that cooled the climate by about 12.6 degrees Fahrenheit (7 degrees Celsius), said lead study author Rune Iversen, an archaeologist and an associate professor at the Saxo Institute at the University of Copenhagen. Okmok’s eruption, one of the largest of the past 2,500 years, triggered more than two years of unusual cold and erratic weather that decimated crops across the Mediterranean, leading to famine and disease. The aftermath was so devastating that it is thought to have hastened the fall of the Roman Republic and the subsequent rise of the Roman Empire, another team of scientists reported in 2020. Though little is known about the 2900 BC eruption, it is thought to have ushered in similar hardship, suffering and death in Neolithic Denmark, Iversen told CNN.” (Weisberger 2025)

The original interpretation of this speculated that it had something to do with fertility rites for the crops in their fields (falling back on the old definition of anything we don’t fully understand as ‘ceremonial’). However, the timing of the burial of the stones now has been found to coincide with a period of climatic cooling caused by volcanism. “Recently, researchers fit together clues hinting at a motive for the Vasagård burial. They examined sediments from Germany, tree rings from Germany and the western United States, and frost markers in Greenland ice cores, identifying a period of intense climate cooling around 2900 BC — the time of the sun stones’ burial. Quantities of sulfate in ice cores from Greenland and Antarctica dating to about 2910 BC suggested that this cooling followed a volcanic eruption, scientists reported January 16 in the journal Antiquity. ‘It was a major eruption of a great magnitude,’ comparable to the well-documented eruption of Alaska’s Okmok volcano in 43 BC that cooled the climate by about 12.6 degrees Fahrenheit (7 degrees Celsius), said lead study author Rune Iversen, an archaeologist and an associate professor at the Saxo Institute at the University of Copenhagen. Okmok’s eruption, one of the largest of the past 2,500 years, triggered more than two years of unusual cold and erratic weather that decimated crops across the Mediterranean, leading to famine and disease. The aftermath was so devastating that it is thought to have hastened the fall of the Roman Republic and the subsequent rise of the Roman Empire, another team of scientists reported in 2020. Though little is known about the 2900 BC eruption, it is thought to have ushered in similar hardship, suffering and death in Neolithic Denmark, Iversen told CNN.” (Weisberger 2025)

Danish sacrificial Sun Stone. Internet image, public domain. 

A climate event of the magnitude speculated would have caused major crop failures and famine. “A cooling event comparable to the one caused by the 43 BC eruption took place a few years before or after 2900 BC and coincided with the ritual deposition of the engraved stones. It is possible that this 2900 BC cooling event also had wider economic and social consequences for the people living in southern Scandinavia at the time, as it coincides with the beginning of the final Funnel Beaker phase. This phase is characterised by substantial changes in material break with the classic Funnel Beaker tradition, the cessation of megalithic tomb building and the formation of new networks and influences from the marine oriented Scandinavian Pitted Ware culture, which also affected Bornholm.” (Iversen et al. 2025) So, the fact that the climate dangerously cooled and that at the same time hundreds of these stones were buried does not really seem much like a coincidence.

The authors have made a number of conclusions about the subjects of the engraving on the stones. “The Vasagård engraved stones present miniature art with motifs connected to the sun and to the growth of cultivated plants. Deposition occurred on a single or a few successive occasions, potentially in response to one or more climatic cooling events around 2900 BC precipitated by a volcanic eruption. These depositions could have been made during a time of stress with the purpose of bringing back the sun and re-establishing agricultural production. They could also have been made when the climate crisis was over, as an act of celebration for the return of the sun. At Vasagård the deposition of the engraved stones correlates with a change from activities centered on the causewayed enclosure to new rituals taking place in small, circular cult houses inside wooden palisades. The effects of the climate crisis may have resulted in increased competition and conflicts at a time when the classical Funnel Beaker tradition was dissolving and was soon to be followed by new cultural changes resulting from migrations impacting eastern, central and northern Europe and beyond.” (Iversen et al. 2025)

Now I certainly do not want to pick a fight with Iversen et al., but I have to ask how burying something underground makes it a sacrifice to the sun. The sun is up overhead in the sky, not underground. It would be my assumption that ancient Scandinavians associated the sky with their gods, and thus the focus of their religious beliefs would have been upward, but I will just have to accept that I do not share (or understand) their beliefs. I would also bet that a large portion of the population back then were in denial that the climate would or could change, much like the percentage of our fellow citizens who deny climate change in our time. If we do not learn from history we may be forced to repeat it. History may not repeat itself, but it surely rhymes.

