Danigala Circular Rock is an inselberg (an isolated mountain rising above a plain) consisting of Precambrian rock in Sri Lanka. A large number of deeply grooved petroglyphs have been discovered in caves and shelters in its cliffs. With estimated dates of 5,000 to 3,500 BP “The main anthropomorphic figures at Danigela do not appear to be carved with pure of traditional beliefs and iconography of the gods worshipped in temples. Instead, they appear to be reflective of a ritual system built around beneficial ancestral spirits who could be approached and appeased in exchange for protection from evil spirits, diseases, and calamities. The petroglyphs might also represent deities of the Vedda people at Girigama as symbols of ritualistic offerings.” (Sumanarathna 2020:54) Girigama is an ancient local name for the Danigala area.
“The petroglyphs might also
represent deities of the Vedda people at Girigama as symbols of ritualistic
offerings. Many of the symbols carved adjoining the main figure has (sp) a
votive value, some possibly denoting death and the transmigration of the soul
into the afterlife. Other symbols include anthropomorphic representation of
animals. These animals were totems of the Girigama Vedda or Danigala Vedda.” (Sumanarathna 2020:54)
Vedda is the designation of the original aboriginal peoples of Sri Lanka and their remaining minority descendants. (Encyclopaedia Britannica Online)
“Anthropomorphic figures of Danigala Chithra Lena Petroglyphs, though linear in delineation, are quite articulate in execution. The outline of the figures appears to have been first outlined and subsequently etched or grooved out afterwards. Most of the figures are generally made using single grooved lines, though figures with grooved double lines were also encountered.” (Sumanarathna 2020:54) Most of the petroglyphs consist of deep grooves with the outlines infilled with patterning.
Sumanarathna
et al. refer to a number of the petroglyphs at Danigela as “bind runes.” This
terminology is somewhat incorrect. “A
bind rune or bindrune (Icelandic: bandrun) is a Migration Period Germanic
ligature of two or more runes. They are extremely rare in Viking Age
inscriptions, but are common in earlier (Proto-Norse) and later (Medieval) inscriptions.”
(Wikipedia-Bind Rune) If they actually mean to say that some of the
petroglyphs are combinations of two symbols to combine their meanings it would
really be more appropriate to designate them as ligatures. “In writing and typography, a ligature occurs
where two or more graphemes or letters are joined to for a single glyph.” (Wikipedia
– Ligature)
Sumanarathna et al. seemingly use the term to refer to a combination of symbols identified from other locations into a single symbol seen at Danigala, and assume it represents a form of writing. According to Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, ligature has three different meanings. First, it is the combining of symbols in a form of writing as outlined above. Second, a ligature is a binding of something, i.e. a surgeon’s knot closing a wound (which is where the phrase “bind rune” surely came from. And third, a compound note in mensural notation, indicating a group of musical notes to be sung to one syllable.
As the petroglyphs published from Danigala are mostly identified as anthropomorphs and/or zoomorphs I don’t agree that the term bind rune to describe them is accurate in this case. Perhaps the authors of the study are implying that the anthropomorphs and/or zoomorphs are combined into a single symbol of some sort, but since they are definitely not runic the term bind rune is still not accurate. Indeed, I also am uncomfortable with using the term ligature for composite images of anthropomorphs and/or zoomorphs. Perhaps the term therianthrope would be more accurate. I cannot really see most of the images they have identified in the illustrations in their paper. Perhaps standing in front of the panel and taking it all in at once would be illuminating, but since I am not likely to be in Sri Lanka any time soon I will have to stick to their illustrations. It is, however, and intriguing place with some very impressive petroglyphs.
NOTE 1: The photograph captions in quotation marks are taken from Sumanarathna Avavinda Ravibhanu, et al., 2020.
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:
Cowie, Ashley, 2020, Exo-Geologist Reveals Neolithic Petroglyphs In “Alien Mountain” Caves, 11 September 2020, https://www.ancient-origins.net, accessed 13 August 2022.
Encyclopaedia Britannica Online, undated, Vedda People, edited and updated by Kenneth Pletcher,https://www.britannica.com/topic/Vedda
Merriam-Webster Dictionary (online), undated, Ligature, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ligature, accessed 9 September 2022.
Sumanarathna, Avavinda Ravibhanu, et al., 2020, The First Record of The Archeoastronomical Bind Rune Associated with Petroglyphs in Danigala Circular Rock, Sri Lanka, Trivalent Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 1, Issue 2, DOI: http://doi.org/10.4038/tjata.v1i2.37
The Jerker, 2022, The miraculous Danigala Inselberg Of Sri-Lanka, 6 February 2022,https://thejerker.com, accessed 21 August 2022.
Wikipedia, Bind Rune, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bind_rune,
accessed 22 August 2022.
Wikipedia, Ligature (writing), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ligature_(writing),
accessed 8 September 2022
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