Bird-form knife from Bee House, Texas, is among many examples already described

January 7, 2015, 6:23 am

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This is a bird-form knife identified by Ronda Eldridge from a small concentrated area on her property yielding iconic lithic materials. Illustrations by Ronda Eldridge

Side 2 of the Ronda Eldridge bird knife from Bee House, Texas

Flint Ridge, Ohio, bird-form knife identified by Ken Johnston in an earlier posting

The Bee House, Texas, finds and the Flint Ridge, Ohio, finds are separated by a distance of 1066 miles

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Horse head with human face profile joined on its neck

January 9, 2015, 6:51 am

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Ronda Eldridge find, Bee House, Texas.

Ronda thought this might be a deer head figure but I interpret this as a nice example of a horse head. I give importance to the bump between the muzzle and the neck and interpret it to be symbolic of a horse's large jaw. This portable rock art piece was found in a 10 by 15 foot area yielding many other significant iconic stones. Another art piece was found at this site which incorporated a simple human face profile into the posterior of a bird figure.

Ken Johnston interpretation of a simple human face left profile incorporated into the back of the horse's neck.

Paleolithic art author Pietro Gaietto has described animal heads joined with human heads as one of the 8 significant Lower and Middle Paleolithic sculpture motifs.

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The lost "Lost Valley" site #36CU190 produced a classic wolf head sculpture with a human head joined on its neck among other diagnostic art pieces

January 13, 2015, 6:08 am

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The Lost Valley site, #36CU190, South Central Pennsylvania, Gary Yanonne and Jeffrey Kottmyer, 2003. Wolf head looking right and human head looking left joined to the back of its neck.

The archaeology establishment was not able to understand or process the information which was being provided by the dedicated amateurs of The Lost Valley project. In a review of the findings which are over 10 years old now, I see a site producing recognized portable rock art motifs. However, the land the site is situated upon has been sold and archaeological research has been abandoned.

It is indeed painful to read the narratives of Paul Raber, President, and Philip A. Perazio, Past President,The Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology, Inc. in their Newsletter Winter 2004-2005. It ironically becomes a demonstration of how the earliest archaeological sites in North America are squandered by persons who sit on dogmas from positions of authority and can't think outside of terms they already know. Their "Judge, Jury and Executioner" article in the newsletter ended the ability of the site owner to gain further academic or professional archaeological attention. A likely pre-Clovis site called Lost Valley was ripe for study fully 10 years ago but all its information is now in the lost valley of Archaeology officialdom.

Illustration of interpretation by Gary Yannone, The Lost Valley project.

Paleolithic art author Pietro Gaietto has described animal heads joined with human heads at the neck as one of the 8 significant Lower and Middle Paleolithic sculpture motifs.

A classic paleolithic flying water bird sculpture from The Lost Valley site, 36CU190, studied by rock art scholar Arsen Faradzhev, Moscow State University, Russia.

This mammoth ivory figurine from Hohle Fels, Germany, is of a water bird of some sort. Its pieces were recovered in 2001 and 2002 near the bottom of the Aurignacian sequence. The sculpture depicts a water bird, perhaps a diver, cormorant or duck. The figurine measures 47 x 13 x 9 mm. The eyes are easily recognizable and the beak has a conical, pointed form. The legs of the bird are short, but they lack feet, perhaps because to represent the bird in flight. The tail extends below the legs and is illustrated as flat. The back is etched with a series of distinct lines representing feathers.

The German waterbird figurine was recovered from levels that date between 31,000 and 33,000 years old.

Bird eye analysis. Excerpt from Faradzhev/Yannone Report presented to IFRAO in India:

"Through the use of special equipment, we discovered jewelry detail work of the ancient artist to create the image of the eyes as well as the whole image of the head of the bird which is 2 cm long, 1 cm wide and 0.5 cm thin. We discovered that at least six lines were carefully scarred by a very sharp instrument around the image of the ball of the eye 0.1 cm diameter. The Lost Valley has other similar artifacts of Stone Age slate rock images of birds with artificial details of eyes."

