2022 C.R.A.P. AWARD - ANCIENT RUINS ON MARS:

Newly discovered claimed sphinx on Mars. Internet photograph, public domain.

For the highly esteemed and much sought-after C.R.A.P. (Certifiable Rock Art Prevarication) Award for 2022 our judges have selected a whole category of outrageous falsifications, ancient ruins on Mars. While NASA has been releasing photographs from Mars taken by various rovers, a whole coterie of fringies has been studying them in detail and finding statues and ancient ruins. Any search on the internet for ruins on Mars will return dozens of sites announcing this silliness.

Claimed Martian petroglyphs and hieroglyphic tablets. Internet photograph, public domain.

For this award I am not going to specify any individual purveyors of these fringe ideas. I cannot even call them theories as they are just blatant falsehoods. If you dig deep enough down this rabbit hole you can even find a few photographs of rocks on Mars which appear to have petroglyphs on them - more proof of the ancient Martian civilization.

Claimed face of a statue on Mars. Internet photograph, public domain.

Now I do not know whether some of these are examples of paredolia, in which an enthusiastic viewer is deceived by his or her own brain, but many of these are just so ridiculously outlandish that they have to be outright lies.

Claimed ruins of an ancient temple on Mars. Internet photograph, public domain.

"Mars ancient temple found in NASA images is PROOF of alian civilisation." - (misspelled civilization).

Claimed ancient ruined temple on Mars. Internet photograph, public domain.

"Ancient Temple Ruins Found On Mars In Rover Photo."

Claimed statue of an Angel in a Martian temple. Internet photograph, public domain.

"Ancient ruins on Mars: Satellite Images reveal artificial geometric structures."

Fallen statue of an ancient Martian King (artificially colored). Internet photograph, public domain.

"Ancient Ruins Found On Mars Are '100% Proof Of Intelligent Aliens' Says Expert."

An ancient Japanese tomb found on Mars by one diligent observer. Internet photograph, public domain.

"NASA probe captured on Mars the ruins of a huge ancient structure."

And I could go on - - .

Many of these wild claims are accompanied by photographs that are so grainy and blurred that you cannot quite make out the subject being claimed. Others are obviously the result of geographic processes like we see on Earth. And, quite a few are Photoshopped phonies.

Among the claims you will find a photograph of a cola can on Mars, a photograph of a glass bottle on Mars, statues, ruined cities, and even a bone, to say nothing of crashed UFOs. In a time rife with conspiracy theories I suppose we should not be surprised at these stories. I would, however, like to point out one discrepancy in the supposed reasoning behind these claims. If the NASA Apollo moon landings were staged in a Hollywood sound studio we do not really have a deep space program, so how in the world did we get photographs from the surface of Mars?

NOTE 1: 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.

NOTE 2: I am going to dispense with listing references for this column. Anyone who wishes to can look up plenty of this garbage online, and I do not wish to honor any particular source by mentioning them in RockArtBlog.

 

A VERY MERRY

         CHRISTMAS 2022            

From RockArtBlog   

Three Rivers, New Mexico.

Photograph John and Esther Faris, 1988.

 

Decorating the Jornada Mogollon Christmas Tree.

 Have a very Merry

Christmas,

A Happy New Year's Eve, 

and all the best in 2023.

BRAZIL’S INGA STONE - A REMARKABLE AND MISUNDERSTOOD ROCK ART SITE:

Itacoatiaras of Inga, of the State of Paraiba, Brazil. Online photograph, public domain.

Some places or features seem relatively mundane and are often taken for granted, others are so striking that they attract a whole lot of attention, especially from fringies and their bizarre theories. The Itacoatiaras of Inga, of the State of Paraiba, Brazil, is a striking petroglyph panel that has been interpreted as everything from a remnant of Atlantis and a Phoenician inscription to an Archaeoastronomy site, and it is obviously none of these. Once again, the racist assumption that the poor, benighted, ignorant savages native to the area could never have performed such a feat colors the interpretation of rock art.

Itacoatiaras of Inga, of the State of Paraiba, Brazil. Online photograph, public domain.

