SISIUTL AND CHINESE DRAGONS - A CONNECTION?

 

Stone carving from Shimao, China. Photograph by Rachel Vaknin, National Geographic.

On Monday, 9 January 2023, I received the following anonymous  comment from Jay (last name unknown). Under the heading “Jay has left a new comment on your post "ANCIENT CHINESE INSCRIPTIONS IN ARIZONA AND NEW MEXICO – REALLY?" Jay wrote “Occurs both ways...What is this stylistically perfect Sisiutl doing deep in China's Shaanxi province around 4000 years ago? (Images just past centre of article)

Central mask from Shimao carved panel. Internet pnotograph, public domain.

Good catch Jay, I really do not know. I would have e-mailed you directly but your comment did not have a return e-mail address. Comments come through Blogger anonymously. I loved your input and find your comparison absolutely fascinating.

On Saturday, 15 August 2020, The National Geographic Channel aired an episode of “Ancient China From Above,” season 1, episode 3, titled “China’s Pompeii.” This program presented the 4,000 year old city of Shimao and, indeed, included some shots of the carving in question with the characteristics of Sisiutl. The program, however, failed to connect that carving with any other cultural influence that would apply to our question.

Sisiutl, the two-headed serpent of the Northwest Coast tribes, North America. Internet photograph, public domain.

I think we can assume some cultural influences passed from groups of people around the North Pacific from China to the cultures of the American Northwest Coast. Of course, I do not actually know if that image from the city of Shimao is meant to be a dragon, or some other creature, but the similarities are striking. Chinese dragons are four-footed creatures and Sisiutl is often described by Northwest Coast cultures as a four-footed creature. The two heads with a central human face in the carving is another obvious similarity. 

Sisiutl from a dance screen by Don Assu, Kwagiulth Museum at Capa Mudge,  We Wa Kai First Nation, British Columbia, 1979.

Given recent advances in knowledge on the time depth of the origins of mythology I really have no problem with assuming that migrating people over many millennia spread the concept of a Sisiutl-like being around the North Pacific. In ancient China it could have evolved into today’s Chinese Dragon. In North America it has spread and evolved into the Unktehi and Uncegilla of the Great Plains, to Michi-Peshu of the Great Lakes region and the horned serpent of the American southwest.

Thank you for your input, and I would encourage you to follow up on the idea. See if you can find two-headed serpent-like creatures from the cultures around the Northern Pacific between Shimao and the Pacific Northwest.

REFERENCE:

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/mysterious-carvings-evidence-human-sacrifice-uncovered-ancient-city-china#/shimao-carving-face.jpg”

THE PLEIADES IN ROCK ART – REVISITED:

Marra Wonga rock shelter, Queensland, Australia. Photograph A. Jalandoni.

Although I previously have written about the Pleiades on RockArtBlog (Faris 2015) it is time to revisit the subject on the basis of additional information from Australia.

Pleiades. Photograph from smithsonianmag.com.

"Find the Pleiades" sky chart. Illustration by Ray Norris.

“In many Australian Aboriginal cultures, the Pleiades are a group of young girls, and are often associated with sacred women’s ceremonies and stories. The Pleiades are also important as an element of Aboriginal calendars and astronomy, and for several groups their first rising at dawn marks the start of winter. Close to the Seven Sisters in the sky is the constellation of Orion, which is often called ‘the saucepan’ in Australia. In Greek mythology Orion is a hunter. This constellation is also often a hunter in Aboriginal cultures, or a group of lusty young men. The writer and anthropologist Daisy Bates reported people in central Australia regarded Orion as a ‘hunter of women,’ and specifically of the women in the Pleiades. Many aboriginal stories say the boys, or man, in Orion are chasing the seven sisters – and one of the sisters has died, or is hiding, or is too young, or has been abducted, so again only six are visible.” (Norris 2020)

Astronomers Barnaby and Ray Norris have traced indigenous myths about the seven sisters back to a common source and dated it to as long ago as 100,000 years. “All modern humans are descended from people who lived in Africa before they began their long migrations to the far corners of the globe about 100,000 years ago. Could these stories of the seven sisters be so old? Did all humans carry these stories with them as they traveled to Australia, Europe, and Asia?” (Norris 2020)

Chart illustrating the contemporary positions of Pleione and Atlas in the Pleiades. Illustration by Ray Norris.