Vallis Ante Artis, Amazon paperback, by Gary S. Yanonne, et al. (2011)

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"Topplehead" anthropomorphic PAC-MAN like stone stands upright in a perfectly precarious position and may be symbolic of a breaching whale

January 19, 2015, 9:12 am

≫ Next: Human head figure from China has zero provenance but is recognized as artificial by portable rock art investigator Jan van Es

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Dennis Boggs find near Boardman, Oregon, identified as an anthropomorphic head sculpture by Dennis in this iteration of a typology he identified in his collection.

Profile view of anthropomorphic head sculpture with scale

In this short video, the stone topples over after a puff of air is applied from an off-camera air can, demonstrating the tolerances to which it is balance-engineered.

-Interpretation of the "engineered to balance precariously" aspect by Ken Johnston, curator of the Boggs collection. The stone can balance and topple over with the slightest movement or vibration or force applied to it as in the example of the air puff here.

-This is a PAC-MAN like anthropomorphic stone engineered to the tipping point. The PAC-MAN stone sculptures have been identified by several North American amatuer archaeologists in addition to Dennis Boggs.

-Prepared tripod base allows forward roll of stone

-Large, sculpted "eye" area on one side

-Open mouth anthropomorphic imagery, as in a shout or laugh. Possible breaching whale imagery.

-Similar to other PAC-MAN like stones identified by Dennis Boggs in the Columbia River Valley.

-Similar to a stone identified as a balanced laughing stone figure or "Bobblehead" from the Boggs collection. The bases on the two sculptures have both been engineered in the same way.

Profile views of the PAC-MAN like anthropomorphic balancing stone. Could it have been a novelty or a toy? Or an earthquake early warning detector?

My hypothesis is that this object represents a whale figure which has been given a smiling human quality and that it stands and falls over in a symbolic demonstration of the whale breaching and smacking the water. To make the stone topple, the puff of air from the air can must be applied to the approximate area of the whale figure's "blow hole."

Another Oregon whale sculpture has already been described from the Boggs collection.

Nature photography Copyright (c) Jon Cornforth. Click photos to expand.

Please note the anthropomorphic smiling quality on the face of this breaching humpback whale off the Pacific North American coast. Compare the "smiles" of the whale and the whale sculpture. This human-like quality in the gigantic animal was realized in the manufacture of this Oregon portable rock art sculpture.

"Human head mixed to animal head" is a primary sculpture motif of the Lower and Middle Paleolithic according to Pietro Gaietto:

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Human head figure from China has zero provenance but is recognized as artificial by portable rock art investigator Jan van Es

January 21, 2015, 8:34 am

≫ Next: "The Bird Mask of Oléron"

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"China human head figure," Thath Chanuhacha collection, Bangkok, Thailand

This human head figure comes with no provenance other than it was found in China. It was acquired by collector Thath Chanuhacha who is a friend of Archaeology of Portable Rock Art. I detected what appears to be human modification on several areas on the stone, especially the eye details. I sent a copy of the photo to portable rock art investigator Jan van Es of Roermond, Netherlands, who replied as follows:

"This artefact is older than Acheulean cultures, I think that homo erectus 1 million-1,5 million is the maker. I have from Beegden and Boukoul the same images, its comes from the oldest phase, Very interesting piece Ken!!!" Jan van Es, January 21, 2015

Palaeoart at Two Million Years Ago? A Review of the Evidence, James B. Harrod

“Zinj” - Paranthropus boisei

“Zinj” is the name given to a 1.8 million-year-old skull of the Paranthropus boisei species found in 1959 in the Olduvai Gorge of Tanzania. Named after the original classification of the species, Zinjanthropus boisei, Zinj was the first one to be found belonging to this group of hominids. Paranthropus boisei lived in Eastern Africa from about 2.3 to 1.2 million years ago. They had a brain volume of about 500 to 550cc and they would have eaten seeds, plants and roots which were dug up using sticks of bones. Due to the strong jaw that would have also been used for cracking nuts, Zinj is also known as the ‘Nutcracker Man’. - See more

The slight bifurcation of the sculpture's head at the center top of the skull may be a reflection of an early hominid head form as seen in the similar indent in the top of this Paranthropus boisei reconstruction.