An example of the nonsense which has been attached to this poor rock is this statement. “According to Gabriele Baraldi, archaeologist, epigraphist, and Italian-Brazilian alternative researcher, known as the ‘last atlantologist’, American proto-Hittite(s) controlled geothermal energy and apparently did hieroglyphics with (a) mold by applying high mechanical and thermal stress on the rock from the lava conduit of an extinct volcano.” (Sutherland 2015)

Itacoatiaras of Inga, of the State of Paraiba, Brazil. Online photograph, public domain.

This bizarre and fringie concept would have us believe that rock and the petroglyphs on its surface are cast from some sort of liquid (Faris 2021), in this particular instance Baraldi is melting the Inga stone surface with heat from a lava flow and pressing or molding the petroglyphs into the surface – that should cause a blister or two. This concept is known as fluidics.

Itacoatiaras of Inga, of the State of Paraiba, Brazil. Online photograph, public domain.

Another description of the Inga Stone is found in Costa (2020). “The stone was also studied by Gabriele D’Annunzio Baraldi, who discovered, in addition to archaeoastronomic patterns, signs of Hittite writing, developed and used in Turkey in mid 2000 BC. Archeoastronomy studies the astronomical knowledge of prehistoric man. Their patterns are identified and determined by observing the alignments of the start and the planets in relation to the structures and figures erected by man. By constructing their monuments in this way, humans would be able to observe and predict the climatic seasons of the equinoxes and consequently prepare themselves to plant or reserve the foods that would serve their needs during difficult times, although it is necessary that hunters pastors (who were officially supposed to live at that time) would have neither the time or the knowledge to do so, not to mention the fact that they are always changing and therefore unable to devote themselves to such specific matters, require of them a place to residence. That is, in order to determine the stone marking of a given astronomical phenomenon and its representation, it would be necessary for these people to remain in place during the seasons, and thus, as a consequence, to devote themselves to illustrate a pattern.” (Costa 2020) In this somewhat hard to understand passage I am guessing that the phrase “hunters pastors” that Costa used is meant to refer in some way to hunter gatherer and pastoral cultures. So now we have added archaeoastronomy and Hittite inscriptions to fluidics.

Itacoatiaras of Inga, of the State of Paraiba, Brazil. Online photograph, public domain.

And again, “later, F. Pavia continued the study of the Inga rock, focusing this time on the recording of a series of signs inscribed on the rocky surface of the channel itself, where a great number of ‘stars’ can be observed that can be grouped into ‘constellations.’ Both the ‘capsular’ and the ‘constellation’ records, in themselves, give Inga importance, which is why many authors refer to the Inga Stone as one of the most underappreciated monuments on the surface of Earth.” (Ancient Code Team undated)

Posseble floral motifs. Itacoatiaras of Inga, of the State of Paraiba, Brazil. Online photograph, public domain.

So let us put the nonsense away and look at the reality of it. “The term ‘itacoatiara’ originates from the Tupi-Guarani language and means ‘writing or drawing on stone’, having been used in Brazil as a synonym for ‘rock engraving’ expressions. The rock art site of the Itacoatiaras of the Inga River is located in the rural municipality of Inga, whose main city is about 105 km from the city of João Pessoa, the state capital of Paraibe, Brazil.” (UNESCO 2015)

Itacoatiaras of Inga, of the State of Paraiba, Brazil. Online photograph, public domain.

“Pedro do Inga (Stone of Inga) forms a wall oriented in the northeast/southeast at about 24 m long and 3.5 m high, at its highest point, and features the three main rock art panels at the site.” (UNESCO 2015) The images are carved into its granite surface. “Most glyphs represent animals, fruits, humans, constellations, and other unrecognizable images.” (Wikipedia) Many seem to represent flowers or the buds of herbaceous plants. What strikes me about them is the depth of carving (granite has a hardness of 6 – 8 on the Moh’s hardness scale).

Aside from the fringie/crackpot ideas I have been unable to find much real information about this marvelous site. I see no possible evidence of the "star map" or any of the other strange ideas so far proposed. The best is report I could find is probably the UNESCO contribution and it is pretty sparse. I hope that this site will be seriously studied and recorded for all of us.

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:

Ancient Code Team, undated, Written in Stone: The Inga Stone – an ancient monument depicting a rare “Star Map,”  https://www.ancient-code.com. Accessed online on 11 November 2022.