NOTE 1: My closing line above is a paraphrasing of a quotation usually credited to Theodore Reik or Mark Twain.

NOTE 2: Some images in this posting were retrieved from the internet with a search for public domain photographs. If any of these images are not intended to be public domain, I apologize, and will happily provide the picture credits if the owner will contact me with them. For further information on these reports you should read the original reports at the sites listed below.

REFERENCES:

Iversen, Rune et al., 2025, Sun stones and the darkened sun: Neolithic miniature art from the island of Bornholm, Denmark, 16 January 2025, Published online by Cambridge University Press, https://www.cambridge.org/cord/journals/antiquity. Accessed online 16 May 2025.

Weisberger, Mindy, 2025, Neolithic people in Denmark sacrificed ‘sun stones’ after climate cataclysm, scientists say, 23 January 2025, CNN online, https://edition.cnn.com. Accessed online 16 May 2025.

WAS HACHURE SEEN AS THE COLOR BLUE IN THE AMERICAN SOUTHWEST?

 

Ancestral Pueblo olla with hachure infill in the design. Internet image, public domain.

The origin of the idea that hachure, closely spaced, parallel thin lines, used to fill a space might be intended to symbolize the color blue was credited to J. J. Brody by Stephen Plog (2003). “One of the common design characteristics on black-on-white pottery from the eleventh and twelfth centuries in the northern American Southwest is the use of thin, parallel lines (hachure) to fill the interior of bands, triangles, This essay explores a proposal offered by Jerry Brody that hachure was a symbol for the color blue-is examined by exploring colors and color patterns used to decorate nonceramic material from the of northwestern New Mexico. His proposal is supported and the implications of this conclusion for future studies of this nature are discussed.” (Plog 2003:1) This suggestion, originally applied to the decoration of pottery, was because while the indigenous potters had a full range of black, white, reds and yellow based upon natural pigments, there was no technology at that time that could give them blue or green colors on finished pots. But Plog had also compared the use of hachure on pottery to other, non-pottery, painted artifacts and decided that hachure was used on pottery designs in the same manner that blue paint was used on other media.

Ancestral Pueblo olla with hachure infill in the design. Internet image, public domain.

Sarah Klassen and Will Russel, in 2019, explained it in a paper on color usage in Mimbres pottery. “In the 1970s, American art historian Jerry “J.J.” Brody speculated that 11th- and 12th-century potters in the Chaco region of what is today New Mexico used black hachure—closely spaced, parallel lines—on a white background as a proxy for the color blue-green. The Chaco culture was centered on Chaco Canyon, but it spanned the Four Corners area of Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico. Brody had noticed some striking similarities between black-on-white designs on pottery and more colorful designs in other media, such as stone mosaics and painted boards, where color was easier to apply and longer-lasting. The designs were similar, but where the mosaics had turquoise, the pottery had hachure. In 2003, archaeologist Stephen Plog of the University of Virginia tested this idea, comparing the use of hachure on pots to the use of blue-green on more than 50 objects featuring color. His findings supported Brody’s idea: Hachure seemed to represent turquoise.” (Klassen and Russell 2019:3)

Interestingly, Will G. Russell, Sarah Klassen and Katherine Salazar, having done their own comparative study, had written in 2017 that “Our observations do not support the hypothesis that Mimbres hachure acted as a proxy for blue-green. If such an association did exist, it would make little sense for potters to use hachure interchangeably with any color other than blue-green. That is, if hachure did represent blue-green, it follows that it would either stand alone, or be stylistically interchangeable with blue-green. Although blue-green pigment would not have stayed blue-green after firing, it could have been added as fugitive paint. Thus, if our comparison suggests any correlation between Mimbres hachure and a particular color, that color is either brown (objective) or yellow (subjective).” (Russell, Klassen and Salazar 2017:115) So, their interpretation, although their conclusions differ from Brody and Plog, also find hachure to represent a color.