When I look at the Pleiades (which I do a lot, it is one of my favorites) I do not see seven stars/sisters. With the naked eye I see six. “Careful measurements with the Gaia space telescope and others show the stars of the Pleiades are slowly moving in the sky. One star, Pleione, is now so close to the star Atlas they look like a single star to the naked eye. But if we take what we know about the movement of the stars and rewind 100,000 years, Pleione was farther from Atlas and would have been easily visible to the naked eye. So, 100,000 years ago, most people would have seen seven stars in the cluster. We believe this movement of the stars can help explain two puzzles: the similarity of Greek and Aboriginal stories about these stars, and the fact so many cultures call the cluster ‘seven sisters’ even though we only see six stars today. Is it possible the stories of the Seven Sisters and Orion are so old our ancestors were telling these stories to each other around campfires in Africa, 100,000 years ago? Could this be the oldest story in the world?” (Norris 2020:5-6)  So the Norrises are assuming that the fact that these stories worldwide featuring seven sisters dates the origin of them to back when the average human eye could actually discern the seventh star (Pleione) which is now optically combined with the star Atlas, which they date to 100,000 years ago.

View of Marra Wongo petroglyphs. Photograph by Paul Tacon.

A recent paper by Tacon et al. interprets a rock art site in Australia as referring to the Pleiades as well. “A large sandstone rock art site, Marra Wonga, near Barcaldine, central Queensland, is the focus of this paper. This 160-metre-long rock shelter is estimated to have over 15,000 petroglyphs, which are mostly animal tracks, lines, grooves and drilled holes, as well as 111 hand-related and object stencils. There is also a cluster of human-shaped foot petroglyphs on the floor of the shelter, some with six or more toes. Unique compositions on the shelter wall include seven large, engraved star-like designs with central engraved pits and large, engraved snake-like designs running across and through other petroglyphs.” (Tacon et al. 2022)

The star panel at Marra Wongo. Photograph by Paul Tacon.

“The seven star-like designs are in an area measuring 85.6 metres high by 213.5 cm wide. (I assume this is a typo and the figures for high and wide are accidentally reversed) Each has lines that radiate out from central pits. They vary in size with three in a row across the top, two below in a second row and two more below these ones in a third. The largest are at either side of the top row and the left side of the bottom row, while the smallest is on the right side of the second row. The star designs are situated amongst macropod and bird tracks, a small possum-like hand, other small designs and a vertical row of six pits. There are also two engraved feet with five toes, one just above and into a radiating line from the second star in the top row and the second just above the left star in the third row and to the left of the second row.” (Tacon et al. 2022)

The star panel at Marra Wongo with stars labeled. Photograph by Paul Tacon.

“While recording Marra Wonga on 11 September 2020, MW and PT found an eighth star-like design at the far right (northern) end of the site just above the rock floor. It is only about 3m from the end of the rock art panel and measured 23.2 cm high by 28.5 cm wide. It is hidden, and was not noticed before, while the seven stars on the central part of the wall panel were meant to be seen, even from some distance.” (Tacon et al. 2022)  Assuming that these symbols are meant to represent stars then the eighth is likely to be unrelated to the Seven Sisters.

The eighth star at Marra Wongo. Photograph by Paul Tacon.

Tacon interprets the star-like patterns in the light of Australian Aboriginal legends about the Pleiades. “The seven star-like designs are said to represent the Seven Sisters that feature in stories across Australia and are linked to the Pleiades star constellation. Most of the stories are associated with the creation of Country, through the Seven Sisters who were very beautiful and came down to earth. They were chased by a (sometimes said to be evil) man with a big penis who wanted to make the sisters his wives. All of the stories involve events that happened at certain places between the man (or sometimes two men, sometimes seven) and the women who are constantly trying to get away. The places were altercations occurred are where there are particularly pronounced features in the landscape, such as hills, claypans, waterholes and, on rare occasions, rock art sites. The different stories all have morals to them. Sometimes their pursuer rapes the older sisters and the other sisters have to heal her. The story then has imbedded important knowledge of which plants they used for healing.” (Tacon et al. 2022)

The work by Norris and Norris gives a believable explanation for why so many cultures see the Pleiades as seven instead of six stars. Additionally, with so many of them identifying the seven stars as Sisters, the explanation from Norris and Norris that the stories date back to a common origin 100,000 years ago can be seen as possible, even perhaps plausible. Now, thanks to Tacon et al., we have an impressive record of that legend in the rock art of the First Nations people of Australia.

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:

Faris, Peter, 2015, Native American Astronomy: The Pleiades – Or Not!, 23 May 2015, https://rockartblog.blogspot.com/search/label/Pleiades.