Costa, Telma, 2020, The Language of Inga Stone – A New Theory About the Origen of Phoenician Alphabet – Itacotiara/Brazil, Oxford University History Society, found on Academia.edu. Accessed 30 November 2022.

Faris, Peter, 2021, Fluidics? – The Dolmen of the North-West Caucacus and the Bizarre Reports About Casting Stones and Rock Art From Liquids, 23 October 2021, https://rockartblog.blogspot.com/search/label/fluidics.

Sutherland, A., 2015, Unsolved Enigma Of The Inga Stone And Its Mysterious Ancient Undeciphered Signs, 18 January 2015, AncientPages.com. Accessed online on 17 October 2022.

UNESCO, 2015, Itacoatiaras of Inga River, 30 January 2015, https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/6000/. Accessed online 12 October 2022.

Wikipedia, Inga Stone, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inga_Stone. Accessed online on 29 November 2022.

HAVE WE EVER FOUND A CAVE PAINTING OF A SALAD?

Internet cartoon, public domain.

I recently ran across this cartoon on the internet and it got me to thinking, have we ever found a cave painting of a salad? This is a question that I think we can have some fun with.

In order to begin this I went to the AI (Artificial Intelligence) Graphics program DALL-E2 and asked it to create petroglyphs and pictographs of a bowl of salad carved and/or painted on a cliff face. Some of the results are quite interesting.

Salad pictograph-1, DALL-E2.

Salad pictograph-2, DALL-E2.

The examples shown here are the best of the results and I am really quite happy with these, although it must be remembered that they are images imagined by an Artificial Intelligence program.

Salad pictograph-3 with chef included, DALL-E2. 

Salad petroglyph, DALL-E2.

Now, while I do not know of any rock art representations that can be identified as salads we do know that our ancestors consumed a large variety of plant foods, and I feel safe in assuming that they ingested many of these raw (uncooked), and is this not the true meaning of salad? And we know that they pictured plants as well as animals in their rock art. Some of these portrayals of plants might be thought of as salad ingredients.

Sprouted seed, Petroglyph National Monument, Albuquerque, New Mexico. Photograph Peter Faris, September 1988.

This, from Petroglyph National Monument in Albuquerque, New Mexico, has been suggested as a sprouted seed, and we all know that sprouts make a great ingredient for a salad.

Maize, Three Rivers petroglyph site, New Mexico. Photograph Peggy Harris, 1987.

Maize, from the Three Rivers Petroglyph site in New Mexico, could be eaten fresh off the cob.

Fiddlehead fern, Petit Jean Mountain, Arkansas. Internet photograph, public domain.

The tender tips of fiddlehead ferns pictured at Petit Jean Mountain, Arkansas, are edible and would add a crisp variety to the diet.

Squash blossom, Petroglyph National Monument, Albuquerque, New Mexico. Photograph Peter Faris, 1988.

Squash blossoms could be added to a dish for beauty as well as for nutrition. This is again from Petroglyph National Monument in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Indian rice grass, Harvest Scene, Maze District, Canyonlands, Utah. Photograph Don Campbell, 1979.

Indian rice grass at the so-called Harvest Scene from the Maze District, Canyonlands, Utah, provides seeds for crunch and protein .

Figures with a tree, pictograph, Brazil. Wikimedia photograph, public domain.

Figures with a tree, pictograph, Serra da Capivara National Park, Brazil. Internet photograph, public domain.

And a couple of pictographs from Brazil show anthropomorphs extremely interested in trees - perhaps for fruit or nuts?

I am confident that you know of many other portrayals of vegetable products that could fit the bill here, and I will be happy to receive any reader submissions for future columns.

NOTE: Some images in this posting were retreived 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.

REFERENCE:

DALL-E2, https://openai.com/dall-e-2/

POSSIBLE BROCKEN SPECTRES IN ROCK ART:

 

Brocken Spectre. Internet photograph, public domain.

Brocken Spectre. Photograph by Chris Augliera, public domain.

