INCOMPLETE HAND PRINTS MAY RECORD TALLIES OR COUNTS:

Count or tally of four? Hand

Print with missing little finger.

Maltravieso Cave, Spain.

Public Domain.

For quite some time there has been discussion on the question of handprints in Palaeolithic cave art with missing digits. Originally proposed as evidence of Ice Age artists losing digits to frostbite or accidents, or alternatively digits that were cut off as sacrifices in a ceremonial context, they have been more recently been proposed as evidence of tallies, or numerical records.

Count or tally of four? Hand

Print with missing little finger.

Maltravieso Cave, Spain.

Public Domain.

"Perhaps the most mysterious aspect of Palaeolithic hand stencils is that on many examples one or more fingers are missing. Early theories saw this as reflecting fingers that really were missing from their subject’s hands, either through frostbite, accidents during flintkapping, or through ritual mutilation. The former have been rejected: these societies were certainly tailoring sophisticated clothing in order to survive the harsh Ice Age climate and mittens would not be beyond their technological ken, and no flintkapper, however unskilled, would sever an entire finger. Deliberate mutilation, perhaps as part of the rituals that accompanied a rite of passage or as punishment, remains a possibility. In many cases, however, two, three or four fingers are missing from stencils, and the deliberate removal of this number – which would render the hand useless – would be suicidal to small-scale hunter societies in such hostile environments. It seems far more probable that such stencils with attenuated fingers resulted from the deliberate bending back of fingers, which have been created experimentally. In some cases too, little fingers seem to have been deliberately painted over, adding strength to this observation. In such cases unskilled work results in the blurring of finger outlines, although most Palaeolithic examples are sharp, suggesting perhaps a degree of artistic familiarity and resulting skill." (Pike, date unknown)

Hand with extended digits

representing a count of five.

publicdomainpictures.net.

Four in a decimal
counting system.

It is relatively easy to see how hand prints with one to five fingers fully extended or folded/missing could be intended as a count of one to five. Examples of this are found in the Paleolithic cave art of Europe (as seen in the examples illustrated). But, what about hand prints that illustrate partial fingers, say three and a half fingers plus the thumb. If we say that the fingers portray a count or tally, does the half finger portray a fraction? While I cannot know for certain, I must confess that I do not feel wholly comfortable stating that the Paleolithic artist/mathematician is portraying a fraction. If I am to take this proposition seriously I need another explanation for the partial finger. Luckily there is another possibility that answers this question without the need to propose fractions - a duodecimal counting system (base 12). I will write about this possibility next week.

NOTE: Illustrations used in this posting were obtained from an internet search for public domain pictures. If any of these pictures are not public domain and were used mistakenly please inform me and I will give proper photo credit of remove the photo.

REFERENCES:

Everett, Caleb,

2017 Numbers and the Making of Us: Counting and the Course of Human Cultures, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass.

Pike, A.W. G., et al,

Date unknown, Stencils in Upper Palaeolithic Cave Art, Dept. of Archaeology, Durham University, Durham, UK, https://www.dur.ac.uk/archaeology/research/projects/all/?mode=project&id=640

CUMULATIVE VANDALISM, THE IMPORTANCE OF ROCK ART RECORDING - REVISITED:

Sego Canyon, Utah. Panel with

possible vandalism.

https://www.eskimo.com~noir/south

west/rock/art/thomp6.jpg.

On June 24, 2016, I posted a column titled Cumulative Vandalism - The Importance of Rock Art Recording, in which I presented a photograph of a Ute pictograph from Sego Canyon, in Grand County, Utah. I had come across this picture online and I noticed a difference in the photo from what I remembered of the actual site.

Sego Canyon, Utah. Close-up of

panel with possible vandalism.

https://www.eskimo.com~noir/south

west/rock/art/thomp6.jpg.

In the photograph that I found online the Ute shield had been embellished with a ring of white hand prints around it that were not in my earlier photographs of the panel. I stated in that posting that this either consisted of a serious case of vandalism, or an example of a computer modified (Photoshopped) photograph. My point in that column was to point out the importance of having a comparative record to check against in such a case of possible vandalism.

Ute Shield panel, Sego Canyon,

Grand County, Utah. Photo:

Peter Faris, October 9, 2016.

Close-up of Ute Shield, Sego

Canyon, Grand County, Utah.

Photo: Peter Faris, October 9, 2016.

On October 8, 2016, I was able to visit the Sego Canyon site again and was relieved to confirm that the ring of hand prints was indeed a computer alteration. The actual panel did not show the white painted hand prints that were in the computer picture. The real rock art has been subjected to a certain amount of vandalism by the addition of scratched names, but the only thing damaged by the circle of white hand prints is the computer record. This will cause future students of rock art confusion during online research, but the actual art is still safe. Still, the alteration of the image is vandalism of a sort. This puts another version of it out into the world, sort of like President Trump's "alternate facts" as voiced by Kellyanne Conway. Any future analysis of this art must cope with knowledge of this situation - a kind of intellectual or aesthetic vandalism.