Norris, Ray, 2020, The world’s oldest story? Astronomers say global myths about ‘seven sisters’ stars may reach back 100,000 years, 22 December 2020, https://phys.org/news/1010-12-world-oldest-story-astronomers-global.html. Accessed on 28 December 2022.

Tacon, Paul S.C., Suzanne Thompson, Kate Greenwood, Andrea Jalandoni, Michael Williams and Maria Kottermair, 2022, Archaeological and contemporary First Nations interpretations of one of Queensland’s largest rock art sites, 20 July 2022, https://www.bradshawfoundation.com/rockartnetwork/marra_wonga.php. Accessed 3 January 2023.

RESTORATION OF THE MASHKI GATE OF ANCIENT NINEVEH:

Ancient Assyrian Nineveh reconstructed, Mosul, Iraq. Internet photograph, public domain.

In an act of wanton destruction reminiscent of the Afghanistan Taliban’s dynamiting of the world’s two largest statues of the Buddha in March 2001, ISIS (the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) blew up parts of the remains of the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh in 2014 including the reputed Tomb of Jonah and the city gateway known as the Mashki Gate.

Destruction of the Mashki Gate by ISIS, Mosul, Iraq. Internet photograph, public domain.

Destruction of the Mashki Gate by ISIS, Mosul, Iraq. Internet photograph, public domain.

Now, while this is not a traditional example of rock art by any means, it is about something that is very artistic with a great deal of age on it, carved in stone, and besides, I have always been fascinated by Assyrian art which was incredibly sophisticated for such an early period.

The site of Nineveh was continuously occupied beginning in the Neolithic period (6000 BC). Historic Nineveh was first recorded about 1800 BC. In 1365 BC the Assyrian king Ashur-ubalit created the Middle Assyrian empire. Monarchs built extensively in Nineveh during the late 3^rd and 2^nd millennia BC. From the time of Ashurnasirpal II (883-859BC) there was considerable architectural expansion. Sennacherib (700 BC) made Nineveh a truly magnificent city and built a huge palace. (Wikipedia)

“At this time, the total area of Nineveh comprised about 7 square kilometers (1,730 acres), and fifteen great gates penetrated its walls. An elaborate system of eighteen canals brought water from the hills to Nineveh. – The enclosed area had more than 100,000 inhabitants (maybe closer to 150,000), about twice as many as Babylon at the time, placing it among the largest settlements worldwide.” (Wikipedia)

Archaeologist cleaning newly discovered panel. Internet photograph, public domain.

“Ancient Nineveh, on the outskirts of modern Mosul, was an ancient center of trade and religion on the Tigris River. It served as the capital of the powerful Assyrian Empire, which had writing systems and powerful regional control.” (Muzdakis 2022)

“Mashki Gate: Translated ‘Gate of the Water Carriers’, also Masqi Gate (Arabic), it was perhaps used to take livestock to water from the Tigris which currently flows about 1.5 kilimeters (0.9 mi) to the west. It has been reconstructed in fortified mudbrick to the height of the top of the vaulted passageway. The Assyrian original may have been plastered and ornamented. It was bulldozed along with the Adad Gate during ISIL occupation. During the restoration project, seven alabaster carvings depicting Sennacherib reliefs were found at the gate in 2022.” (Wikipedia)

Archaeologist cleaning newly discovered panel. Internet photograph, public domain.

In April 2016 ISIS militants destroyed sections of Nineveh by bulldozing. Although their public statements about that gave as a reason that these remaining and rebuilt structures were anti-Islamic, they also were very diligent at looting to raise money for their campaigns by selling artifacts. Purportedly, the bulldozing exposed tunnels that the ISIS looters searched for those artifacts. Hundreds were also stolen from the Mosul Museum Assyrian exhibit to sell, as well as to purify it for Islam. (Wikipedia)

Archaeologist cleaning newly discovered panel. Internet photograph, public domain.

“A team of American and Iraqi archaeologists discovered eight marble slabs while working to restore the Mashki Gate, a structure that was once and entrance to the city of Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian Empire. Researchers were able to date the carvings to the reign of King Sennacherib, who was in power from 705-681 B.C.E. The reliefs, which are in remarkably good condition, feature intricately carved grape vines, warriors with bows and arrows and palm trees. Officials announced that the discoveries will eventually become part of a new archaeological park.” (Enking 2022)

                                               

Assyrian archers, newly discovered panel. Internet photograph, public domain.