Barrier Canyon Style anthropomorph, Harvest Scene, Maze Overlook, Canyonlands, San Juan County, Utah. Photograph by Don I. Campbell, 1 May 1983.

We also need to keep in mind that what may have applied to art produced by the Mimbres Culture would not necessarily apply to the other prehistoric cultures of the American Southwest. As we have seen, however, Brody and Plog had come to the conclusion that for prehistoric Puebloan (Anasazi) peoples the use of hachure, in Chaco Canyon and elsewhere, stood for the color blue. Indeed, Plog had focused his study on Chacoan pottery.

Barrier Canyon Style anthropomorph, Horseshoe Canyon, Canyonlands, Wayne County, Utah Photograph Don I. Campbell, 16 May 1984.

So what does all this talk about pottery have to do with rock art? Well, we find some examples of hachure or hachure-like texturing in rock art. Also we need to remember that colors pretty much always had major spiritual significance to indigenous peoples.

Barrier Canyon Style anthropomorphs, Photograph by Colin D. Young.  

“Most of the Pueblos associate north with yellow, west with blue, south with red, and east with white. Below, or the underworld is generally associated with black or dark, while the zenith, or the world above, is variably represented by black, brown, yellow or multiple colors.” (Munson 2020:13) So, the colors on a pot, or the color of the paint used to make a pictograph may have carried extra meaning associated with the spiritual implications of the color. Based on the seeming ubiquity of these color codes in the American Southwest, I am going to assume that the peoples on the northern periphery, first Barrier Canyon and later Fremont, also gave colors of paint a spiritual content, I just have no way of knowing for sure what those meanings would be.

 

Barrier Canyon Style anthropomorph, Horseshoe Canyon, Canyonlands, Wayne County, Utah Photograph James Q. Jacobs.

Most painted rock art is in various shades of natural ochers although there are rare examples of blue and green. In Barrier Canyon Style (BCS) figures (and presumably Fremont Culture figures as well) Dr. James Farmer (2019) associated vertical hachure within the silhouette of the figure as representing rain. One of the elements of his “BCS ‘Thunderstorm’ Iconographic Complex” is falling rain shown on an anthropomorph as closely spaced vertical lines – hachure? Although painted with red paint, he says they represent falling rain, and rain is water and water is associated with blue. What if those hachure rain lines in Barrier Canyon anthropomorphs represent blue rain? What if the artists who painted the figures used closely spaced red lines (hachure) to represent the color blue on the figures?

 

I don’t think I could prove this even if I wanted to, and I am not convinced even now, but isn’t it an interesting possibility?

 

NOTE: Some images in this posting were retrieved from the internet with a search for public domain photographs. If any of these images are not intended to be public domain, I apologize, and will happily provide the picture credits if the owner will contact me with them. For further information on these reports you should read the original reports at the sites listed below.

 

 

PRIMARY REFERENCES:

 

Farmer, James, Dr., 2019, Southwestern Rock Art and the Mesoamerican Connection, 18 April 2019, Colorado Rock Art Association online webinar.

 

Klassen, Sarah, and Will Russell, 2019, The Hidden Color Code in Mimbres Pottery, 14 November 2019, https://www.sapiens.org/archaeology/mimbres-pottery-color/.

Accessed online 6 March 2025.

 

Munson, Marit K., and Kelley Hays-Gilpin, editors, 2020, Color in the Ancestral Pueblo Southwest, University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City, UT.

 

Plog, Stephen, 2003, Exploring the Ubiquitous Through the Unusual: Color Symbolism in Pueblo Black on White Pottery, October 2003, American Antiquity, Volume 68 (4), pp. 665-695. Accessed online at JSTOR, 7 March 2025.

 

Russell, Will G., Sarah Klassen and Katherine Salazar, 2017, Lines of Communication: Mimbres Hachure and Concepts of Color, American Antiquity 83 (1), 2018, pp. 109-127. Accessed online at Researchgate, 7 March 2025.

 

SECONDARY REFERENCE:

 

Brody, J. J., 1991, Anasazi and Pueblo Painting, A School of American Research Book, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, New Mexico.

EXPERIMENTAL ARCHEOLOGY INSPIRED BY ROCK ART - BRONZE AGE SCANDINAVIAN BOATS:

Highlighted petroglyph, Bronze Age Scandinavian boat. Photograph bradshawfoundation.com.

