Denisovan Ancestry in East Eurasian and Native American Populations

28 June 2016

Arkfeld Site stone phallus figure is not the first in a Pleistocene archaeological context

'Stone phallus figure'
Arkfeld Site, #44FK731, Clear Brook, Virginia. 18cm

'The Erfoud manuport' Lutz Fiedler find
Unmodified cuttle fish fossil from a Late Acheulean context in Morocco, 4cm
Near Eastern - North African Acheulian Figurine Symbolizing Traditon / d)erfoudmpt, manuport, Site A-84-2, Erfoud, Morocco, Late Acheulian

The "Kempen stone phallus" from Belgium is the oldest known icon of the male organs and perhaps even artificially modified. Find by L. Jimmy Groen

Like South Africa examples, Arkfeld Site subtle face likeness on an artifact is no accident

'Subtle face likeness on artifact or core'
Arkfeld Site, Clear Brook, Virginia

The face likeness detected by Adam Arkfeld on this artifact is no accident. It is a fully intentional artistic representation as seen here on several artifacts from a single South African assemblage (and many other 'Old World' handaxes). Click photos to expand and toggle views.

Example of 'South African core artifact in human face effigy form'

Several of the artifacts from this single assemblage may have subtle face figures included 

'Another artifact in face effigy form' from the South African collection

'Stone face mask puppet' from Arkfeld Site

'Stone face mask puppet'
Arkfeld Site, Clear Brook, Virginia

Perhaps an Ice Age child held this mask to her face and pretended to be the pointy-chinned character. Independent figure stone researcher Jan van Es of The Netherlands has noted the probable symbolic significance of the pairing of the triangle and circle as seen in the stone work to create the two eyes here.

24 June 2016

Arkfeld Site carved grid on a limestone plaquette is similar to 'cave art hashtag' attributed to Neanderthals at Gibraltar

Arkfeld Site incised parallel and grid or ladder-like lines lines on a limestone plaque are similar to a 'cave art hashtag' attributed to Neanderthals at Gibraltar

'Neanderthal art' from Gibraltar

Several years back I found two carved grids deep in an Ohio cavern. The cavern could have been sealed the duration of the Holocene until two boys were hunting rabbits in the 19th century and discovered an entry.

Some of the entry ways are still packed with glacial mud/slurry visible from inside the cave. It has remained gated off and owned by the same family. They say no artifacts have ever been found there. There is easy to access chert, even a "Chert Room," which was was never mined. So the Ohio carved grids could possibly be pre-Wisconsinin glaciation in age.

The Ohio grids overlook a view onto a flowing underground river. Carved grids from Koonalda cave, Australia, also have an underground river.

Then a couple years ago Clive Finlayson's team at Gibraltar's Gorham cave reported a grid similar to the Ohio cave ones I found and attributed it to Neanderthals because it dated to just before the supposed arrival time of "anatomically modern humans" in Europe. The Ohio and Gibraltar grids are both on flat stone "tables" which rise from the cave floors.

This Virginia incised stone exhibits a grid in the same art motif as the Ohio and Gibraltar cave examples. It is an example of 'portable rock art' with a culturally facilitated meaning to its maker.

Illustration of 'Neanderthal cave art hashtag' found by Clive Finlayson's team at Gorham's Cave, Gibralter, with Arkfeld site example.

 Side 1 and side 2 of a giant point from Arkfeld site

Another incised stone from Arkfeld Site, #44FK731 at Clear Brook, Virginia.

The lines can only be made with the precision seen here by utilization of a straight edge to guide the incising stone. The undulating line seems to have some free-hand features but could also have been made by a "slipping straight-edge" technique where the straight edge is shifted during the carving. This carving, or the process to make it, probably had a significant meaning to its maker.

Arkfeld Site engraved stone rotated. Adam Arkfeld compares his find to some of the earliest known art from Africa.

"Prehistoric Engravings with Crosshatch Patterns
Home to some of the earliest known prehistoric art in all of Africa, the archeological site known as Blombos Cave is located in a limestone cliff, some 100 metres from the sea on the coast of South Africa, about 180 miles east of Cape Town. It is famous for its prehistoric rock engravings, dating back to the Mousterian period of the Middle Paleolithic era (70,000 BCE), which puts it among the oldest Stone Age art ever discovered. (See Oldest Stone Age Art: Top 100 Works.) The find consisted of two pieces of ochre rock incised with geometric abstract signs, and a series of beads made from Nassarius kraussianus shells."
In light of the expert-confirmed Levallois-like prepared core tool artifacts being recovered at Arkfeld, the engraved stones here should be of interest to archaeology scholars. They may signal a Homo neanderthalensis presence in North America. If not, modern humans were in America with a lithic industry Mode 3 art and tool package.