Fadel Mohammed Khodr, head of the Iraqi archaeological team “said that when the marble slabs were positioned at the gate, they were partly buried. The sections underground were preserved and bear the carvings seen today; whatever was above-ground was wiped smooth over the centuries.” (Wertheimer 2022)

So, we have a report that says seven alabaster carvings (Wikipedia), and another report that says eight marble slabs (Enking 2022). I cannot account for the differing numbers, but let us look more closely at the materials.

Mountain and foliage, newly discovered panel. Internet photograph, public domain.

“Calcite alabaster, harder than the gypsum variety, was the kind primarily used in ancient Egypt and the wider Middle East (but not Assyrian palace reliefs), and is also used in modern times. It is found as either a stalagmitic deposit from the floor and walls of limestone caverns, or as kind of travertine, similarly deposited in springs of calcareous water.” (Wikipedia) This may be meant to imply that the Assyrians carved with gypsum alabaster. “Chemically gypsum is a hydrous sulfate of calcium, while calcite is a carbonate of calcium.” (Wikipedia) On the other hand “marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term marble refers to metamorphosed limestone.” (Wikipedia) While this does not clarify the discrepancy we do know that marble and both forms of alabaster are relatively soft rock and so easily carved.

I think that what has always appealed to me about Assyrian reliefs are the beautiful details they executed. In any case, it is a pleasure to report that the destruction wrought by ISIS has been pretty much repaired by restorers, and that, in fact, the terrorists unintentionally gave us more beautiful examples of Assyrian carving.

NOTE 1: ISIS and ISIL are acronyms for the same group, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). 

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:

Enking, Molly, 2022, Archaeologists Unearth 2,700-Year-Old Stone Carvings in Northern Iraq, 24 October 2022, Smithsonian Magazine online, https://www.smithsonianmag.com. Accessed 24 October 2022.

Muzdakis, Madeleine, 2022, Archeologists Discover 2,700-Year-Old Stone Carvings in Iraq While Restoring the Mashki Gate, 28 October 2022, https://mymodernmet.com/assyrian-carvings-mashki-gate/. Accessed 28 October 2022.

Wrtheimer, Tiffany, 2022, Mashki Gate: Stunning ancient rock carvings found in Iraq, 19 October 2022, https://mews.yahoo.com. Accessed 19 October 2022.

Wikipedia, Alabaster, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alabaster. Accessed 28 November 2022.

Wikipedia, Marble, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marble. Accessed 28 November 2022.

Wikipedia, Nineveh, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineveh. Accessed 20 October 2022.

IT STILL ISN'T POINTILLISM - DAMMIT!

Aurochs, Abri Cellier, France. Internet photograph, public domain.

Reproduction of the Aurochs, Abri Cellier, France. Internet photograph, public domain.

Drawing of the Aurochs, Abri Cellier, France. Cupules and lines separated. Internet photograph, public domain.

Back on 18 March 2017 I posted a column on RockArtBlog titled "Pointillism in Rock Art - A Misapplied Definition" in an attempt to correct reports of engraved stone blocks from the Aurignacian site of Abri Cellier in France that referred to images created by rows and areas of cupules and dots as examples of the artistic movement known as pointillism.

Model in profile, Georges Seurat, 1886. Internet Photograph, public domain.

Pointillism was a term used by art critics in the 1880s and 1890s to denigrate a painting technique developed by French painters Geoerges Seurat and Paul Signac, who developed their images with small dots of primary colors, relying on the eye of the viewer to mix the colors visually, which they believed resulted in brighter, more shimmering colors, the whole point of pointillism was not the dots, it was the optical mixing of the colors.

Mammoth on limestone block. Abri Cellier, France. Illustration from Quaternary International.

Drawing of mammoth on limestone block. Abri Cellier, France. Illustration from Quaternary International.

The Aurignacian is an Upper Paleolithic period associated with early modern humans in Europe, which lasted from 43,000 to 26,000 years ago, corresponding to the first stages of the expansion of Homo sapiens out of Africa. "An early Aurignacian, or proto-Aurignacian stage is dated between about 43,000 and 37,000 years ago. The Aurignacian proper lasts from about 37,000 to 33,000 years ago. A Late Aurignacian phase transitional with the Gravettian dates to about 33,000 to 26,000 years ago." (Wikipedia)

Unknown quadruped on limestone block. Abri Cellier, France. Illustration from Quaternary International.

Drawing of unknown quadruped on limestone block. Abri Cellier, France. Illustration from Quaternary International.

