FENDING STICKS, RABBIT STICKS, BOOMARANGS OR SERPENTS?

Sand Canyon, Canyons of the Ancients, Colorado. Photograph and drawing from Radislaw Palonka, 2019.

Virtually any sinuous form by itself in rock art has been identified either as a serpent, or a ‘rabbit stick’. These were once often referred to as ‘boomerangs’ as well. There is another possibility, however, that is not mentioned as often – these forms may represent fending sticks. These date back to the period before the bow and arrow when the common projectile weapon system was the atlatl and dart. Warriors could carry fending sticks to deflect the darts from an atlatl. With the right timing the dart could be deflected to the side with a sweeping movement of the fending stick held in front of you. This has actually been demonstrated as an experimental archeology project by some fearless, or crazy, graduate students.

 

Basketmaker II, from White Dog Cave, Arizona. Photograph from semanticscholar.org.

In the early days of archeology in the American southwest these “S-shaped” grooved sticks were usually identified as rabbit sticks or boomerangs, assuming that they were meant as a throwing weapon for small game hunting analogous to Australian aboriginal non-returning boomerangs. “Curved wooden throwing sticks, or “rabbit sticks,” also could be hurled at small game. In concept, they are not unlike the Australian boomerang, although rabbit sticks do not return to the sender. Also, known as fending sticks, the curved sticks may been used as weapons, for warding off blows in battle.” (Texas Archaeological Research Laboratory)

Rabbit Stick, Photograph B. Bernard, University of New Mexico Field School collections, 66.90.50.

When found in rock art, however, these shapes were once almost universally identified as snake images. I would argue, however, that an image intended to be a serpent would include some serpent-like details; a head, forked tongue or in the American southwest rattlesnake rattles.

 

Petroglyiph, anthropomorphs with S-shaped stick, John's Canyon, SE Utah. From Phil R. Geib, 2016, Fig. 11.8.

More recently the use of these items as fending sticks has gained some purchase. These fending sticks can indeed be taken as evidence of warfare. As Stephen A LeBlanc (1999) explained “There are Basketmaker rock art depictions of men holding trophy skins, there was a special form of basket used only to dry and stretch scalps, and fending sticks are commonly recovered along with atlatls. This last item may need clarification. During the earliest times in the Southwest, the bow and arrow were not present, and the atlatl was used to throw small spears or darts. With these atlatls, curved sticks with a thong that was wrapped around the user's wrist are often found. The best explanation for these sticks is that were used to fend off darts thrown by atlatls. That is, they served as a kind of shield-thus, their sole function would have been warfare. If frequency and standardization of fending sticks are any measure, warfare using atlatls was also quite common.” (LeBlanc 1999:3) In other words, the argument is that their association with images of atlatls suggests a relationship, and indicates their use as fending sticks.

Petroglyiph, anthropomorphs with paired S-shaped sticks. From Phil R. Geib, 2016, Fig. 11.4.

An explanation from the Maxwell Museum in Albuquerque gives a clear description, and suggests the relationship between fending sticks and rabbit sticks. ”The prehistoric sticks come in two basic shapes: the S-shaped version shown above, and sticks shaped like an open C. It's possible that the S-shaped sticks are older, and functioned primarily to defend the user against incoming atlatl darts. Such darts travel slowly enough that with practice, it's possible to deflect them as they approach—at least that's the theory. The S-shaped sticks are our best candidates for "fending sticks." Fending sticks became obsolete once the bow and arrow was adopted in the Southwest, about 1,400 years ago. Arrows travel too quickly to be batted to one side by the intended target. Instead, the region's warriors began using shields. Under this telling of events, the loss of the "fending" function led to the use of shorter, C-shaped sticks used primarily for throwing—the modern Pueblo "rabbit stick." (Maxwell Museum) Of course, a thrown stick can still be thought of as a weapon as well.

Petroglyiph, anthropomorphs with S-shaped sticks, Chinle Wash, Arizona. From Phil R. Geib, 2016, Fig. 11.7.

