Denisovan Ancestry in East Eurasian and Native American Populations

13 July 2012

23JP1222 Missouri sculpture is similar to example from Savona, Italy

Stacy Dodd and Rod Weber find, the "Old Route 66 Zoo" site in south west Missouri. This has been interpreted as an anthropomorphic head sculpture in right profile view, with an elongated neck or stem.  Above and below photos are by, and courtesy of, figure stone investigator Alan Day, of Cambridge, Ohio.

The neck or stem on both the Missouri and Italy examples seem suitable for gripping the stone with the hand while the face could be manipulated. I hypothesize these items were used as puppets, maybe as toys or as part of a shamanistic practice of some kind. Photo by Alan Day.

Example from Italy, illustration Copyright (c) Pietro Gaietto

Gaietto writes, "Fig. 4.29) Lithic Sculpture. It represents a head of Homo sapiens sapiens with neck.
Size: Height cm. 27.
Place of origin: S.Pietro d'Olba, Savona, Italy.
Material culture: upper Paleolithc.
Worked from two sides, it is nearly a frontal representation. This type of sculpture, with high and robust neck, is present in several anthropomorphic menhirs at Carnac, with several types of Homo sapiens sapiens.
Collection Museum of the Origins of Man."

-kbj

2 comments:

  1. very cool. i've got a couple in my zanesville collection similar. see my facebook albums

    ReplyDelete
  2. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=397932010217040&set=a.397929846883923.99614.100000007330047&type=3 heres link

    ReplyDelete