Stone human head sculptures found in concentration at The Arkfeld Site by Adam Arkfeld

'Stone doll with head looking left'

Arkfeld Site, Clear Brook, Virginia

 

A weathered tool from the Arkfeld Site prepared for suspension with natural materials by Adam Arkfeld.

Human head with mammoth cresting forehead (with crosshatch)

Arkfeld Site, #44FK731, Clear Brook, Virginia

This sculpted stone is in a motif seen in many instances on this blog and in several from Arkfeld Site. This is a human head likeness in profile facing right with an expanded eye area. There have been stone removals to affect a curved nose and a tongue-like feature near the 'mouth.'

The human is simultaneously a mammoth profile figure facing right where the human and mammoth more or less share the same 'eye' feature in the stone. The human's 'nose' is also the 'trunk' of the mammoth figure. The mammoth's 'head bump' is the crest of the human's forehead in the depiction.

Also of probable significance, there is a small incised crosshatch pattern in the stone above the 'eye' hole which seems inspired by a wholly natural crosshatch feature of the stone formation itself.

Arkfeld Site human head profile has deeply incised eye definition, a human face carving as its 'nose,' and a possible 'beaver' figure when it is rotated

'Human head profile facing right'

Adam Arkfeld find, Clear Brook, Virginia, Site #44FK731

Deeply incised and angular lines define the figure's eye area and provide quite complete confirmation of the intentional art enterprise evidenced at this remarkable archaeology site. Please note the lower right of this photo which includes the human's 'nose' and shows a human face which has been carved and included looking right on its surface.

Close up view of the human face looking right on the 'nose' of the larger human profile

When the human head profile is rotated 90 degrees left the top stone layer in the stone's relief appears to depict a beaver-like animal with faint remnants of its eye, nose and mouth still faintly visible on the stone.

Illustration of the animal face features on the stone.

Open egg form with visibility into its internal structure from The Island of Oleron, France

        'Open egg form with visibility into its internal structure'
Henri Valentie find, a Lower Paleolithic site, Island of Oleron, France

During all those years of research I noticed that, besides all forms nature offers in rocks- trees, fruit, animals etc., the egg-shaped rocks were considered as the most ideal kind. The big cosmic egg, the germinal force and origin of life, seems to have been a very important notion and turns out to be a main line in the images. -Jan van Es, Roermond, Netherlands

Hello
Stone pierced by nature but retouched to enlarge or to complete the work of nature. The bars that cross the hole are made of stones. If you know this natural phenomenon I will be curious to know it. Dim: 8/6 cmle hole made 3 cm in diameter.

The second picture is I think a character sitting. We observe the splinters removed on the head and on the inf and post limbs. Dim 18/15 cm. These 2 stones come from the same site on the Island of Oleron.
I wish you a happy New Year
Friends
Henri VALENTIE

In this view of the second stone described by Mr. Valentie I see a possible rabbit figure in profile looking right

Cortex removal in selected locations to affect an 'ear' and a 'nose' of the perceived rabbit likeness of this pierre-figure.

Several mammoths and humans combined on sculpted plaquette found in Missouri Ice Age portable rock art context

'Mammoth profile facing left with human face on its posterior facing right'

Stacy Dodd and Rod Weber find, The Old Route 66 Zoo Site, #23JP1222, near Joplin, Missouri

Human face profile sculpted on the mammoth's posterior

The intentionality of a mammoth figure here is evidenced by the manufacture of an 'eye' divot in an artistically correct position for the animal's eye.

When the mammoth form is rotated 180 degrees a human-like face is seen in profile looking to the right

There is a second smaller human face profile worked into the forehead of the larger face figure. Click photo to expand view. The top part of the stone above the two circled faces may be interpreted as a mammoth form cresting the stacked human faces.

When the figure is rotated 90 degrees left it presents another human face profile looking left with eye, nose and lips details.

In the illustration the black outline highlights another mammoth form which is sharing or cresting the forehead of the human face figuration. The smaller face which was circled in the prior image is on this smaller mammoth's posterior back looking skyward as illustrated by the black arrow near its eye.

Human face profile looking left with mammoth form cresting its forehead, worked on the base edge of a mammoth shaped figure stone.

'Mammoth cresting human forehead' motif on an ocher-stained carved plaquette from Missouri

'Mammoth cresting human forehead' motif on an ocher-stained carved plaquette. Stacy Dodd and Rod Weber find, The Old Route 66 Zoo Site, near Joplin, Missouri. Site #23JP1222.

Illustration of the human and mammoth profiles facing left, where the mammoth is depicted on top of the human's head. This is a North American Paleolithic art motif identified on this blog. The person's mouth is deeply incised which disambiguates the plaquette and says "this is an intended human form" despite the rest of the stonework being relatively vague.