For years I have been intrigued by the interesting designs of Bronze and Iron Age boats portrayed in rock art. The design looked to me as if they were built with a keel that protrudes from the water in a graceful curve. Above this an extension of the gunwales mirrors that curve, and the two curved elements are cross-connected by braces. Now, a reconstruction of one of the actual watercraft has shown us the true form of these boats, and proven its efficacy.

Highlighted petroglyphs, Bronze Age Scandinavian boats, animals and people. Photograph bradshawfoundation.com.

The images in pictographs and petroglyphs are tantalizing, but did not contain enough information to explain how these boats were constructed. This all changed in the second decate of the 20^th century with the discovery of the Hjortspring boat.

The reconstructed remains of the Hjortspring boat at the National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen. Internet image, public domain.

“The Hjortspring boat (Danish: Hjortspringbåden) is a vessel designed as a large canoe, from the Scandinavian Pre-Roman Iron Age. It was built circa 400–300 BC. The hull and remains were rediscovered and excavated in 1921–1922 from the bog of Hjortspring Mose on the island of Als in Sonderjylland, , southern Denmark. The boat is the oldest find of a wooden plank ship in Scandinavia and it closely resembles the thousands of petroglyiph images of Nordic Bronze Age ships found throughout Scandinavia.” (Wikipedia) Between the knowledge gained from the remaining fragments of the actual boat, and the numerous rock art images, a modern reconstruction of the boat could be assembled, using original methods and materials, and tested. A fascinating experimental archeology project.

A modern replica of the Hjortspring Boat, named the Tilia Alsie. Photograph by the National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen.

This reconstruction allowed Boel Bengtsson and team (2025) to perform tests in a study designed to find out if these boats could be considered practical seafaring (open ocean) transportation, or if they were confined to inland and coastal waterways following land.

Bengtsson described the area of their study. “The area of Thy is situated in northern Jutland, Denmark, on the northern shores of the sheltered inland waterways afforded by the Limfjord and with the exposed sandy seashores of the Skagerrak to the north. The strategic location on the Limfjord, which offered a relatively safe and sheltered east-westerly seafaring route, connecting the North Sea with the Baltic Sea up until its western entrance silted up in the Middle Ages, no doubt helped ensure its position as centre of wealth and power from the Late Neolithic period into the Bronze Age. Across the Skagerrak strait, the small peninsula of Lista at the very southern tip of Norway, is recognized by good agricultural land, sandy beaches, smaller inlets, waterways and fjords that could serve as portages in order to avoid the more exposed and dangerous stretches of sea around the peninsula.” (Bengtsson et al. 2025:4) So, the question is do these ancient mariners stick to a longer, safer route keeping the shore in view, or do they strike out over open water on a much shorter crossing?

This area is quite appropriate for the conduct of such a study as it encompasses Bohuslan, an amazingly endowed rock art site with huge numbers of boat images. “Bohuslän, placed roughly halfway along the coastal route between Lista and Thy, is the richest rock art area in Europe and in Scandinavia, featuring over 10,000 boat images, and is believed to have been an important boatbuilding and transit area in the Bronze Age.” (Bengtsson et al. 2025:6) There could hardly have been a more appropriate study area.

A modern image of the Tilia Alsie. From the National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen.

“The simulations of potential routes suggested in this paper rely on available performance data of a Bronze Age type vessel. The only vessel that can be argued represent a Bronze Age type vessel and for which such performance data exists that could be used is the c.350 BC Hjortspring boat. This boat was found during peat excavations in the Hjortspring bog on the island of Als in southern Denmark in the 1880’s and was excavated in 1921–1922. About 40% of the boat has been recovered, enabling the reconstruction of a double ended plank-built boat that from stem to stem is c. 14 meters long, with a total of 10 internal thwarts, each with carved out seats for two paddlers. The overall length of the boat is extended by two sets of horn projections at either end. The lower of these are attached to the c. 15.4 m long bottom plank which protrudes from the bottom plank at each end, whereas the upper horn projections extend outward and upwards following the shape of the gunwale, making them ideal for long distance paddling, along with two steering oars, one located at each end of the vessel. Neither of the two steering oars were complete and estimates of their individual blade lengths vary between 53 cm  to 75 cm, but could have been longer still.” (Bengtsson 2025:17-18) The finding of the Hjortspring Boat provided construction details that were not revealed by the rock art, and the rock art showed the overall ideal shape for a reconstruction.