Ken Johnston interpretation of a one-eyed winged bird and human face imagery combined from the two sides of the figure's skull. The bird is "zooanthropomorphic" with both a beak and a human-like mouth.

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"The Bird Mask of Oléron"

January 23, 2015, 7:23 am

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Henri Valentie find in an art and tool context, Île d'Oléron, France

This mask fits a human face and indicates it may have been functional as well as a visually significant item for its Lower Paleolithic audience. It is likely also presenting bird imagery where the bird is perched at the top of the forehead of the mask's face facing left in this view.

"I present this mask found on the island of Oléron. Eyes have been worked by man. I found this mask on a lower paleo site on the same site as my previous findings. -Henri"

"The Bird Mask of Oléron," reverse side, Henri Valentie collection.

Please note the "X" marking in the anatomically correct position for a mouth on the face. This helps confirm the stone is an artifact of the past.

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Ohio mammoth sculpture including a horse head image makes a galloping sound when manipulated and is comparable to France examples

January 27, 2015, 11:50 am

≫ Next: Neanderthal art and symbolism from Beegden, Netherlands, includes mammoth figure with two human face depictions

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Ken Johnston find, Licking County, Ohio, 10 x14 cm.

Sculpted Vanport chert which has mammoth, horse and human imagery, produces a galloping horse sound when stroked rhythmically and has a smoothed area evidencing polishing from human manipulation in the same way in the past.

Note the human face profile facing skyward (chin at upper left of stone in this view).

For this interpretation I am indebted to fellow amateur archaeologist Denis Argaut who has already discovered and described these kinds of sound producing rocking horse sculptures in France and shared them with me and readers of this blog. Without his work and correspondence I could not make this interpretation. Thank you Denis.

The Ohio sculpture may be regarded as recording the sound of a galloping horse by way of engineering of the bottom of the stone and points where it comes into contact with a surface. It is directly comparable to acoustic portable rock art sculptural material identified by Argaut in France. When the correct "play back instructions" are known, that is, when the interpreter knows how to manipulate the sculpture in the correct fashion required using the right spot on the stone, an accurate reproduction of a horse's galloping gait may be heard.

When the sculpture is stood upright on its base it is balanced like a punching clown. It can be pushed or bumped from one side and it won't fall over and then comes back to its resting position. In this process, the base of the sculpture produces a knocking sound on a flat wood or stone surface. When paying attention to how I bumped the mammoth figure I was able to make short galloping horse sounds a few times.

Upon examination I located a heavily polished spot on the stone which seemed likely to correspond to prior repeated contact with the sculpture. I positioned the stone to present the polished spot for my thumb to push and I am able to make the galloping horse sound very nicely. I will certainly need more practice to be able to reproduce the galloping sounds as well as Denis Argaut has done but he has many hours of practice on several sound producing sculptures from France.

I searched for a suspected horse image for quite some but was not able to find one. I was expecting one bigger than the one I eventually noticed. While looking at my thumb on the stone, I noticed a small horse head figure rocking back and forth as I pushed the mammoth. The horse head figure is also the eye of the mammoth of the sculpture. The polished area which one pushes on to make the galloping sound is on the back of the horse figure. The horse head itself exploits a very small inclusion of a quartz crystal for its eye which sparkles in directed light.

It is known that elephants are able to detect thunderstorms and movements of migrating herd animals many miles away from the sound vibrations they make. It is possible the horse, the galloping sound, the mammoth and the two human facial profiles, one with a crystal pocket for an ear, are somehow related to this natural phenomenon.

Side 1

Side 2

Side 1 up close with illustrations

Side 1 up close with horse leg and thigh represented in full forward, energy-loaded, position highlighted. (PUSH HERE) indicates the polished area which is worn smooth by prehistoric handling of the stone.