Back in 2017 a new group of limestone blocks were discovered at Abri Cellier in France which showed images made from groupings of pecked cupules and dots, some with lines for detail, and some primarily made from the massing of pecked cupules. Some of the lines could be seen to have been created by pecking a row of cupules and then pecking out the spaces between to connect them. This was, at that time, trumpeted in the press as Aurignacian pointillism. Some of these blocks came also from Abri Blanchard. I recently acquired the original paper by White et al. (2017) which has prompted me to revisit this subject.

Rhinoceros, Chauvet cave, France. Internet photograph, public domain.

First, I wish to state clearly that I could find only one mention of pointillism at all in this original paper (White et al. 2017) and that was in reference to a possible comparison to an image at another site that had been called (mistakenly) an example of pointillism. "The use of aligned cupules to define a form has been seen elsewhere in the region and we wonder if the cupules are not the equivalent of the painted dots uned, for example, to for a pointillist rhinoceros at Chauvet. There is indeed one example in the 2014 sample that consists of painted dots on a large bloc of red sandstone." (White et al. 2017:21) This misuse of that term pointillism seems to have been picked up and applied to the images by overzealous reporters to sensationalize their stories. The paper is primarily concerned with limestone blocks, most of which were ignored or discarded by the original excavator in 1905 but which proved upon careful examination by the 2017 team to have various signs of cultural modifications.

In her article about this study (see references) Boissoneault (2017) admitted that calling these examples pointillism may well be innaccurate. "But don't go too dotty about this instance of prehistoric pointillism, art experts caution. Using the term 'pointillist' to describe the engravings and paintings might be stretching the definition of the French post-impressionist artistic technique, says Gloria Groom, the director of European painting and sculpture at the Art Institute of Chicago." (Boissoneault 2017)  What does disappoint me, however, is that the article with its sensational title was printed on Smithsonian Magazine online. I would have hoped for higher standards from them.

The paper by White et al. is essentially a very detailed study of cultural modifications made to a number of blocks of limestone from Aurignacian sites. "It is sobering to observe that when we add the modified blocks from our work to the known sample, it radically alters the proportions of themes, subjects and graphic forms observable by researchers over the past century. The case of Abri Cellier is especially telling: the traditionally known vulva-horse-ibex profile is substantially changed by the addition of 3 mammoths, now the dominant animal represented at Abri Cellier." (White et al. 2017:24)

"Most Late Aurignacian layers were excavated long ago, were often thin, poorly preserved, or even in secondary position (the case at Abri Castanet). The Abri Cellier archives suggested that a portion of this important Later Aurignacian layer might be preserved, allowing us to fill in some details, but our return to the site showed this not to be the case. The association of this new in situ discovery with Layer 104 indicates a radiocarbon age of 33,600 ± 550 BP with the base of overlying US 102 yielding a slightly more recent date of 32,450 ± 450 BP. There is every reason to believe that the date for US 104 applies to all of the blocks excavated in 1927. These dates are also coherent with those recently obtained for in situ blick discoveries at Abri Blanchard and Abri Castanet just 5 km distant. In sum, the 2014 field operation contributes substantial new data to our understanding of the recovery biases, context and chronology of Aurignacian modified limestone blocks, including some ot the earliest known graphic representations." (White et al. 2017:24-25)

This is obviously a short presentation of the long and complicated paper which led to the trumpeting in the press of Aurignacian pointillism, a claim that White et al. did not make. I recommend their paper to anyone interested in the details of their study. And this presentation is meant in no way to decry any of their statements and findings, only the hysteria in the press about Aurignacian pointillism. As I stated above, the whole point of pointillism was not the creation of the image with dots, it was the optical mixing of the primary colors in the viewer's eye. The cupules or dots on blocks of limestone have absolutely nothing in common with any example of pointillism. 

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 of the owner will contact me with them. For further information on this you should read the original reports at the sites listed below.

NOTE 2: According to Merriam-Webster Online dammit is an acceptable contraction commonly used for damn-it.

REFERENCES:

Boissoneault, Lorraine, 2017, Prehistoric Pointillism? Long Before Surat Ancient Artists Chiseled Mammoths Out of Dots, 27 February 2017, Smithsonian Magazine online, https://www.smithsonianmag.com. Accessed 2 December 2022.

Faris, Peter, 2017, Pointillism in Rock Art - A Misapplied Definition, 18 March 2017, https://rockartblog.blogspot.com/search/label/pointillism

White, Randall et al., 2017, Newly Discovered Aurignacian Engraved Blocks From Abri Cellier: History, Context and Dating, Quaternary International (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2017.02.001. Accessed 4 December 2022.

Wikipedia, Aurignacian, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurignacian. Accessed 2 December 2022.