Artist conception of a Bronze Age boat and crew. By Hakon Lystad.

“Parallels to the unusual design features of the Hjortspring boat appear in depictions of boats in both rock art and bronzes dating from c. 1600 BC onwards in Scandinavia  and are also marked out on contemporary ship-settings in the region. This, along with the refined boatbuilding technology employed in its construction, strongly suggests that it was built within a well-established Scandinavian boatbuilding tradition with its roots at the very beginning of the Bronze Age. Hence it is justifiable to refer to it as a “Bronze Age Type Boat” despite it being of a slightly younger date.” (Bengtsson 2025:19) This is attested to by the fact that the remaining fragments, when reassembled, match so many of the petroglyphs of Bronze Age boats in that area.

Highlighted petroglyph of warriors battling on a Bronze Age boat at Tanum, Sweden. Internet image, public domain.

These also provided enough data for a complete reconstruction of such a Bronze Age vessel. “A reconstruction of this boat, called the Tilia Alsie, was launched ready for sea trials in 1999, and was, between 1999 and 2001, tested extensively by both members of the Hjortspringbådens Laug and professional Dragon boat racers under the supervision of Max Vinner from the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde [83]. Both the process of reconstruction and the on-water trials and their results have been published in the Ships and Boats of the North series in a volume co-edited by Ole Crumlin-Pedersen and Athena Trakadas in 2003. Further testing of the vessel was made in 2006, this time under sail, the results of which were published in the Maritime Journal of Archaeology in 2011.” (Bengtsson 2025:19) If anyone would be able to put this reconstruction to the test it would be the professional dragon boat racers. The whole project is a great example of experimental archeology informed by both the archeological data and the rock art of Bronze Age boats so prevalent in the area.

NOTE: Some images in this posting were retrieved from the internet with a search for public domain photographs. If any of these images are not intended to be public domain, I apologize, and will happily provide the picture credits if the owner will contact me with them. For further information on these reports you should read the original reports at the sites listed below.

REFERENCES:

Bengtsson, Boel, et al., 2025, Seafaring and navigation in the Nordic Bronze Age: The application of an ocean voyage tool and boat performance data for comparing direct open water crossings with sheltered coastal routes, PLoS One 20(4). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0320791. Accessed online 7 April 2025.

Radley, Dario, 2025, Bronze Age Scandinavians braved open seas 3,000 years before the Vikings, new study reveals, 6 April 2025, Archaeology Magazine online, https://archaeologymag.com. Accessed online 7 April 2025.

Wikipedia, Hjortspring boat, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hjortsprint_boat.

 

GEOGLYPHS OF THE BLACK DESERT OF JORDAN - PART 2: VIRTUDES PONTES SANCHEZ' THEORY:

Geoglyphs, Black Rock Desert, Jordan. Note the varying number of subdivisions.

A series of very interesting geoglyphs stretch across a volcanic wasteland known as the Black Desert of Jordan. I was made aware of these when I received a communication from Tomás Tarjuelo Palomino, a collaborator introducing me to the theory of Spanish researcher Mrs. Virtudes Pontes Sánchez who has been studying the geoglyphs. In the following paragraphs I will present the geoglyphs and then go into the theory of Mrs. Sánchez and Mr. Palomino.

These geoglyphs have occasionally been lumped into the same category as the ‘desert kites (see Note below)’ that I have written about previously. This should not be accepted, however, as the ‘desert kites’ are obviously traps for hunting antelope and these particular geoglyphs purposes are unknown, but none of them seem to have a shape that would function as an effective animal trap. Were they residences, temples, tombs or fortifications, nobody seems to currently know.

The marvelous geoglyphs of the Black Rock Desert of Jordan and surrounding areas are mysterious for two basic reasons. The first would be lack of study, not enough research has been done to determine what they were intended for. The second is their tremendous variety which seems to belie a commonality of purpose. Their internal structures are so variable.