Horse head and body and polished area above the horse's back

Subtle left and right human head profiles are incorporated into the mammoth/horse sculpture. (click photos to expand).

Pocket of quartz crystals in the flint on the bottom center of the sculpture was likely a motivating factor in the selection of this raw material for a greater symbolic expression. Does the crystal formation resemble a human ear? Was this ear noticed in the stone age and did it inspire the artist to include mammoth imagery in the stone in recognition of the animal's hearing prowess? Did it inspire the artist to make an acoustic sculpture which makes the sound of a galloping horse? Yes, yes and yes.

A human face mask on the sculpture is in the known Palaeoart motif of "right eye open, left eye missing" as described by others and seen in many examples to date on this blog. This mask, when considered with all the other iconic features of this stone, helps confirm its human manufacture. This is a Lower and Middle Paleolithic art motif and its existence in North America needs to be explained by archaeological science.

Video of Ohio mammoth sculpture featuring a horse image and making a galloping sound when manipulated (Ken Johnston interpretation)

The horse head is seen right above the Play> button and my thumb is placed on the polished spot which is on the horse's back. The sculpture is placed on a sheet of paper on top of a marble table with a backdrop. When manipulating the sculpture to make the galloping sound, it moves forward on a secure surface. With the paper underneath, it scoots the paper and backdrop board back, demonstrating how each push back will move the horse forward one step. It looks like the camera is pulling back but it is the paper moving back under the movement of the sculpture.

Video of France mammoth sculpture featuring a horse image and making a galloping sound when manipulated (Denis Argaut interpretation)

The horse head is seen just to the left of the Play> button above. This sculpted rock was discovered by Denis Argaut of France. Denis has identified a horse head figuration seen in the upper left part of the stone. Ken Johnston earlier interpreted the overall shape of the stone to be symbolic of a mammoth body in right profile. Play the video as Denis demonstrates how the sculpture produces a galloping horse sound like the Ohio example.

Here is a view of the horse head Denis located on the posterior of the France mammoth sculpture which produces a galloping horse sound when manipulated.

This stands as a replication of the observations made by Denis Argaut. The Ohio and France acoustic sculptures are undoubtedly tied to the same Pleistocene cultural art tradition which was present on at least two continents.

Human facial profile seen on the Ohio sculpture in beautiful Flint Ridge material, Vanport formation chert.

Was prehistoric rock-art inspired by ghostly sound of stampeding animals?

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Neanderthal art and symbolism from Beegden, Netherlands, includes mammoth figure with two human face depictions

February 2, 2015, 4:39 am

≫ Next: Mammoth and human sculptures from Mammoth Spring, Arkansas

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Jan van Es find in a Neanderthal archaeological context. Beegden, Netherlands. Interpreted as mammoth/forest elephant figure in left profile.

"Human face. Neanderthaler art and symbolism. Elephant-Mammoth-human face. Beegden site."

Ken Johnston interpretation and illustration of a second worked human face depiction at the posterior of the mammoth.

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Mammoth and human sculptures from Mammoth Spring, Arkansas

February 3, 2015, 5:22 am

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Jeff Vincent find, Mammoth Spring Arkansas

Found in a strong archaeological art context developed by Jeff Vincent and seen in several postings on this blog. Interpreted by Jeff as a mammoth sculpture with human images. Jeff's interpretation places this sculpture in direct comparison to the mammoth sculpture from a Neanderthal context in Europe seen in the posting just prior to this one (02/02/2015).

Close up of human head in right profile found on the right edge of the mammoth sculpture and depicted at the posterior of the mammoth. This motif is seen in many examples featured on this blog.

An Arkfeld site, Virginia, mammoth head portable rock art figure compared to the mammoth head from Arkansas. Note the possibility of a crude human face with open mouth on the Arkansas example.

Another mammoth figure (3.5 cm) from the site also includes human faces according to Jeff Vincent

Human head on a cobble, Mammoth Spring, Arkansas, Jeff Vincent collection. The very strong art context of the find and its stereotypical form and appearance argue for its artifact status.

