FERTILITY, WEALTH, OR ANIMAL TRACKS?

Vulvar representation, La Ferrasie,

France. Photo: Public Domain.

On October 14, 2017, I posted a column titled Fertility or Wealth? in which I pointed out that some variations of the symbols traditionally interpreted as vulvas and used worldwide, might also be portrayals of shells, also used worldwide by cultures as symbols of wealth or adornment.

Abri Blanchard, Tracing Upper Paleolithic Iconography, Derek Hodgson, fig. 1B.

Laussel, France,

Tracing Upper Paleolithic Iconography,

Derek Hodgson, fig. 3B.

Abri Castanet, France, 

Tracing Upper Paleolithic Iconography,

Derek Hodgson, fig. 4A.

There is also another possibility, that some of these images might have been intended to represent animal tracks. While many of these images seem to be obvious vulvar representations, there are also many that actually look more like the tracks of large game animals than symbols of fertility.

Bison tracks,

www.naturetraking.com,

Photo: Johah Evans.

Track of bison in snow,

Tracing Upper Paleolithic Iconography,

Derek Hodgson, fig. 1A.

New discoveries on carved blocks of stone from Abri Cellier in France have led to the identification of a number of symbols as vulvas (White 2017:8-14). Also Abri Blanchard, Laussel, and Abri Castanet have these images (Hodgson 2018). Hodgson pointed out that "the notion that the "Q" shaped motifs in Upper Palaeolithic art represent vulvas has become accepted dogma. This assumption is critically examined by showing that such motifs more closely resemble hoof prints. A number of hoof prints made by large herbivores are illustrated highlighting this correspondence, which suggests that such motifs should be reclassified as representing tracks made by certain animals. The idea that such motifs represent vulvas is deemed to result from prior assumptions regarding the pre-eminence of the male gaze." (Hodgson 2018:1)

                  

Wild horse tracks,

animalia-life.club, Internet,

Photo: J. Paul Mashburn,

2010.

Unshod horse in snow,

Tracing Upper Paleolithic Iconography,

Derek Hodgson, fig. 1D, 2018.

These ancient cultures hunted Paleolithic megafauna: horses, aurochs, bison, and cervids (deer, reindeer, elk) and images of the tracks of these animals would make considerable sense in the repertoire of rock art themes. Whether these images would be pertinent to rites of increase for the game animals, or function as flash cards in the education of hunters, or have another purpose altogether, we might not be able to know, but we should acknowledge the possibility. Hodgson pointed out this possibility in connection with his ""Q" shaped motifs" (2018:1) but there are, in fact, a number of related shapes that also might represent animal tracks instead of vulvas.

Just imagine, if the pictures on the cave walls had been originally discovered by American buffalo hunters some of these images might have been designated animal tracks all along.

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:

Hodgson, Derek,

2018 Tracing Upper Palaeolithic Iconography: The Strange Case of Animal Tracks, University of York, UK, Global Journal of Archaeology and Anthropology, Vol. 3, Issue 4, April 2018.

PREHISTORIC ANIMATION - PALEOLITHIC THAUMATROPES?

Illustration of bird and cage

thaumatrope. Public Domain.

Even if we do not remember, or ever knew, what they are called, we all remember thaumatropes from our childhood as the classic illustration of the bird in a cage thaumatrope will remind us. Another popular one from history is made with a vase on one side and a bunch of flowers on the other. As you spin it the flowers appear to be in the vase, and the bird in the cage. Now it seems possible that the thaumatrope was invented a very long time ago.

Bone disc from Mas d'Azil, France.

Photo paleomanias.co, Public Domain.

In their 2012 paper from Antiquity, Azema and Rivere propose that engraved bone discs found in Paleolithic excavations might function as thaumatropes. In 2997 Florent Rivere was studying paleolithic bone discs cut from the shoulder blades of large animals (bison or deer). These had almost universally been classified as buttons or pendants by their discoverers. (Another suggestion was spindle whorls, but small size suggests that they would be ineffective in that role). Noting that some were decorated on both sides with animals shown in different positions he and Azema hypothesized that they could be strung on a cord of sinew or plant fiber and rotated as a thaumatrope.

Bone disc from Mas d'Azil, France.

Photo paleomanias.co, Public Domain.

