Three turtle head figures from three archaeological sites

Coschocton County, Ohio, find by Dave Boucher, identified by Dave as a snapping turtle head figure

Dave Boucher is a member of the Flint Ridge Chapter of the Archaeological Society of Ohio and brought this piece to our meeting the month after I gave a presentation to the group on the subject of portable rock art. Dave notes the eye hole is in the anatomically correct position, arguing for artificiality in this object. It was found at a late Paleolithic site according to Dave.

Stacy Dodd and Rod Weber find, Old Route 66 Zoo site, site #23JP1222, Missouri inventory OR66Z, is interpreted as a snapping turtle head by Ken Johnston of portablerockart.com. Note how this sculpture stands upright on a flat base in correct viewing orientation.

Mr. Dodd interprets a sitting bird figure, I think with tail at far left and head at upper right looking down, as if into "nest" formed by tip of snapping turtle's lower jaw. The general zoomorphic nature of many stone sculptures and the creativity of prehistoric artists often allows presentation of several figures depending on how one focuses visual attention on particular constructive visual elements. It is as if the art pieces are also optical illusions. To see other stone sculptures from this Missouri site (including a mouse/fish!!) enter ZOO into this blog's search box in the right side column.

Ken Johnston find, Licking County, Ohio, interpreted as a flaked snapping turtle head. (click photos to expand). Part of the stone rind, or cortex, is visible where human flaking action did not remove it. This shows the newer chipped areas of stone and the older parts of the original stone surface.

Licking County, Ohio, figure with scale

Looking into the snapping turtle figure's mouth: the bifacial nature of the flaking on this piece is evidenced in this perspective

-kbj

Newly designated site 23JP1222 human head sculpture is similar to example identified in Italy by Paleolithic art author Pietro Gaietto

Stacy Dodd and Rod Weber find, "Old Route 66 Zoo" site, Smithsonian convention #23JP1222, Missouri Archaeological Survey Field Number (OR66Z)

This piece was found in the context of dozens of other sculptures and some stone tools. Here are three links to prior postings of art pieces from the "Old Route 66 Zoo" site identified by Dodd and Weber. This site has been surface collected and there are more sculptures and tools still in situ which are available to archaeologists for professional assessment. Messrs Dodd and Weber want to properly excavate the site and are actively seeking assistance with this.

http://portablerockart.blogspot.com/2012/02/route-66-zoo-site-announced-in-missouri.html

http://portablerockart.blogspot.com/2012/03/examination-of-old-route-66-zoo-sites.html

http://portablerockart.blogspot.com/2012/04/old-route-66-zoo-sites-bird-sculpture.html

4.14 Photo Copyright (c) Pietro Gaietto, All Rights reserved

"Fig. 4.14) Lithic sculpture. It represents a head of Homo sapiens neanderthalensis with neck, and look upwards . 

Size: Height cm. 15. It is worked in both the sides, almost full-relief. It has a pointed nape. It is a classic Neanderthalian.

Place of origin: Valle del Vero, Toirano, Savona, Italy. 

Material culture: Mousterian. 

Collection Museum of the Origins of Man. "

Illustration of the Italian sculpture Copyright (c) Pietro Gaietto, All Rights Reserved.

 Markups shown on the Missouri sculpture. Arrows show line of vision.

A brighter lighting perspective on the Missouri sculpture, seen with scale

A similar anthropomorphic head identified by Ken Johnston from the Boggs collection, Oregon.

Paleolithic Anthropomorphic Sculpture, 2012 paperback in Italian

-kbj

"Old Route 66 zoo" site's bird sculpture is "squared off" like Ohio and West Virginia examples

Bird figure with eye. Stacy Dodd and Rod Weber find from the "Old Route 66 zoo" stone sculpture megasite, Jasper County, Missouri

The bird sculpture above "squares off" its body by a horizontal and vertical line truncation creating near 90 degree angles.  The Ohio and West Virginia examples below seem to feature the same kind of "squaring" in truncating or framing the bird images. (click photos to expand)

Side 2.  This bird sculpture was found in direct association with dozens of other Missouri sculptures