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Acheulean handaxe with bird, human and animal imagery demonstrates how iconic flints may turn up in private or museum "tool" collections

February 4, 2015, 6:08 pm

≫ Next: In search for the earliest Americans, Archaeology has painted itself into a corner with focus on flaked chert and stone spearpoints

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Acheulean handaxe, (15 x 7 cm). From Calvados (Normandy) West of Paris Basin. Private tool collection. Acheulean -550,000 - 300,000 BP

A likely animal head and neck figure facing left, possibly horse

Bird figuration with tail feathering on the handaxe form

Simple anthropomorphic pointed head facing right with eye detail

Handaxe in the Acheulean tradition is also a bird-form

These icons may also be seen in a petrified wood figure stone with bird, human and horse imagery found by Chris Schram in Westminster, Colorado. The human faces are depicted on the bulging breast of the birds in both the France and Colorado examples.

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In search for the earliest Americans, Archaeology has painted itself into a corner with focus on flaked chert and stone spearpoints

February 5, 2015, 11:39 am

≫ Next: A ground sloth and horse head combination sculpture in petrified wood from Big Dry Creek, Westminster, Colorado

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Nadia Clark find, Prescott, Arizona

Bird figure found in a context of many bird stone finds and tools identified by Nadia as quartzite microliths. Archaeology has not yet been able to identify the lithic art or tools which might correspond with any pre-Clovis (>13,000 years ago) peoples. The art objects being found and described by amateurs must be considered a proxy for identification of tools which may not yet be described in the Americas.

101 bird figures from Nadia's back yard

Close up of some bird stones

Microliths (1-3 cm) all found together on Nadia's property. These are worked quartzite tools which produced a pattern of morphology which Nadia is unable to dismiss as a natural coincidence. With the presence of figurative art at the same small site at Prescott, Arizona, these items require further study rather than immediate dismissal by archaeologists . These look to have been used in the fingers rather than as elements of composite tools.

Tools like this are common to the Acheulean period in East Asia, as are crude hammers and choppers.

Despite art and tools in line with Old World finds, American archaeologists cannot see it because they have been educated to focus on flaked chert. This is just a small fraction of all the lithic material left by the earliest Americans and has left American Archaeologists stuck at the 15,000 years before present date for the presence of the first Americans. Sophisticated balanced and heat treated wooden spears have been identified in Europe at around 300,000 years ago. Archaeologists would have us believe no early people in America used wooden spears and non-chert tools, or made portable rock art.

A bird head figure found by Nadia Clark at the site was featured earlier on this blog. The bird head was interpreted as also presenting the rough profile of a human face on its right side.

Amateurs have not been prejudiced by the dogmas of academic archaeology and use common sense to identify concentrations of tools and art. A real science is always open to anomalous finds and has a way to accept them or reject them based on its developed methodologies. Archaeology does not operate in this way. Archaeology blows amateurs off as if it already knows all there is to know. This hubris renders Archaeology impotent to do the work required to identify the material culture signatures of the earliest Americans.

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A ground sloth and horse head combination sculpture in petrified wood from Big Dry Creek, Westminster, Colorado

February 11, 2015, 9:29 am

≫ Next: Lower Paleolithic art motif of "faces on diamonds," diamond shaped stones and a mammoth head figure at Mammoth Spring, Arkansas, compare directly to finds in Northern Virginia

≪ Previous: In search for the earliest Americans, Archaeology has painted itself into a corner with focus on flaked chert and stone spearpoints

Chris Schram find, Big Dry Creek, Westminster, Colorado, in a watershed Chris has documented is rich in humanly worked petrified wood figure stones and sculptures. Interpreted by Chris in the field as a standing bear from behind with its head turned to the left.

The depiction of the posture of the animal is highly suggestive of a ground sloth. A stub of a thicker tail than a bear tail seems to also be depicted. There is precedence for sloth portable rock art in the United States as evidenced by the Arkfeld site example made on a stone featuring a natural face mask and found in a palaeoart context.

Animal head (bear, sloth) is defined by human modification of the stone, illustrated by line markings.