Archaeology's attempts to ignore, marginalize or cover up the Arkfeld Site show it remains unscientific, agenda-driven and incapable of processing information about "Old World style" art and tool finds in North America. Witness a self-described "hick farmer from Virginia" who has you beat.

Arkfeld Site aerial view from 2,300 feet. The elevation drop from the main house to the cabin and creek is 100 feet. The slope is artifact-bearing. The cabin is available to archaeologists who wish to survey or investigate the site. Click photo to expand.

19 June 2016

Another Arkfeld Site 'human head sculpture made by means of large flake removal' and an 'animated point' in an Acheulean tradition replicate finds featured on 4 May

'Human head and neck sculpture made by means of large flake removal'
Arkfeld Site, Clear Brook, Virginia, #44FK731

Another Arkfeld Site 'human head sculpture made by means of large flake removal' and an 'animated point' in an Acheulean sensu lato tradition replicate finds from Arkfeld featured on 4 May. This posting and the one on 4 May support each other in developing hypotheses of patterns of art behaviors at The Arkfeld Site. Finds by Adam Arkfeld.

Just like the large face head sculpture featured on 4 May, I interpret and illustrate a horse head figure across the forehead of the human on this sculpture too.

Here, I have turned the human head 90 degrees left and focused in on the interpreted horse head representation. This and the 4 May post show human face sculptures combined with horse heads in the same motif. Click on photos to expand and toggle.

A pointed tool with a human face likeness incorporated into its lower right edge as seen in a lithic industry Mode II (Acheulean) tradition featured in many postings on this blog. This has also been described from four sites in The United States.

The non-iconic edge of the tool is sharp

14 June 2016

'Animated' tool identified among other tools and human face likenesses at Virginia's Arkfeld Site

Heavy duty pointed tool from Arkfeld Site, #44FK731
Clear Brook, Virginia

Adam Arkfeld noticed a simple human face likeness on the back of the tool.

The face is set within a rhomboid shaped 'head.' 'Human face on rhomboid' is a portable rock motif seen from Arkfeld Site and other sites as featured on this blog including the Spout Run Site several miles from Arkfeld. The face details are composed of ground features of eyes, nose and a mouth.

The tip of this Arkfeld Site tool may have been broken during use

Arkfeld Site burins

Eyes, nose, mouth and chin with an incised cleft

Human face profile looking right with possible bird head form looking left

Human head and neck right facial profile figure

07 June 2016

Arkfeld Site sculpture in often repeating motif of "mammoth figure incorporating human head at posterior"

'Mammoth and human combination sculpture'
Adam Arkfeld find, Clear Brook, Virginia

Mammoth body profile facing left. Illustration of the 'mammoth eye' and the human facial elements which have been carved into the back of the mammoth. The sculpture stands upright in correct orientation on a flat base.

This motif of "mammoth with human face at posterior" has been identified in several sculptures from this site and described from other sites in postings on this blog.

Levallois-like tool from Virginia's Arkfeld Site

06 June 2016

Arkfeld Site bird form chopper tool has an analog from Flint Ridge, Ohio

'Bird-chopper with human face profile at tail'
Adam Arkfeld find, Clear Brook, Virginia

The bird-form chopper was found directly with the handaxe also interpreted with ambiguous zoomorphic attributes featured in the prior posting.

Arkfeld Site bird chopper with human face profile at tail circled

A Flint Ridge, Ohio, bird-form chopper tool featured in an earlier posting on this blog. It is a reverse image of the same tool and art motif seen in the Arkfeld Site bird-chopper example.

Flint Ridge, Ohio, bird chopper with human face profile at tail circled

Virginia and Ohio bird-form choppers seen side by side. They are reverse mirror examples of the same tool and art motif. Human facial profiles on the birds' tails are illustrated in circles. It should be noted that both of these items are made in stone material with unusual 'sparkling' visual properties reflecting light.

Close-up of Arkfeld site bird chopper

Adam Arkfeld interpretation of another bird figure serving as the larger bird's wing. It looks like it could be a floating water bird like a goose. The human face is at the gooses's tail and the larger bird's tail at the same time with human's eye circled at right in the illustration here. I concur with Adam's interpretation and I think the goose in this position could be interpreted as 'drinking water.'

Close up of the right side human facial profile on the two birds' tails along with an illustration of the interpreted eye and mouth locations. Click photos to expand and toggle.

Manufactured tools, including some Mousterian-looking Levallois prepared core technology points (arrows indicate them) recovered all together by Adam Arkfeld in Virginia one day this week.

North American Virginia Levallois point