Stacy Dodd processed his photo of the sculpture with the D-Stretch rock art digital enhancement tool for Image-J and it reveals yellow and red ocher stains which are only barely visible to the naked eye in the original photo. The ocher stains suggest intentional decoration of the plaquette or perhaps even ceremonial use of those pigment substances while handling it.

A human-mammoth hybrid from European cave art was traced by Brad Lepper of The Ohio History Connection.

Licking County, Ohio, example of a human face profile with a mammoth head cresting the human's forehead, was found in the context of other mammoth sculptures and menhirs near my home on the former glacial swamp now known as Buckeye Lake. This was the first one I identified but many more have now been documented on this blog.

There is a head of a second mammoth-like creature depicted facing right on the back of the human's head. An 'eye,' 'tusk,' 'trunk' and 'curved head' are diagnostic elements of the animal. The tusk is defined by an incised line in the stone and the 'eye' has been gouged out in the correct anatomical position.

Standing bird sculpture from Hardin County, Tennessee

Jason Lamont find, Hardin County, Tennessee

This stone has been sculpted and stands upright on a flat base. The bird head up close seems to intentionally depict something roundish being held in the bird's beak.

Jason has suggested this piece may depict a 'bird emerging from its egg' and I think that is very possible. The bird is raptor-like with the curvature of the upper beak being quite pronounced.

Many figures in a motif of 'bird with head turned back' have been featured on this blog. They typically feature water birds like ducks with the head turned back and beak tucked to their back in a 'preening water bird' position.

This sculpture was found in a portable rock art context identified by Jason Lamont in Hardin County, Tennessee, and featured in other postings on this blog.

Portable petroglyph of the joined half-bodies of a feline and mammoth on a mammoth-shaped stone from France

Lion and mammoth portable petroglyph

Henri Valentie find, near Limoges, central France

Hello

This piece was found near a semicircle megalith near the town of LIMOGES, center of France. View of one side observes a half-body of a feline on the left and seen on the right an elephant half-body. On the next picture on the other side of the piece is an elephant. Dim: 24cm / 12cm

friendships

henri VALENTIE

Illustration of the two joined half-bodies of feline and mammoth or elephant interpreted by Henri Valentie. A layer of stone which contrasts with the stone below it has been selectively removed to create the bas relief outline of the two joined animals facing away from each other.

The approximate 'eye' locations of the two animals are circled. The lion seems to have subtle ear detail. The top of the 'blue Y' in the illustration represents an area of stone removal to visually split, define, demarque or bifurcate the two animals and also to join them.

Other side of stone is in a mammoth shape

Ken Johnston interpretation of possible trace remnants of a human face

This is a remarkable find and interpretation by Mr. Valentie.

Limestone birds in flight with wings from The Arkfeld Site, #44FK731, Clear Brook, Virginia

'Stone birds in flight with wings'

The Arkfeld Site, #44FK731, Clear Brook, Virginia

This sculpted piece of limestone may be interpreted as having at least two figurative bird possibilities. Much of the portable rock art featured on this blog incorporates two or more creatures, often exploiting the visual ambiguity of the stone or involving shared body elements or optical illusions.

Here a bird with tail at left may be interpreted as like a raptor while a second bird with head at left may be taken as like a goose. This could be a predator-prey pairing as is seen in other examples on this blog.

Stone bird looking right from Missouri

'Bird figure looking right'

From The Old Route 66 Zoo Site, #23JP1222

Stacy Dodd and Rod Weber find, Jasper County, Missouri

Lion in estrus in coital crouch position from The Old Route 66 Zoo

Lion in estrus in coital crouch position
From The Old Route 66 Zoo Site, #23JP1222
Stacy Dodd and Rod Weber find, Jasper County, Missouri

Illustration of the interpreted feline in an exaggerated crouching position. The cat's tail is depicted as a stub as if the rest of it is draped over the right side of the cat and outside viewer perspective.

An ocher-caked feline in coital crouch position I found at the Spout Run Paleolithic site in Bluemont, Virginia. This art motif is seen in several examples on this blog.

A house cat in estrus in the feline coital crouch position

Human head, bird and standing bull figures from Clear Brook, Virginia

Sculpted 'Human head'

Arkfeld Site, Clear Brook, Virginia, site #44FK731

Adam Arkfeld has identified a bird figure facing left here. Although it may appear to some as a natural rock, this piece has been sculpted on the entire surface visible here. There is also a manufactured 'eye' in correct artistic position. It has acquired a weathered surface with calcite accumulations which attest to its great age. This is a very typical crude Paleolithic bird figure stone.

Siberian bird figurine identified by archaeologist M. A. Kiriyak at the Russian Upper Paleolithic Bol'shoi El'gakhchan I site

The bird's 'eye' illustrated on the Arkfeld Site figure

Siberian bird figure

Early art of the northern Far East : the Stone Age

'Standing bull' animal figure identified by Adam Arkfeld at his site

Bull, human and bird painted scene from the cave at Lascaux, France