When the view of the sloth is tilted 90 degrees to the left, a horse head sculpture is presented looking left with a large humanly carved eye and where the sloth's head is the detailed muzzle of the horse. The horse is depicted with a "swept back mane" which is also a leg of the sloth.

Published scholars in Ice Age rock art such as R. Dale Guthrie and Barbara Olins-Alpert have described many of the human and animal images as having a cartoonish appearance. We also can see this in their portable rock art. The cartoon-like appearance is due to reduction of the visages to their most simplistic and evocative forms and having to translate these natural forms into the hardness and stubbornness of rock.

This kind of polymorphic sculpture is seen in many examples on this blog and the combinations of the animals, such as horse and sloth, likely had an understood cultural significance to the Ice Age makers and users of these objects.

Flaked petrified wood in very shallow water found near the sloth and horse head figure. Artifacts eroding along Big Dry Creek. Photography by Chris Schram.

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Lower Paleolithic art motif of "faces on diamonds," diamond shaped stones and a mammoth head figure at Mammoth Spring, Arkansas, compare directly to finds in Northern Virginia

February 13, 2015, 6:23 am

≫ Next: Simple as it gets

≪ Previous: A ground sloth and horse head combination sculpture in petrified wood from Big Dry Creek, Westminster, Colorado

Four new faces on diamond shaped stones, Mammoth Spring, Arkansas, Jeff Vincent finds.

The largest one in the middle was featured earlier on this blog. Ursel Benekendorff of Hamburg, Germany, has described this motif from a Lower Paleolithic context in Northern Germany. Archaeology must ask itself "What is this motif doing in North America?"

Close up of a "face on diamond" artifact.

More diamond shapes Jeff Vincent has identified at Mammoth Spring, Arkansas. Jeff hypothesizes these could be abstract "bird in flight" figures when viewed in a horizontal rather than vertical orientation.

In 2012 I speculated these shapes may be heavy duty borer/burins and made this illustration based on my Ohio observations.

A mammoth or mastodon head figure from Mammoth Spring, Arkansas, identified by Jeff Vincent. The diamond shaped stones and this elephant head figure have remarkable similarity to material identified at the Arkfeld Site, Clear Brook, Virginia. It is likely the two sites are connected by some cultural continuity.

Arkfeld Site, #44FK731, Clear Brook, Virginia, mammoth head figure found in a strong context of many mammoth figures and diamond shaped stones.

"Face on diamond" Lower Paleolithic art motif described in Europe was identified at the Spout Run Site, Bluemont, Virginia, and featured earlier on this blog.

Arkansas and Virginia sites are 750 miles or 1200 km apart. The portable rock art favors a broad Ice Age sculpture tradition in North America.

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Simple as it gets

February 17, 2015, 7:11 am

≫ Next: Lower Paleolithic feline head sculpture from the French Pyrenees is predictive of ceramic art in Czech Republic tens of thousands of years later

≪ Previous: Lower Paleolithic art motif of "faces on diamonds," diamond shaped stones and a mammoth head figure at Mammoth Spring, Arkansas, compare directly to finds in Northern Virginia

Henri Valentie find, Île d'Oléron, France, 11/8.5/4cm

With certain layout and spacing humans cannot help but recognize a simple face on a stone like this. When the stone is found in an archaeological context it can be reasonably deduced that it was also noticed in the past. Independent portable rock researcher Alan Day has written an article on this subject "Recognizing Faces in Lithic Artifacts (Figure Stones): A Neuroscientific Perspective"

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Lower Paleolithic feline head sculpture from the French Pyrenees is predictive of ceramic art in Czech Republic tens of thousands of years later

February 17, 2015, 8:36 am

≫ Next: Colorado hand axe with human facial profile suggests relation to the Acheulean tradition in the Old World

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Feline head sculpture, Henri Valentie find, Pyrenees range, France

Mr. Valentie writes: "Here is a feline head found in the Pyrenees at 1200 m altitude in context of Lower Paleolithic tools. The dimensions are 34/22/8cm. All around has been retouched."