Phillip R. Geib has also led in the area of study into the use of fending sticks in the American southwest and rock art. “A defender can knock aside atlatl darts from close range with these sticks. Some tribes in South America perform a similar feat in a duel-like context and Diego de Landa may have observed an analogous ritual in the 1500s among the Yucatec Maya. The fending hypothesis is most logical in a duel. Many of the analyzed prehistoric sticks come from a known Puebloan war god shrine in central New Mexico, where an informant identified one as symbol of membership in a warrior society. In addition to prowess as a man killer, war society membership in the distant past might have involved atlatl duels where dart defense with a stick displayed great skill and courage. Basketmakers may have considered S-shaped sticks as an ancient symbol of warrior status.” (Geib 2016) This is very strong evidence of the use of these bent sticks in personal defense, and a reasonable hypothesis for their being recorded on the rocks, a record of a warrior’s personal status.

 

Petroglyiph, anthropomorphs with paired S-shaped sticks, Chinle Wash, Arizona. From Phil R. Geib, 2016, Fig. 11.5.

Geib backed up his researches into the use of fending sticks in the American southwest with related and contemporary examples from South America. “Deflecting atlatl darts with a short stick might seem absurd or illogical, yet certain tribes in South America still conduct duel-like atlatl fights that involve dart deflection for defense. -  - Warriors from opposing villages are paired to face each other; one is on offense first while the other is on defense, then the roles switch. The group with the greatest number of ‘hits’ is judged the winner. - - Dart defense in this South American example is achieved with a more substantial obstacle than a FCS (flat curved stick). Still, it shows that atlatl darts can be deflected or dodged, even when thrown from a close range. It is key that attention is focused on single projectiles. It is within such a rule-bound, duel-like fight that use of FCS for defense against atlatl darts makes sense: a duel would be far less risky, even if lethal tips were used. The antiquity of South American atlatl dueling remains unknown but it could be considerable given the weapons involved.” (Geib 2017)

 

Australian woomeras serve as spear throwers and fending sticks. Image from aboriginal-bark-painting.com.

Not only in South America can we find examples of the use of deflection for defense against the thrown spear. In Australia the aboriginal woomera (their version of the atlatl) is a multipurpose tool. Its primary use is to launch a spear for greater distance. However, it is also used as a fire making tool, a receptacle for mixing ochre in ceremonies, and also as a fending stick to deflect spears in battle. Woomeras have even been found with a stone blade set into the handle to use as a tool for working on other wooden artifacts (sort of a prehistoric Swiss Army Knife). So we have a number of examples from other parts of the world for the use of fending sticks as defense against thrown spears in conflict. Obviously, when atlatls were replaced by the bow and arrow the era for using fending sticks for personal defense was over. The smaller size and considerably greater speed of an arrow would make it virtually impossible to count on deflecting them with a fending stick, and selection would have soon removed any warriors who refused to learn that lesson.

Petroglyiph, anthropomorph with S-shaped stick. From Phil R. Geib, 2016, Fig. 11.10d.

Are these images fending sticks or rabbit sticks (non-returning boomerangs) used for hunting small game? Well, I would argue that such an image could represent either, or both at the same time. In any case these curved sticks are obviously an important tool and/or weapon, and as such likely subject matter to record in the people’s rock art.

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:

Geib, Phil R., 2017, Mesoamerican Flat Curved Sticks: Innovative ‘Toltec’ Short Sword, Fending Stick, or Other Purpose?, 31 August 2017, Published online by Cambridge University Press. Accessed online 12 January 2024.

Geib, Phil R., 2016, Basketmaker II Warfare and Fending Sticks in the North American Southwest, 1 May 2016, PhD dissertation, University of New Mexico, https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/anth_etds/27. Accessed online 13 January 2024.

Leblanc, Stephen A., 1999, Southwestern Warfare: Reality and Consequences, Archaeology Southwest, Spring 1999, Volume 13, Number 2, pp. 1-7. Accessed online 25 November 2023.

Maxwell Museum, undated, The Testimony of Hands: An Online Exploration of the Archaeology Collections of the Maxwell Museum, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico. Accessed online 13 January 2025.

Palonka, Radosław, 2019, Rock Art from the Lower Sand Canyon in the Mesa Verde Region, ,Colorado, USA, KIVA, 85:3, 232-256, DOI: 10.1080/00231940.2019.1643071

Texas Archaeological Research Laboratory, Undated, About Darts, Atlatls, and Other Weaponry Systems, University of Texas, Austin, Texas. Accessed online 25 November 2023. Accessed online 13 January 2025.

 

 

 

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.