NOTE: One possibility that I had to consider is that the hand prints might actually be there, but be too faint to see or show up in photographs taken from the viewing area. The pictures showing the circle of white hand prints around the Ute shield could possibly be the result of d-stretch photo enhancement. An Internet search proved that to not be the case as I found a 2014 image of the same panel that was enhanced through d-stretch by Kerk Phillips (Internet address below) that does not have the hand prints. This leaves us with Photoshopping as the likely source of the hand prints.

REFERENCE:

Faris, Peter,

2016    Cumulative Vandalism - The Importance of Rock Art Recording, June 24, 2016, http://rockartblog.blogspot.com/2016/06/cumulative-vandalism-importance-of-rock.html

Phillips, Kerk
2014     Sego Canyon Rock Art, http://utahpetrographs.blogspot.com/2014/04/sego-canyon-rock-art.html

MYTHOLOGY IN ROCK ART - CONTINUED:

On December 3, 2016, I posted a column about an article in the December 2016 issue of Scientific American magazine. Written by Julien d'Huy, and titled The Evolution of Myths, this article traced back the origins of the Greek Polyphemus myth to the Paleolithic of 30,000 to 15,000 years ago.

Therianthropic figure from bison

panel, Les Trois-Freres, France.

D'Huy then identified the therianthropic figure from the Les Trois-Freres bison hunt panel as the central (hero) figure in this Polyphemus myth.

Therianthropic figure from bison

panel, Les Trois-Freres, France.

Back on March 28, 2010, I had posted a column on RockArtBlog about this same panel titled Music At Rock Art Sites? In this posting I presented the possibility that this therianthropic figure was holding a musical bow, and that the panel perhaps represented a ceremony involving hunting magic. Given the difference in d'Huy's interpretation I wrote to him asking about his opinion on the possibility that the figure represented a Pied Piper figure, and whether that, if it were indeed the case, would fall within the Polyphemus myth family.

D'Huy's response to that question was: 

"In answer to Faris: Prehistorian Henri Begouen (whose sons discovered the cave) and archaeologist Henri Breuil proposed a connection between a musical bow and this therianthropic figure back in 1958! But to my knowledge, the Pied Piper of Hamelin tale type was found only in Eurasia; it also is probably very recent. Expanding the database to all the tales where a trickster took away a herd of animals might be a way to test the Paleolithic origin hypothesis." (d'Huy 2017)

So at this point any actual association of the Pied Piper myth with the Polyphemus family of myths is unknown. Thus, the actual identification of the therianthropic figure in this panel at Les Trois-Freres must also remain unknown. It does, however, seem that there is fruitful ground here in the interpretation of rock art. Cultures are generally steeped in their mythology, in a pre-scientific culture myths supply the needed explanations to the people about why the world works the way it does. I look forward to future studies of this sort. Additionally, I wish to thank Mr. d'Huy for his courteous and considered answer to my question.

REFERENCES:

Julien d'Huy,

2016  The Evolution of Myths, Scientific American, December 2016, Volume 315, Number 6, pages 62 - 69.

Julien d'Huy

2017 Response in Letters, p. 6, Scientific American, April 2017.

Faris, Peter

2010 Music at Rock Art Sites? March 28, 2010

https://rockartblog.blogspot.com

Faris, Peter

2016 Mythology in Rock Art, December 3, 2016, https://rockartblog.blogspot.com

AN EQUINOX MARKER IN WUPATKI NATIONAL MONUMENT:

Wupatki equinox marker, panel #50,

March 21, 2015, 12:00 PM,

Photo: David Purcell/NPS.

Used by permission. 

A petroglyph panel first recorded in 1931 by Harold Colton has been recently confirmed as "definitely an observatory for the winter solstice and equinoxes." (De Pastino 2016) Writing on March 29, 2016, Blake De Pastino reported that the original 1931 record of the site by anthropologist Harold Colton consisted of a 3" x 5" index card with two sentences describing the site according to David Purcell, supervisory archaeologist at the Museum of Northern Arizona who led the new study of the site. The site in Wupatki National Monument was surveyed again in the early 1980s and again in the 1990s but the solar calendar was not confirmed until a time-lapse photography and video study in 2015 confirmed its solar interaction. (De Pastino 2016)

Wupatki National Monument was created in 1924 to protect archaeological sites, and is managed by the National Park Service. The back country of the monument, including Crack-in-Rock area is closed to visitation and managed as wilderness to preserve park resources. The monument offers guided hikes to Crack-in-Rock in April and October (the website link is https://www.nps.gov/wupa/planyourvisit/crack-in-rock.htm).