The tool context would suggest an age of greater than 300,000 years for this sculpture. While it may be dismissed as too crude by some, we must remember the mainstream art and archaeology establishments do not think early humans such as Homo erectus or Homo heidelbergensis were capable of or made even crude figurative art.

Ken Johnston illustration of the right eye and the mouth of the lion which are both heavily worked. The lion nose appears to have nostril indents. The left eye of the lion is not depicted in order to realize a "right eye open, left eye missing" motif which is seen on human face mask sculptures as well as a few lion head sculptures including ones from Oregon and Ohio. This Lower Paleolithic depiction may be seen as predictive of this art motif which extended to more recent Upper Paleolithic times.

Reproduction of a ceramic lion head from the Dolní Věstonice Museum in Czech republic. This lion head is also depicted as having a right eye but the left eye is expressed as a blank space- or as missing. This demonstrates the persistence of this art motif from Lower to Upper Paleolithic contexts. The ceramic lion head is about 30,000 years old.

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Colorado hand axe with human facial profile suggests relation to the Acheulean tradition in the Old World

February 20, 2015, 8:03 am

≫ Next: Human head and horned bovid head combined in a sculpture from 23JP1222, The Old Route 66 Zoo Site

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Chris Schram find, Big Dry Creek, Westminster, Colorado

Objects like this encountered by North American archaeologists are often categorized as "pre forms" as if they too crude to be finished tools. They are not aware of Old World art and tool traditions or stone working techniques other than free hand knapping. Large caches of so-called pre-forms should be re-evaluated to see if they may be completed tools which have not yet been well described here. Some could be indicators of very old archaeological sites.

This small axe was retouched to include a crude human face in right profile along the right edge of the tool composed of an eye, a nostril and a mouth. This helps confirm its link to Old World Acheulean traditions (the "decorated bi-faces".)

Illustration of a possible work area and a possible bison face opposite the human facial profile.

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Human head and horned bovid head combined in a sculpture from 23JP1222, The Old Route 66 Zoo Site

February 22, 2015, 7:08 am

≫ Next: Austin, Texas, PAC-MAN like anthropomorphic stone found in a strong portable rock art context helps confirm it as a widespread motif

≪ Previous: Colorado hand axe with human facial profile suggests relation to the Acheulean tradition in the Old World

Human head with big lips facing left, Stacy Dodd and Rod Weber find, near Joplin, Missouri

The sculpture stands upright in this position. The human face is looking left and skyward and the horned bovid head profile is facing right.

Blue line marks the human and animal heads joined together and facing in opposite directions like the mythological two-headed Janus. This is a known paleoart motif described by early sculpture author Pietro Gaietto. The bovid could be a muskox which appears in other examples of portable rock art. The "Harlans Muskox" had downward pointed horns which curve out when viewed from the front but which appear straighter than they are when the animal is seen in side profile view as in this example.

Gaietto writes:

"Sculptures of lower and middle Paleolithic are eight types:
1) human head
2) animal head
3) human head two-faced
4) animal head two-faced
5) human head joined for the neck at the head of animal
6) human head mixed to animal head
7) naked woman (Venus)
8) head of animal with human body."

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Austin, Texas, PAC-MAN like anthropomorphic stone found in a strong portable rock art context helps confirm it as a widespread motif

February 23, 2015, 9:00 pm

≫ Next: Report of a gemstone with human head and animal head qualities from Ratnapura, Sri Lanka

≪ Previous: Human head and horned bovid head combined in a sculpture from 23JP1222, The Old Route 66 Zoo Site

PAC-MAN like anthropomorphic stone, David Boies find, Austin, Texas

This sculpture found by David Boies near Austin, Texas, is yet another example of a recurring form from portable rock art bearing sites which have been featured on this blog. This one helps confirm this PAC-MAN like form as a broad formal motif which must have had a cultural significance to the people who made and used them. They have been described from Oregon, Tennessee and Mississippi- and now Texas.