"One of the most convincing cases is that of a bone disc some 3.1cm in diameter found in 1868 by M. Hardy in the Laugerie-Basse rockshelter in the Dordogne and published in 1872. One can see a herbivore, a doe or more likely a chamois from the shape of the ear and horn, the shape of the tail and small lines along the head. The animal is shown in two different positions, standing on one side of the disc and lying on the other.  .  .  .  . We then had the idea that rapidly pivoting the object at 180 degrees (back and forth) would induce an optical effect in terms of retinal persistence, the capacity of the eye to retain an image already seen superimposed on the images being seen." (p. 321) In other words, by rapidly rotating the object about a horizontal pivot both sides would be seen in rapid succession, and the images would fuse because of retinal persistence.

Bone disc from Laugerie-Bas,

France. Public Domain.

"Other Magdalenian bone discs, whole or fragmented, seem to offer similar examples of animation. A mammoth from Raymonden (Dordogne) has an eye that opens (circular profile) and closes (almond shaped profile) while the mouth half opens. - A disc found at the site of La Tuiliere at Saint-Leon-sur-Vezere (Dordogne) shows the movement of an equid, from right to left, in three successive images. At Mas d'Azil (Ariege), a bone disc shows a sort of 'morphone', recording the passage of a young calf to adulthood." (p. 323)

Does any of this prove anything, well no, in fact I find myself a little skeptical of most of these conclusions. Based upon the listed subject matter I am not convinced that most of these would be effective illusions (on the order of the bird in the cage or the flowers in the vase). The mammoth winking it's eye does sound like an effective illusion however. But, if true, all this suggests a wonderful insight, that our Paleolithic forebears had invented this 19th century toy many, tens of thousands of years ago. An exciting possibility indeed. We know they were smart enough.

NOTE: 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 this you should read the original report listed below.

REFERENCES:

Azema, Marc, and Florent Rivere,

2012 Animation in Palaeolithic Art: A Pre-Echo of Cinema, Antiquity Publications Ltd., Antiquity 86 (2012):316-324, http://antiquity.ac.uk/ant/086/ant0860316.htm

ANIMATION IN PALEOLITHIC CAVE PAINTING - THE FLICKER EFFECT:

8-legged bison, (see the black
and white diagram below),

Chauvet cave, France.

Photo electrummagazine.com,

Public Domain.

One aspect of cave art that has garnered considerable speculation is the existence of animal portrayals that are repeated, or that have elements that are repeated many times. Some researchers classify these as corrections, or purposeful changes to the animal image, others have speculated that these represent a number of other animals, behind and partially (or mostly) obscured by the animal in front. A proposition that is heard less often, but seems to be gaining more traction, is that they represent a form of animation, implying motion of the animal (or actually imparting the appearance of motion under the right lighting conditions).

Rhinoceros,

Chauvet cave, France.

Photo ctvnews.ca,

Public Domain.

Azema and Rivere (2012) addressed the question of imparting the illusion of motion. "In France, 53 figures in 12 caves represent movement using superimposition, shown by multiple images in the same place of the legs (31 cases), thus depicting rapid paces (trot or gallop), less often the tossing of the head (22 cases) and more rarely that of the tail (8 cases). Representation takes two forms: either by the addition of a second version, more or less complete, of the part of the body concerned, or by the multiplication of barely sketched contours (lines) around the head or legs, which generates a sort of dynamic flux. Lascaux is the cave with the greatest number of cases of split-action movement by superimposition of successive images. Some 20 animals, principally horses, have the head, legs or tail multiplied." (p. 318)

The lion panel.

Chauvet cave, France.

Photo cdn.history,

Public Domain.

This is an excellent description of the assumed intention of the Paleolithic artists, but I do not think that it goes nearly far enough. Picture, if you will, the animal images painted on the uneven surface of the cave wall, illuminated by the flickering light of a flame. Especially if the flame was moved side to side the different elements of the multiple view would be selectively illuminated (depending upon the position of the light and the angle of the portion of the wall), imparting the illusion of motion to the animal's image.

Horses, Chauvet cave, France.

Photo cdn.history,

Public Domain.