For many years I have been interested in portrayals of natural phenomena in rock art, particularly atmospheric and meteorological phenomena. On 30 September 2009, I published a column titled “Headdress or Halo? – Heiligenshein In Rock Art” (Faris 2009) in which I speculated about the possibility of the phenomenon known as Heiligenshein (or Holy Light) being the inspiration for some rock art anthropomorphs with arcs or halos around their heads. A related phenomenon, the Brocken Spectre, might also be the inspiration for such portrayals. Ineed, the Brocken Spectre, when viewed, is often accompanied by heiligenschein.

Possible brocken spectre portrayal, Vantage, Kittitas County, Washington. Photograph Peter Faris, August 1983.

“Brockengespenst, also called Brocken bow, mountain spectre, or spectre of the Brocken is the magnified (and apparently enourmous) shadow of an observer cast in mid air upon any type of cloud opposite a strong light source. Additionally if the cloud consists of water droplets backscattered a bright area called heiligenschein and halo-like rings of rainbow coloured light called a glory can be seen around the head of aperture silhouette of the spectre. Typically the spectre appears in sunlight opposite to the Sun’s direction at the antisolar point.” (Wikipedia)

Possible brocken spectre, Mesa Prieta, Lyden, Rio Arriba County, New Mexico. Photograph Peter Faris, 14 May 1997.

Figure in center with possible brocken spectre portrayal. Nine-Mile Canyon, Utah. Photograph by Paul and Joy Smith.

“The phenomenon can appear on any misty mountainside, cloud bank, or from an aeroplane, but the frequent fogs and low-altitude accessibility of the Brocken, a peak in the Harz Mountains in Germany, have created a local legend from which the phenomenon draws its name. The Brocken spectre was observed and described by Johann Silberschlag in 1780, and has since been recorded often in literature about the region.” (Wikipedia) Although it may be relatively common in the Harz Mountains, the meteorological conditions to produce this would be rare in most regions, and the less common the occurrence the more remarkable it would seem when it does occur. I submit, this is exactly the kind of experience that a person would wish to record on the rock.

Red Rocks Arizona. Photograph Paul and Joy Foster.

Homolovi, Arizona. Photograph by Paul and Joy Foster.

“The ‘spectre’ appears when the sun shines from behind the observer, who is looking down from a ridge or peak into mist or fog. The light projects their shadow through the mist, often in a triangular shape due to perspective. The apparent magnification of size of the shadow is an optical illusion that occurs when the observer judges their shadow on relatively nearby clouds to be at the same distance as faraway land objects seen through gaps in the clouds, or when there are no reference points by which to judge its size. The shadow also falls on water droplets of varying distances from the eye, confusing depth perception. The ghost can appear to move (sometimes suddenly) because of the movement of the cloud layer and variations in density within the cloud.” (Wikipedia)

Alex Patterson, Rock Art Symbols of the Greater Southwest, 1992, Johnson Books, Boulder, Colorado, p. 166.

Alex Patterson in his Field Guide to Rock Art Symbols of the Greater Southwest (1992), illustrated a group of Barrier Canyon Style figures in Utah under a curved line that he identified as a rainbow (p. 166). I suggest that this may be inaccurate for a couple of reasons. First, the rainbow is seen on the far horizon. I cannot imagine a situation in which it would be seen in this close proximity to a person. And second, the rainbow is a circular arc, it would never be seen molding its contour to a group of figures in the manner illustrated. Remembering that the Brocken Spectre is accompanied by heiligenschein, I suggest, rather, that this might be a record of a small group of people who experienced the Brocken Spectre phenomena together.

Obviously I cannot prove that any of these examples were actually inspired by the phenomenon known as the "Brocken Spectre." So this is an exercise in surmise, the presentation of possibilities instead of known truths. Yet I wish to point out that, as I and many other researchers have stated before, it is likely that some rock art was created to record a remarkable or out of the ordinary experience, and viewing this phenomenon would certainly qualify as that.

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. 

REFERENCES:

Faris, Peter, 2009, Headdress or Halo? – Heiligenshein In Rock Art, 30  September 2009, https://rockartblog.blogspot.com/search/label/heiligenschein

 

Patterson, Alex, 1992, A Field Guide To Rock Art Symbols Of The Greater Southwest, Johnson Books, Boulder, Colorado

 

Wikipedia, Brocken Spectre, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brocken_spectre, accessed on 4 October 2022.