A flaked stone tool found near the sculptures at the "Old Route 66 zoo" site

A "squared off" bird find by Ken Johnston, at Ansted, West Virginia

A "squared off" hanging bird sculpture, Alan Day, Day's Knob, Ohio

Examination of "Old Route 66 Zoo" site's suspected figures establishes it as a prehistoric sculpture mega-site

Stacy Dodd's find from south west Missouri, Old Route 66 Zoo site

(click photos to expand)

Confirmed artifact by a top national master flintknapper and stoneworking expert.  From central Ohio, it has a similar construction to the Missouri find

Please compare these two sculptures, top from Missouri, bottom from Ohio featured in a prior post.  The morphological similarities between these two rodent or rabbit creatures, especially the expression of the tail, suggests they were created within the framework of culturally defined parameters, perhaps the same cultural tradition.  They were found about 700 miles, or 1,125 km, from each other. 

Stacy Dodd and his family traveled from Memphis, Tennessee, to Zanesville, Ohio, with about 150 suspected sculptures from the "Old Route 66 Zoo" site in south west Missouri.  We met Saturday, March 3, and I had a chance to examine and photograph some of the 150 suspected sculptures selected from this site.  The number of pieces was overwhelming and was too much material to study in one day.  So, in my initial exposure to this collection, my goal was look for attributes which I thought could relate to finds from other American and European sites.

Mr. Dodd and the landowner of the site are having difficulty getting the attention of local archaeologists due to the unique nature of their finds.  This 5 acre parcel is open to archaeological science, to qualified investigators who have interest in recovering portable rock art sculptures in situ.  There are hundreds more suspected sculptures in the ground as they are visible near surface level and then "are packed" in mass over many square feet, according to Mr. Dodd.  Several verified flaked tools have been discovered at the site, but their association to the sculptures is not yet confirmed. It is very possible additional tools will be recovered along with sculptures if an archaeologist wishes to pursue a test dig at this site.

Like the Ohio example, this sculpture appears to exhibit polymorphic properties. When one adjusts the angle of view just 15 degrees to the right as compared to the photo at very top, the rabbit or rodent head morphs into a fish image as if leaping from the water. Here is that view, slightly more from the rear, and then a mark up of the same photo to illustrate the fish. The "water" is the body of the rodent, indicated by the blue line. The "ear" of the rodent in this perspective is the flaring dorsal fin of the leaping fish.

This kind of transforming optical illusion polymorphism is a defining characteristic to this kind of art. It's a case of the classic double entendre, an implied double-meaning, which is so revered among "the witty" of contemporary cultures. The old artists had the ability to include multiple images in one object, as if displaying their wits in the permanency of stone to others of cultures long gone. (click photos to expand).

Alan Day  Mar 5, 2012 02:03 PM

Hi Ken...

Spotting this stuff in a photo is usually a bit risky, but from here it seems Stacy's lithic rodent might be a classic janiform - with a face profile at each end looking in opposite directions, typically one being zoomorphic and the other more or less anthropomorphic. See http://www.daysknob.com/Janus.htm for some fairly distinct examples of this. Mac Poole's excellent quartz bird from North Carolina seems thematically particularly similar.
 

"Old Route 66 zoo" site announced in Missouri, dozens of suspected worked flint sculptures, site available for qualified archaeologists

Owl sculpture identified from the "Old Route 66 zoo."  The potentially very old site is available for archaeological investigation.

Stacy Dodd of suburban Memphis, Tennessee, reports the find of a large number of worked stones with anthropomorphic and zoomorphic qualities.  The find location is in South West Missouri near the old Route 66 and has been dubbed the "Old Route 66 zoo site."  The site is producing archaeologist-verified tools along with possible sculptures which are compatible in morphology with other select examples of portable rock art from the United States as well as North West Europe.  

The 5 acre area is privately owned and the landowner is eager to discuss the potential for scientific examination of the site with qualified archaeological investigators.  Artifacts have been surface collected and a test pit indicates many more remain.  Approximately 100 crude flint pieces having evidence of human agency as well as imagery have been identified so far.  Archaeologists who are interested in what could be a very old archaeological site in the middle of North America may contact Mr. Dodd at: stacy_dodd2007@yahoo.com for further information.

The owl above is a very nice example of an animal which makes a recurring appearance in paleoart.  Look for additional artifact photos from this exciting new Missouri site on this blog.

-kbj
 OR66Z, 23JP1222