Examples from Chauvet Cave include the bison with multiple legs, the rhinoceros with multiple horns, the lion panel, and the multiple horse heads. The bison example and the rhinoceros example are pretty much self explanatory. With the lion panel you would have to see each of the lions across the lower part of the grouping in successive positions so the lion would appear to be lunging forward in four stages. Under the right lighting conditions the lion might open and close his mouth as well. The bison image's legs would be moving imparting the appearance of running, the rhinoceros moving his head, and lunging forward, and the horse raising his head, in other words - animation.

                    

The 8-legged bison in black and

white, Chauvet cave, France.

Photo wonderessive.com,

Public Domain

Azema and Rivere approach this proposition with the following statement: "An eight-legged bison drawn in the Alcove des Lions in Chauvet Cave proves that split action movement by superimposition was already used from the Aurignacian. This graphic illusion achieves its full impact when the light from a grease lamp or torch is moved along the length of the rock wall." (p. 319)

Now, I doubt that they were allowed to test this proposition with a grease lamp or torch in Chauvet Cave, so their statement, like mine, is only conjecture. But, at least, they did imagine some of the same effect I am describing.

If the motion of the light source were smooth, and the flickering of the torch at the right frequency, the effect could take advantage of the same neurological illusion that makes our motion pictures so effective - flicker fusion, sometimes called persistence of vision (Wikimedia). .

Of course, I cannot state with certainty that this happens, I do not have measurements of the various angles of the differing sections of wall that the multiple images are painted on (or even if there is more than one angle) so my conjecture above is just that - conjecture. It would be interesting to see this tested with some sort of strobe light under controlled conditions. Just imagine if . . . . . .

NOTE: 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 this you should read the original report listed below.

REFERENCES:

Azema, Marc, and Florent Rivere,

2012 Animation in Palaeolithic Art: A Pre-Echo of Cinema, Antiquity Publications Ltd., Antiquity 86 (2012):316-324, http://antiquity.ac.uk/ant/086/ant0860316.htm

UKRAINIAN CARVED STONE EFFIGY HEADS:

Kamyana Mohyla site,

excavation at arrow center

left, mound on right.

Excavations at an open-air site in Ukraine called Kamyana Mohyla have revealed a sequence 4.2m deep dating from the European Mesolithic to recent. The site, by a sandstone mound (Kamyana Mohyla), has been studied since 2011 by  a joint Swiss-Ukranian team who found several Mesolithic habitations at the lower level. The two zoomorphic sandstone objects come from that level, both intentionally shaped to resemble snake heads. (Kostova et al., 2018)

Older stone snake head,

8300 B.C. to 7500 B.C.

Public Domain.

The two stones are considerably weathered and eroded, however, careful microscopic study of tool marks on them led to the identification and reconstruction of their original appearance. Because of the erosion, the snakeheads can be seen much more clearly in the drawings than in the actual photos. Assuming that the Mesolithic artist would have been recreating a more impressive species than the common grass or garter snakes, the heads must be meant to portray either the Common European Viper or the Steppe Viper, both of which would have been found in that area.

"The open-air stratified site of Kamyana Mohyla I was discovered by V. M. Danilenko in the 1930s. It is situated in front of a natural sandstone mound (Kamyana Mohyla) where numerous engravings and figurines have been recovered, mostly dating to the Metal Ages." (Kostova 2018)

"The "older" figurine was found near an open fireplace, near piles of shells and flint tools. Using organic matter from the fireplace, the researchers were able to radiocarbon date the yellow sandstone snakehead to between 8300 B.C. and 7500 B.C." (Geggel 2018)

Younger stone snake head,

7424 ± 46 cal. B.C.,

Public Domain.

"The "younger" figurine came from another Mesolithic stratigraphic unit that contained a firplace, which was radiocarbon-dated to 7424 ± 46 cal. B.C." (Kostova 2018)

European common viper,

Public Domain.

"The two findings represent the only snakehead stones known at Kamyana Mohyla I, however, scientists did discover a fish-like stone sculpture at the nearby Kamyana Mohyla, a giant stone pile just a stone's throw from the snakeheads spot." (Geggel 2018) Although the author's have called the third carved head fish-like, I find it convincingly snake-like, as much or more so than the first two images. It has a zig-zag scale pattern along the upper lip and the foot shape outlined right above would represent the eye and the pit behind the eye where the poison gland is located.

"Fish-like stone, Kamyana

Mohyla. Public Domain.