Wupatki equinox marker, panel #50,

March 21, 2015, 12:03 PM,

Photo: David Purcell/NPS.

Used by permission. 

Designated Panel #50, its orientation and features create an interplay of light and shadow at significant seasons of the year."A natural outcropping of rock above the panel forms what researchers have dubbed a "shadow dagger" that bisects a spiral carved onto the cliff wall, while another shadow interacts with a set of eight circles (on) the panel's left side."  (De Pastino 2016)

Researchers believe that because the two elements function together to measure the time, they must have been created on the cliff face at the same time.

The most recent study was led by David Purcell of the Museum of Northern Arizona. They identified the solar interactions with time-lapse photography and video and confirmed the functioning of the solar marker on the Spring Equinox. "On the equinox, sunlight does not reach Panel 50 until exactly 12:00 local time." (De Pastino 2016)

Wupatki equinox marker, panel #50,

March 21, 2015, 12:07 PM,

Photo: David Purcell/NPS.

Used by permission. 

"Shortly after noon on the equinox, a shadow dagger starts to take shape over the spiral to the right, while another body of shadow approached the group of circles to the left." (De Pastino 2016)

Wupatki equinox marker, panel #50,

March 21, 2015, 12:07 PM,

Photo: David Purcell/NPS.

Used by permission. 

"As the shadow dagger narrows on top of the spiral, the shadow at left continues to move toward the circles." Then "the left edge of the dagger bisects the spiral at the same time that the shadow at left aligns with the group of circles." (De Pastino 2016)

Wupatki equinox marker, panel #50,

March 21, 2015, Photo: David Purcell/NPS.

Used by permission.

"During the afternoon, the shadow moves across the disks, dividing different numbers of them in shadow and others in light. Archaeologists think this marks a kind of countdown either to the equinox or an important time around it, such as the beginning of planting season." (De Pastino 2016)

I have elsewhere argued that farmers do not need celestial calendars to tell them when to plant. They go by biological clues in their environment. A quote I once read, the source of which is long lost in time, stated "it is time to plant corn when the leaves on the trees are the size of squirrel's ears." Now it may be that they do follow such calendars, but that is because of religious dogma, not out of physical necessity or their own lack of skill. Such beliefs are imposed upon them by leaders. In any case, and for whatever purpose it was intended, this is another fascinating, and important discovery about the knowledge of the ancient people of that area.

(All photos: David Purcell/NPS, used with permission.)

REFERENCE:

De Pastino, Blake,

2016 Photos: Watch the 'Shadow Dagger' Solar Calendar Mark the Equinox,         http://westerndigs.org

https://www.nps.gov/wupa/planyourvisit/crack-in-rock.htm

A RUSSIAN GEOGLYPH:

Russian elk geoglyph.
LiveScience.com, 

public domain.

Back in 2012, Owen Jarus wrote a column for LiveScience.com, about a large geoglyph discovered in Russia that has been identified as a probable elk figure.

Russian elk geoglyph.

Siberiantimes.com,

public domain.

The animal-shaped structure is made of stone and is "located near Lake Ziuratkul in the Ural Mountains, north of Kazakhstan" The image "has an elongated muzzle, four legs, and two antlers." A 2007 image from Google Earth shows a possible tail that "is less clear in more recent imagery." (Jarus 2012) This graphically illustrates the potential of Google Earth in archaeology studies.

Russian elk geoglyph outline.

Siberiantimes.com,

public domain.

Jarus continued, "Excluding the possible tail, the animal stretches for about 900 feet (275 meters) at its farthest points (northwest to southeast), the researchers estimate, equivalent to two American football fields. The figure faces north and would have been visible from a nearby ridge." (Jarus 2012)

The discovery was originally detailed in the journal Antiquity in an article written by Stanislav Grigoriev of the Russian Academy of Sciences Institute of History and Archaeology, and Nikolai Menshenin, of the State Centre for Monument Protection.

Excavation inside the site,

Siberiantimes.com,

public domain.

Limited excavations were conducted to study the construction of the stone figure. According to Grigoriev, "when they excavated part of a hind leg the largest stones were on the edges, the smaller ones inside." (Jarus 2012) More recent excavations have also found the remains of what they called passageways and small walls on one hoof and the muzzle of the animal. "the hoof is made of small crushed stones and clay. It seems to me there were very low walls and narrow passages among them. The same situation in the area of a muzzle: crushed stones and clay, four small broad walls and three passages."  (Jarus 2012)

Stone tools from the elk geoglyph, SiberianTimes.com, public domain.