Tennessee example in center with two Oregon examples at the ends

The subject of stone toys has been raised here before and its seems possible these simple heads could have used for child play or puppetry. David Boies noted this figure's resemblance to a frog.

1) At far left are flake removals, possibly made to accommodate a human grip of the stone.

2) The lines forming a funnel shape indicate an area which may have been used and patinated by a human finger in the grip of the object. It could also be that the sharp corner of the figure's mouth was used as a scraper tool and this caused the wear and patination in the funnel area.

3) The circle around the eye may indicate a natural stone feature which was exploited or it could be human made pigmentation by birch bark resin or the like.

4) The black line indicates an approximate edge of this stone before it was humanly modified. A large hunk of the stone was removed at an approximate 100 degree angle to depict an open or laughing mouth.

The flake removal at left and the mouth at right indicate this is an artifact and not a natural coincidence. Several individual stone removal points with the same or similar patination are highly unlikely on a natural rock. Natural scars on stones have differing patinas because they are so spread out in time.

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Report of a gemstone with human head and animal head qualities from Ratnapura, Sri Lanka

February 25, 2015, 9:00 pm

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Kavinda Dharmisiri's zoomorphic and anthropomorphic yellow sapphire stone, Colombo, Sri Lanka

Interpreted as an animal head facing right by Kavinda. Because this stone is likely from the Lower Paleolithic it is not likely to be a dog but is more likely to be an animal present in Sri Lanka during that time.

"Dear Mr Johnston

I'm from Sri Lanka and I have this natural rock formation of a rough yellow sapphire rock which was found about 60 years ago from a gem mine in Ratnapura, Sri Lanka. It belonged to my grandfather who was a gem merchant. One side of the rock resembles a human face and the other side a dog's face which is quite interesting and I was searching about such findings on the internet and came across your blog about portable rock art and thought of submitting you these images of it hoping I could get a better understanding about it.. whether it's a natural rock formation or a portable rock art..

I believe it looks similar to the "one eye open, other eye closed" figure stone which i saw on your blog.

Dimensions(approx.):

Length = 6 cm

Width = 5.3 cm

Depth = 3.3 cm

These type of findings are not common in our country and this stone was quite popular back in the day that it even got published in local newspapers..

i understand that it might be difficult to comment on such a finding by just looking at the images.. though it would be great if you could express your opinion about this rock formation..

Thanks and Regards

Kavinda

A nose has been manufactured by a human by incising two lines which terminate at their intersection to form a "V" shape. The location in the nose area between the eyes and its precise execution argue strongly for this being an artifact. There may also be stone removal in the figure's mouth area as highlighted by the oval marking.

A second rough human head profile facing left appears when the stone is rotated slightly to the right from the orientation in the photo at top.

Third human face figuration is in Lower and Middle Paleolithic paleoart motif of "right eye open, left eye missing." The right eye is circled, the "missing" left eye is marked by the triangle, distortion of the left side of the face under the eye is characteristic of this motif and is made of an arching line, mouth circled at bottom.

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"Right eye open, left eye missing" Eurasian Paleolithic rock art motif found in Arkansas

February 28, 2015, 6:37 am

≫ Next: India human head profile appears to have worked facial features including two nostrils in correct location

≪ Previous: Report of a gemstone with human head and animal head qualities from Ratnapura, Sri Lanka

"Right eye open, left eye missing" Eurasian Paleolithic art motif found in Arkansas

Human head on a cobble, Mammoth Spring, Arkansas, Jeff Vincent collection. The very strong art context of the find and its stereotypical form and appearance argue for its artifact status.

Human agency would be confirmed by careful scientific examination of this stone but Archaeology does not want to open up any new cans of worms because it does not operate like a science. It would rather maintain the status quo and preserve dogmas and research budgets than generate new knowledge, despite its reliance on the good public for almost all of its funding. Is Archaeology serving itself or humanity's need to know more about its past?

"Right eye open, left eye missing" Paleolithic art motif found in the Netherlands in a context >300,000 years before present. Collection of Jan van Es.

Do I hear laughter?

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
-Mahatma Gandhi

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