Our History Is Etched in Stone
For years specialist have maintained the idea that there were no humans in the new world prior to the Clovis people. Up until recently it was difficult to get funding for suggesting that there maybe something worthwhile looking for back beyond the 12,000 years. With more and more discoveries of sites supporting the idea that there were folks living here in the new world prior to the Clovis people, the curtain of the Clovis folk has finally been pulled back. Years ago here in Maine, I did try to bring some of the material I was seeing to different in state universities. Not only did they have difficulty looking at any material, their remarks suggested that the material was to primitive to warrant attention. Now that we have support that ancient humans were equally as intelligent and creative as we are today, and were here in America living, and surviving the ice age, their artifacts have validity.
I believe we are dealing with a world over experience, that involved the Ice age/Woodland times. This covers hundreds of thousands of years. That is a huge timeline. Intelligent humans creating with stone for that amount of time will come up with something amazing. This art on these stones is so good, it is enough to make any art lover swoon. The way iconography shifts from form to form like smoke is not unlike the designs by M. C. Escher. In the print shown below by Escher, you can see how the positive and negative are equally important depending on what subject you are focused on.
The ancient folk were also masters of design. Their intense use of design to create complicated images to record and communicate their history becomes pictorial language. Their awareness of positive and negative space is sublime. The quality of work varies, as in all human endeavors. The material is everywhere and abundant. Some of the material is so beautiful it astounds. It really needs attention.
That is part of this quest; to bring attention to material, that at one time was considered too primitive, or plainly did not exist. Here in the United States some labs are beginning to notice. It is catching on, and I find it a joy to explore and share.
The series, of images below, are focused on a flint point. In Maine, the place best source for flint would be Mount Kineo, and there is a probability, that this flint is from there . This point has some oxidation that indicates it has been exposed to an acidic environment. Sometimes it can indicate age, but it also can be intentionally encouraged. Sometimes the bleached out color can allow the viewer to focus on the actual napping rather then the distraction of natural color variations of the rock. The simple act of looking at the surface of these artifacts becomes a gift the keeps on giving. Keep in mind, these folks had tremendous brains. Ours is getting smaller as we speak! In fact, I believe the word primitive, should be avoided when describing these artifacts, if it connotates less developed.
When viewing the stones, relax. Let the brain do the work. It is Art. We can enjoy this as art. We can talk about it as art. As soon as you acknowledge this material as an artistic language and you dive into the artist’s mind, you begin to sense their intelligence. A picture is worth a thousand words. There is much we have missed. With the word primitive we suggest preliterate. So then there are no glyphs, but there are plenty or characters. These characters are repeated in consistent patterns. Consistently, these characters are repeated in movement and activity like a sentence. A bit of a visual language. There is so much information in these totems. Thousands of years of information from innumerable individuals. As I say, I could be totally wrong, but if it is true, then not acknowledging it would be denying history. I have discussed primitivism with some folks that qualify this material as too primitive to study. In this case the word primitive, truly is a prejudice and can be blinding. This type of filtering can render any material invisible to the viewer. There is something here that we have been told, is not. It is here, and is suppose to be here. Intelligent folks with big brains have been working on stone here for thousands of years, and they have come up with something amazing, like we, as humans, always do. Their large brains where wired to identify the totem design and communicate with it. The way I see it is, that if intelligent folk were hanging around with rocks for thousands of years, it would be more wrong NOT to find this material.
Sharing stones in groups allows for more exposure for the viewer, here I think we have a lovely couple. The flint point we are focused on is on the left in the image below. There are totem characters on both stones . I always encourage everyone to take a moment and explore. Dig around, if you will. Even in the periphery, the humane brain is processing. Through the process of looking, the brain is cataloging patterns. As the viewer gets exposed to this material it will start to awaken the old pathways. The more one looks, over time, the brain reboots with more material and with greater capacity to see the manmade napping lines and imagery.
This truly a gift that keeps on giving. It is here, and is suppose to be here. It is what is what humans came up with after working with stone for thousands of years. The stone age is what is left of these peoples, but they where the skin and bone age people too. Unfortunately the bone and skin are gone but we will find reference to their use of bone and skin through out the knapped iconography. There was a lot going on during the ice age, and here we have it directly from the source.
The encyclopedia was not developed over night. With each generation adding and up dating the collection the encyclopedia expands. Now days you can even recognize a form of the encyclopedia on line. The totem design evolved with us as well like the dictionary or encyclopedia, new characters added with the expansion of the human experience. With the expansion the human experience came the expansion of knowledge. I am not suggesting that all stones serve as encyclopedias but I do suggest that most artifacts carry embellishments.
As in the the design of stone totem pole of Gobekli Tepe discussed in my first blog, the bear cloak is vital for survival. On almost all of these embellished stones there will be a Madonna in the the bear cloak as in the picture above . It will include a design of the mother breast feeding. There are views of the mother in a bear cloak with the baby in its own bear cloak. The bear lifecycle is intertwined with the human lifecycle. It give reference of how dependent the human was on the bear to survive.
Spotting a woolly mammoth is always exciting. It definitely helps place an artifact on the timeline. It lets us know that at the time of the making of the point there was still a memory of the great beast. As I have mentioned in later more recent artifacts there is more characters of the woodland animals and less reference to megafauna.
headgear, noses, and the type of shelter are also a big topic on the totem stone. I should mention, there is a lot about husbandry too. The point on the artifact is often where one finds the reference to the teepee. Just as in the mammoth skin shelter was incorporated into the totem, the teepee has it’s place. The teepee at times opens up to allow the viewer to look inside. From there, one can follow down below to find a female figure working. The female figure is working on what often looks like a stretched beaver skin. This arrangement and pattern is reoccurring far into the woodland artifacts as well. Maybe there is a way to catalog some of this material to see if it can be arranged chronologically.
There may be variations on themes such as here with the subject of the crooked smile.
Hopefully as you take one more look at the point above your brain is feeling happy. Hopefully you start finding your own totem images. I certainly can foresee a group effort in filling a catalog of these stone totems. We will not get rich. They are everywhere. I do think that they will fill a lot of gaps in history as well as elevate consciousness. I hope you continue following along in this observational study. There is also the benefit of viewing some wonderful art created by our fellow man.
Originally published at https://karolabryant.blogspot.com on April 25, 2021.