The excavators also found 40 quartzite tools on the structure's surface. They were chipped to a mattock shape (like a pick-axe), and stylistically dated by Grigoriev to the Neolithic or the Eneolithic, between the fourth and third millenium B.C. (Jarus 2012)

It is always exciting to find tools with the work of art that they created, it provides a more direct connection to the people who did the original work, as well as providing more detailed factual data for analysis.

NOTE: The images in this posting were retrieved from the internet with a search for public domain photographs. For further information on these reports you should read the originals at the sites listed below.

REFERENCE:

http://www.livescience.com/23910-russian-nazca-lines-discovered.html.

http://www.siberiantimes.com.

GEOGLYPHS OF KAZAKHSTAN:

 Swastika geoglyph. http://www.

ancient-origins.net. Public domain.

An article in Live Science, written by Owen Jarus, and dated September 23, 2014, detailed the recording of more than fifty geoglyphs in northern Kazakhstan. This is a central Asian republic which used to be part of the Soviet Union.

Squared-X geoglyph.
www.epochtimes.ru.

Public domain.

The Kazakhs people are "descendants of the Turkic and medieval Mongol tribes - Argyns, Dughlats, Naimans, Keraits, Jalairs, Khazars, Qarlugs; and of the Kipchaks and Cumans, and other tribes such as the Huns, and ancient Iranian nomads like the Sarmatians, Saka and Scythians from East Europe populated the territory between Siberia and the Black Sea and remained in Central Asia and Eastern Europe when the nomadic groups started to invade and conquer the area between the 5th and 13th centuries AD" (Wikipedia)

The same geoglyph, view

from directly overhead.

www.ancient-origins.net.

Public domain.

"These sprawling structures, mostly earthen mounds, create the type of landscape art most famously seen in the Nazca region of Peru. 

Linear geoglyph.

https://informburo.kz.

Public domain.

Discovered using Google Earth, the geoglyphs are designed in a variety of geometric shapes, including squares, rings, crosses and swastikas (the swastika is a design that was used in ancient times). Ranging from 90 to 400 meters (295 to 1,312 feet) in diameter, some of them are longer than a modern-day aircraft carrier. Researchers say that the geoglyphs are difficult to see on the ground, but can easily be seen from the sky." (Jarus 2014)

I think that it is significant that these designs were reportedly discovered using Google earth. This wonderful resource is proving to be a valuable tool for archaeology, and future developments are filled with promise.

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 reports you should read the original article at the site listed below.

REFERENCES:

Jarus, Owen

2014     Nazca Lines of Kazakhstan: More than 50 Geoglyphs Discovered, September

23, 2014, http://www.livescience.com/

47954 -geoglyphs-discovered-in-

kazakhstan.html.

Wikipedia

APRIL 1, 2017: ARE SHIEKERS FROM THE MOVIE TREMORS REAL?

Shrieker petroglyphs, La Cieneguilla,

southwest of airport, Santa Fe, NM.

Photograph by Patricia Price, Dec. 1991.

The series of Tremors movies was memorable for a number of reasons; fun and frightening, with parodies of so many types of people that we all know. I was, however, quite surprised to find that the creatures upon which the movie were based are apparently real - very rare, but real. I am referring, of course, to the Graboids, the ravening, monstrous, carnivorous worms, and their other incarnations, the Shriekers, and the Ass Blasters.

Shrieker petroglyphs close-up,

La Cieneguilla, southwest of

airport, Santa Fe, NM. Photograph

by Patricia Price, Dec. 1991.

Now I am not suggesting that I know where we can run off to and observe the real thing. There is, however, a petroglyph panel at La Cieneguilla, south of Santa Fe, New Mexico, that convincingly portrays Shriekers. The movie Tremors, was supposedly filmed in California, and was fictional from beginning to end. These petroglyphs add an interesting possibility. Conspiracy theorists should be able to see how the selling of this movie as fiction is a very clever government plot to convince people that the real creatures actually DO NOT exist.  The Ancestral Puebloan people of New Mexico obviously knew of them, and knew them well enough to leave pictures on the rocks. These images can be seen at the La Cineguilla, southwest of  the airport at Santa Fe, New Mexico. Not only are two shriekers portrayed, but there is a shrieker egg shown between them, and a highly stylized and simplified graboid below their feet. This stylized and simplified graboid is placed at the bottom of the picture to represent its location underground. 

Drawing of a Shrieker by

teratophoneus-d7rlcz5,

img06.deviantart.net,

public domain.

This brings up the obvious question then; is it possible that we can hope someday to find more evidence of the Graboids and Ass-Blasters as well? Well, quite possibly on another April Fool's Day. 

Shrieker, www.stampede-

entertainment.com-2.

Public domain.

NOTE: The drawing and photograph of the Shriekers were retrieved from the internet with a search for "shrieker public domain." If these images were not intended to be public domain please inform me of the proper credits and I will happily add the information.

Thank you.