These differences, which puzzle a linear thinker like me, seem to be exactly what inspired the unique theory of Mrs. Sanchez as communicated to me by Mr. Palomino.

Egg cell (Oocyte) immediatly after fertilization.

In her own words Mrs. Virtudes Pontes Sánchez described her reactions to seeing the geoglyphs. “In the Jordanian Black Desert several circles can be clearly distinguished thanks to the technological development which makes effective the high-definition photographing from satellites. Said circles compound specific geoglyphs and are created with stones of basalt Furthermore, they are still a matter of speculation by archaeologists, who have speculated about different theories and scopes. However, no archaeologist has a clear idea of what they really represent and their finality. When I saw those images and after my experience of more than 28 years researching the ancient scripture and the megalithic archaeology I realized what the above mentioned circles of basalt are and the role they fulfill.” (Palomino and Sanchez 2025) The letter was accompanied by screen shots from Google Earth of a large number of the geoglyphs, as well as microscopic views of developing embryos.

First division of fertilized egg cell.

As I said, when seen from above, the geoglyphs reminded Mrs. Sanchez of developing embryos as seen through a microscope. “The concerned geoglyphs constitute maps of embryonic experiments, and if you pay close attention to the picture you will realize the result of two species: one is human, whereas the other is reptilian. The five embryos located on the left side of the picture are human, whereas the remaining embryos are reptilian. They show the embryonic development until they become blastocyst.” (Palomino and Sanchez 2025)

Further division into three cells.

“As you can see, the pictures representing the geoglyphs and the latter pictures are the same kind of pictures. Both display embryos in development, with the difference that the geoglyphs located on the desert are dated 8,500 years old pursuant to the archaeologists.” (Palomino and Sanchez 2025)

Eight cells.

More than just embryos, Sanchez also sees stem cells in some of the shapes. “These geoglyphs are not only situated in the Jordanian desert, but also in more countries, as well as around the area where the ancient scriptures speak of the Garden of Eden. There are geoglyphs representing stem cells as well, such as these appearing on the next pictures.” (Palomino and Sanchez 2025) So, in these images of the geoglyphs seen from above they see a biology text essentially about conception.

They also accept that there is still a great deal to learn about these constructions. “There is, in fact, much more in said vast area than you can imagine, ‘till a good explanation is issued about the reason of their composition of stones of basalt. There are plenty of images able to prove that we all were created here and that there is no theory of evolution. The ancient scriptures are right in saying there is creation.” The fact that these structures are composed of basalt would be basically the fact that the ‘Black Desert’ is named for vast fields of volcanic basalt that once flowed across the area.

Developing embryonic blastocyst.

So, in summation, Sanchez and Palomino see the shapes in the Black Desert in Jordan as diagrams of biological forms, embryos and stem cells, and from this they believe that they have proof of the Creation. One comment I would make to this is that one of the things I enjoy about rock art is a lack of dogma so there is room for a number of theories. My other comment would be to repeat that I do not personally have an explanation for their tremendous variety which seems to belie a commonality of purpose. Their internal structures are so variable. As a result of this I feel compelled to state that I do not know what they are either. As I stated in a previous column my best guess would be that they represent walled family or clan compounds that contained residences and pens for their flocks. In such a case the size might denote the number of people and animals being housed. But, until I know a better answer, I will let Mrs. Sanchez’ and Mr. Palomino’s statement stand without further comment.

NOTE: So-called ‘Desert Kites’ have been mentioned in two previous columns on RockArtBlog.

• 29 July 2023, 9,000 Year Old Petroglyphs Copy Designs of Mega-Scale Desert Animal Traps. https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/7760124847746733855/8126054377764858401.

• 17 June 2023, Editorial on the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Rock Art Analysis. https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/7760124847746733855/1059986807197980559.

NOTE 2: The microscopic pictures of developing cells were provided by Tomas Tarjuelo Palomino, and Virtudes Pontes Sanchez with no citation of their original source. Thank you.

REFERENCES:

Tomás Tarjuelo Palomino, 24 January 2025, Personal Communication.

Virtudes Pontes Sánchez, 2021, Groundbreaking Archaeological and Scientific Discovery in the Jordanian Black Desert, 1 October 2021, https://operationdisclosureofficial.com. Accessed online 9 February 2025.