But, two snakeheads or three, why would Ukrainians of 8,300 years ago be carving snakeheads at all? "Archaeologists don't know much about the people who made these sculptures, except that these prehistoric inhabitants lived on the steppe of the northwestern region of the Sea of Azov. "They made tools from stones, flints, and bones and hunted with bows and flint arrows" - "It was a society of hunters and gatherers. Unfortunately, we don't know much about their cultural traditions yet." (Geggel 2018)

The particular culture they are attributed to, the Kukrek (Kotova 2018), is relatively unknown so the archaeologists are falling back on the usual practice of describing the objects with the term "ritual objects." (But since I cannot give a more accurate explanation I will have to let it stand.)

NOTE: 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 objects you should read the original reports at the sites listed below.

REFERENCES:

Geggel, Laura

2018   8,300-Year-Old Stone Snake Heads Revial Stone Age Ritual Ceremonies, LiveScience, December 12, 2018, https://www.livescience.com/64284-stone-age-snake-sculptures.html

Kotova, Nadia, Dmytro Kiosak, Simon Radchenko, Larisa Spitsyna,

2018   Microscopic Examination of Mesolithic Serpent-Like Sculptured Stones from Southern Ukraine, Antiquity, December 2018, Vol. 92, No. 366

PROOF OF THUNDERBIRDS FOUND IN AMAZONIAN JUNGLE:

Dead humpback whale in

Brazilian Amazon jungle.

Photo ctvnews.ca,

Public Domain.

Native tribes of the Pacific Northwest coast of North America have extensive legends of Thunderbird preying on whales. According to mythology the thunderbird grabs a whale at the surface in his talons and carries him inland to the mountains to consume. Since whales are very heavy and are struggling and reluctant to be consumed in this fashion the thunderbird frequently has to put the whale down to rest or get a better grip, at which times gargantuan struggles can take place. These struggles are the major cause of earthquakes in the Pacific Northwest. Years ago I believed that these legends were based upon the misidentification of megafauna fossils seen in the mountains and interpreted as whale bones.

Thunderbird and whale pole,

Ketchikan, Alaska.

Photo Peter Faris, 2001.

Thunderbird with Whale, from

Stanley Park, Vancouver,

British Columbia, Canada.

Drawn by Peter Faris, 2001. 

Although I personally know of no examples of this legend in the rock art of the Pacific Northwest, whales are a common theme in rock art, and the Thunderbird and Whale are frequently found portrayed in other art media by Northwest Coast Native artists.

Petroglyph of humpback whale,

Wedding Rocks, Olympic

peninsula, WA,  Photo

by Teresa Weedin, 1992.

Cryptozoologists and explorers have reported gigantic birds from throughout North and South America for well over a century. In general, cryptozoological interest in these reports is to attempt to justify the survival of pterosaurs into the modern era. Pterosaurs lived during the Mesozoic, from the late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous (228 - 66 million YBP) and died out with the dinosaurs (Wikipedia). But, the gigantic birds mentioned in reports are more likely just that - gigantic birds.

Thunderbird with light plane.

Photograph from the Internet.

Public Domain.

It now seems as if we have actual physical evidence from Brazil in this instance of the body of a humpback whale found not on the beach, but in the jungle. It would appear that the South American equivalent of Thunderbird dropped him there and, for some reason, did not retrieve the body.

Dead humpback whale in

Brazilian Amazon jungle.

Photo allthatsinteresting.com,

Public Domain.

The discovery was made on February 22, 2019 according to reports. "Darlene Silva, a spokeswoman for Brazil's Department of Health, Sanitation and Environment, told reporters the animal was found in a mangrove swamp only after researchers noticed vultures circling in the sky." (Yahoo)

Dead humpback whale in

Brazilian Amazon jungle.

Photo allthatsinteresting.com,

Public Domain.

A team of biologists from the Bicho D'agua institute led by Renata Emin visited the site and "said the animal was about 26 feet long. Emin added that the find is extra baffling since the presence of a humpback whale off Brazil in February is "very unusual" and they are rarely seen that far north." (Yahoo)

Not so baffling if you assume that the whale was carried there by a Thunderbird - but not on April 1 - would I fool you?

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:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pterosaur#cite_note-pterosaur_distribution-7

https://news.yahoo.com/dead-humpback-whale-mysteriously-appears-182405255.html